Playing Music

Playing Accompaniments

While I find automatic accompaniments a very valuable rehearsal tool, make sure you don't train yourself too much into one particular style of accompaniment. Your live piano player will NOT care to hear "But that's how VocalEasel played it!"

VocalEasel uses the MMA Musical MIDI Accompaniment system to automatically generate accompaniments for rehearsal.

Click the Play icon to start the accompaniment.
Click the Stop icon to pause the accompaniment.
Click the Fwd icon to rapidly scan forward. Click again to further increase the speed. Click Play to return to regular playback speed.
Click the Rew icon to play the song backward (Using this feature for religious purposes will void your warranty). Click again to scan backward more quickly. Click Play to return to forward playback at regular speed.
Click the Start icon to return to the beginning of the song.
Click the End icon to move to the end of the song.
Change the tempo using the Tempo control, or using the Faster and Slower items in the Play menu.
Change the accompaniment style using the Groove popup menu. Swing and Bossa Nova are present, the Select... menu item will bring up a large number of other styles to choose from. Currently, not all styles will work for all meters.
To save your MIDI accompaniment for use in another program, e.g. GarageBand, use the Save a Copy As... menu item and choose MIDI from the File Format popup menu.
To save your accompaniment for use in iTunes, a portable music player, or a cell phone, use the Save a Copy As... menu item and choose MP3 or AIFF from the File Format popup menu.

Selecting Parts to Play

By default, VocalEasel will play a two bar Count In, followed by the Melody and Accompaniment. To control which of these parts to play or omit, use the corresponding menu items in the Play menu.

Observing Yourself

If you would like to observe yourself while singing to control your vocal or microphone technique (or to indulge your vanity), use the Mirror menu item in the Window menu.