Add a backing track to a lesson book
A student who can hear the accompaniment practices differently: the tempo holds, the entries land, the piece feels like music instead of a page of notes. This guide is for teachers who want each piece in a lesson book to play its backing track using playback buttons or optional page following.
What you need
- The lesson book as a PDF. A scan is fine. The existing score is retained; you can add playback buttons where needed.
- One recording per piece. Record the accompaniment on your phone (the voice memo app saves m4a, which is ideal), or export from whatever you use to make backing tracks. Name the files by piece so you can tell them apart later.
- Ten minutes.
Recording tips that matter more than gear
- Record the piece at the tempo you want the student to practice at. A second, slower take is worth more than a better microphone.
- Leave one bar of count-in at the start. Students need it to enter; you can point the file at the first downbeat later if you prefer.
- Keep each take under three minutes if you can. The file grows by the size of the audio you include.
Making the file
- Open the maker and drop the lesson-book PDF.
- Choose audio files in the music panel. Each becomes a track; select it and enter a clear piece name.
- Select a track and assign its starting page, or place its playback button on the score. Enable Follow pages if you want page cues to select tracks; playback first requires a user gesture.
- If a recording has a long count-in, type the time of the first downbeat into Start (for example
0:04). - Give the file a title. Keep an original for revisions and save a separate sharing MPDF for students.
Two tempos for one piece
Add both takes as tracks (say “Canon · slow” and “Canon · tempo”) and assign the slow one to the page. The student can switch to the tempo take from the track list in the player at any time, and the page assignment stays as the default.
Sending it
Files with embedded audio are sent as files, not links: this site never stores audio, so the link button refuses them. Send the PDF by chat or mail as it is. It opens in any PDF app as a normal book; in the viewer or any MPDF-aware app the accompaniment plays. Embedded audio can play offline once the web viewer is loaded; opening the website initially requires internet access.
Updating later
Keep and reopen your creator original to revise it. Registered SEETO originals require the same Google-connected creator account and online verification. Shared copies are read-only; do not use them as your editing source.