MIDI Files do not contain sounds. they contain 'instructions'

  MIDI-FILE'S ARE LIKE ANY OTHER FILE ON YOUR COMPUTER. They are collections of digital bits and pieces that contain information. A file like a WORD document contains that letter you wrote to Grandma in the form of little digital 'bits' which will be interpreted by a programme like WORD which will then display that grovelling request for money! A midi-file contains information that is interpreted by a musical instrument of some kind and the piece of music is "played back"

                       A midi-file is not a 'recording' as such.

To help you understand this, most are you will be familiar with the old pianola (once again think of Grandma) -- Remember all that pedalling? --Grandma's pianola was an instrument that could make sounds, but it needed someone / something to tell it which ones to make! The paper pianola roll with those little holes in it couldn't play music itself, but it contained the information to tell the piano what to do.
                               
                                  This is what a midi file is.
                        
            It contains information which an electrical musical instrument will 'interpret' as music. That instrument can either be the electric piano that I have (which is connected up to computer) or else the midi-file can send the signals off to a sound-card, actually inside the computer, and the sound card then 'plays' the song. 

A SOUND CARD is basically a collection of stored sounds which the midi file can instruct to reproduce in various ways.
                         (Actual recordings of sounds (like audio cassette tapes) can also be made on a computer, but they take up lots of room on the hard drive!) Midi-files only contain bits of instructions and are therefore quite small and easy to transport around the INTERNET and on floppies etc.

 Sometimes, the sounds may be in a separate 'sound module'  ('box') outside the computer. It does the same thing as the sound card.

DO I HAVE A SOUNDCARD? I hear you cry?   

Well, these days, most computers have some sort of sound set up. If you have speakers somewhere on, or attached to your computer, (or if you have a look at the back, where all the spaghetti plugs in, -- look for some of those small 'headphone' holes, like on your Walkman)  then you probably have some sort of soundcard. Whether it can handle midi or not is a question.  The best thing, is to ask me to e-mail you a small midi file and see what happens when you click on it. If nothing happens, then it still might work. Give me a phone call, and I will take you through a few simple settings on your computer that may make it work. 

MEANWHILE: Back to Grandma's pianola: If her piano was badly out of tune, then you got an out of tune performance. Put the SAME piano roll on a fabulous piano and you got a fabulous performance. 
                  Just the same with a soundcard: The quality of the sound will depend on the quality of the soundcard. I have spent a fair bit of dough getting a pretty good soundcard with pretty good sounds. Don't be surprised if you start to listen to midi-files at home and they sound a bit more 'dinky' than they do at my place. Once again, some settings may help there but it might just be the low quality of your soundcard. 

It is still worth having a look at though, even a 'dinky'  piano sound can still be useful for learning songs etc,  (I went around Australia once with as a member of a professional a-cappella group, and all we had with us was a portable keyboard that most kids would turn their nose up at, but it worked. 
It gave us the notes and was good enough for rehearsal.)

ADVANTAGES FOR THE SINGING STUDENT: 

1. You don't have to keep rewinding tapes. 

. 2. If you are having troubles with a particular PART of a song, I can send you a midi file that will just play THAT bit over and over at the click of the mouse.    --  You can really get that 'difficult bit' into your head then. Wouldn't that be useful? 

3. ALSO, by using the multi-track feature of MIDI programs, (the ability to ADD / REMOVE  bits of music 'on top of' something that has already been recorded) we can add guide vocal tracks to be removed later when you are ready to go without the 'training wheels'

4. We can change the key, speed (tempo) easily back and forth until you get the one you want.

5. Verse and chorus can be added and taken away easily. You can experiment with the 'form; of your performance of a song

                             Some extra information:

I'm often asked how to make a recording of a MIDI file,
so that it can be played on cassette recorder or a CD player.
ie: They want to know how to make a recording of a MIDI file
that they already have on their computer.  >>>   Follow this link