Let’s Play Some Social Distancing Duets

Are you missing your band, or orchestra, or chamber music group? While it’s not the same as playing live with your friends, the Acapella App is the next best thing. Collaborate with me. Download a video and music, load the video into Acapalla, and pick a part to record. Join me today!

First, a couple of YouTube videos that explain what Acapalla is, and how you can use it to collaborate.
Overview of the app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX3imwWmgmc&t=217s
How to collaborate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdgx0v7G_jg

Do you want to try it? First thing to know is that you need an iOS device (phone or tablet). The app is not available for desktop or laptop computers, or for a web browser. Technically there is an Android version, but it doesn’t work well, and I don’t recommend it. You will also need headphones or ear buds.  Download Acapella from the App Store: 

The first complaint clarinetists have about Acapella is usually “It sounds awful!” This is because the default mic settings are good for singers and speakers, and really bad for our loud clarinets. Fortunately, the app does allow adjusting the mic gain. Here’s how to get to the settings. What works will depend on your hardware, and on how close your phone is to the clarinet when you record.

A similar problem can happen when different people record at different volume levels. This can mean the harmony is louder than the melody, or the bass is covering up everybody. After all the separate parts are recorded, you can touch up the mix. I like to adjust the volume on the separate parts, and maybe add some “panning” so give more of a stereo effect. You can also add reverb and echo. You can get to those settings from the screen where you play back the video:

The final gotcha that’s worth mentioning is privacy settings. The instinctive reaction is to make all your videos private, and to require authorization before anybody can collaborate with you. That sounds great. Problem is, when I was set up that way, I never got notifications to authorize collaborations that others were requesting. I now have collaboration setting as “Always (anyone can collaborate with your public posts)”. This doesn’t make anything public, but it does allow others to access posts I share with them.

Let’s Do It!

Here are some easy (and short) duets and trios, with links to both the video recording and the music. Trios are arranged for two Bb Clarinets and Bass Clarinet. I have recorded all the parts. Open the video link on any device to preview the song. Open it on a device where Acapella is installed and you can choose Collab to edit the song in Acapella. Pick the part you want and record over my version. I would love to hear your results!

Note: The duet music originated from flutetunes.com and free-scores.com.  Other good sources of ensemble music include 8notes.com, virtualsheetmusic.com, and clarinetinstitute.com.

Duets	Video	Music
Come Ye Sons of Art	link	link
Devienne No 1 from 18 Duos	link	link
Yellow Bird	link	link

Trios	Video	Music
All Things Bright and Beautiful	link	link
Blind Mary	link	link
Dona Nobis Pacem	link	link