Slightly off topic - Force Time Machine to Backup Now

Hi All,
Being new to Macs and Logic, I have tried to organize my files, drives, etc. I use an external Glyph HD which has a root folder called Recordings. Under that, each project has it's own folder.
While using Logic, I turn off Time Machine and AirPort.
When I'm finished, I want to back up my projects to the time machine drive before I shutdown. I do Shutdown the iMac because I only use it for recording, and may not use it for days at a time.
Is there a way to force Time Machine to do a backup on demand? I have looked high and low and can't seem to do it.
In the PC world, I would just write a batchfile, or use a small utility to copy files that have changed since the last backup.
Having this backup utility built in, I was hoping to take advantage of it.
If this is not possible, can someone suggest a utility that will backup only files that have changed? Again, brand new MAC user here.
PS - I do have an external 500GB drive just for the backups.
Thanks in advance .... and Happy Holidays!
Peter

There are free apps, or shareware at least to give you complete control over when Timemachine backs up. Also if you're external is a LaCie they provide a very good free backup app called silver keeper.
There is also Carbon Copy Cloner, which I understand can be made to work in this way.

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    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
    <plist version="1.0">
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              <array>
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              </array>
              <key>standardExclusionPaths</key>
              <array>
                        <string>/.MobileBackups</string>
                        <string>/MobileBackups.trash</string>
                        <string>/.MobileBackups.trash</string>
                        <string>/.Spotlight-V100</string>
                        <string>/.TemporaryItems</string>
                        <string>/.Trashes</string>
                        <string>/.com.apple.backupd.mvlist.plist</string>
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    jmhoskin wrote:
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