Turning Your "Written Essay" into an "Audio Essay"

Here’s a portion of a “written essay" for The Gift of the Piano:

Every Wednesday afternoon when I was in the 3rd and 4th grade I got into trouble because of the piano.  That was because on Wednesdays, I had piano lessons which were to me worse than spinach, bath times, long church services and pesky brothers.  In fact, I knew of nothing in the world worse than piano lessons. But, my Mom and Dad forced me to go every week, even in the summer.  “Someday you will thank us for this. I wish I had stuck with it and learned to play”, my Dad constantly told me.  “I will never thank you for this”, I would grumble back again as he marched me to the door.  “What good is it ever going to do me?” 

"Scripting" your essay can be very helpful since it can help you "visualize" how all of the audio in your essay; the narration, the music and the sound effects, will be organized when you assemble them in Audacity.
Here’s how the above "written" essay could be “scripted” to record your voice in sections then combined with music and sound effects in Audacity to create an Audio Essay:

Voice Track

Narration

Music/Sound Effects

“Piano Song” music plays a few measures before Voice Track #1 starts

Piano Song

VO
Track 1

Every Wednesday afternoon when I was in the 3rd and 4th grade I got into trouble because of the piano.  That was because on Wednesdays, I had piano lessons…. which were to me worse than spinach, bath times, long church services and pesky brothers.

“Chop Sticks” plays a few measures before Voice Track #2 starts

Chop Sticks

VO
Track 2

In fact, I knew of nothing in the world worse than piano lessons but my Mom and Dad forced me to go every week…. even in the summer.

“Piano Song” plays a few measures before Voice Track #3 starts

Piano Song

VO
Track 3

“Someday you will thank us for this.”  “I wish I had stuck with it and learned to play”, my Dad constantly told me.  “I will never thank you for this”, I would grumble back again as he marched me to the door.  “What good is it ever going to do me?”

Play this video and follow along with the "script" to the left to see how audio "clips" are arranged on the tracks for playback.

When the RED ARROW appears, notice that the "Pianosong" music fades down then back up.