I’m attending the North Central American Choral Directors Association Conference, held locally in Minneapolis this year. I try to attend a number of performances and clinic sessions (brilliantly–and I mean that–scheduled apart from each other) as well as to spend time on the exhibit floor. You hear exquisite choirs, brilliant speakers, and most major choral publishers are present in the exhibits. What’s missing? Technology. SmartMusic is in attendance, and seems to be getting a moderate amount of interest, primarily in the concept of creating your own rehearsal tracks in Finale to be used with SmartMusic (a good use of the program for a choral setting–if your members have access to a copy of SmartMusic, which costs about $30 a copy for student use). Otherwise, I’ve seen CDs (and let’s be honest…what place do CDs have in the current digital music world?), computers and LCD projectors for presentations, and sound amplification.
To further my belief that technology is lacking at the conference, I noticed a tweet this morning by Jeff Kitson, a choir director at a Community College in Nebraska, who mentioned that he had not seen many tweets about the NCACDA Convention. I did a quick search myself (available through nearly any Twitter application–SmartPhone [AppPhone] or Computer) and there were about 30 total tweets about the conference, twenty of those by students who are performing at the NCACDA Convention. This tells me that the majority of attendees do not use Twitter–which is not a crime. (For the record, the Executive Secretary of the ACDA is at the Convention and uses Twitter, as does the very popular (and excellent) composer Eric Whitacre. There will be sessions on free choral music at the Library of Congress today, as well as an open topics forum on trends in education, where I expect to hear about technology.
Now, perhaps the problem is that vendors didn’t sign up for the Convention. That might be true…but certainly most major music publishers made it, as well as all the local music stores (those that carry printed music), and a plethora of colleges and travel agencies. If you know you can make sales at an event, you find a way to get there. If you fear that your time/money/energy will be wasted, you don’t show up. (I’m pleased to see SmartMusic, as that program has mainly been touted on the instrumental side for the last few conferences I’ve attended).
I attend MMEA (Minnesota Music Educator’s Association–Minnesota branch of the MENC) Conferences every year, and technology is limited there, too…although we often see both major music composition software packages represented (Sibelius and Finale), as well as a local music technology store named AABACA.
Let’s be perfectly honest: the profession of music education doesn’t need technology to function. I’d be willing to be that most of us that are currently teachers were taught without much technology at all, with the exception of tuners, stereo systems (8-track, record, cassette, or CD), and P/A or Amplification systems. Perhaps there were digital keyboards, too. In the choral world, a cappella music is considered to be the highest form of the art (debatable, perhaps, but look at the structure of music programs in secondary and undergraduate schools and tell me what kind of music the “top” groups perform), thus removing technology completely from the performance equation. And again, there is nothing wrong with that.
Is there an attitude against technology in music education? In the secondary and undergraduate levels, I think there can be (elementary educators have traditionally done a better job of grabbing on to any approach that will assist in student learning and interest). And perhaps technology has little or no place in the performance venue (thus the clear bias against the use of SmartMusic at contests I’ve participated in). But can we agree that technology can help even the best sight-reader and singer (instrumentalist) to learn their parts more effectively and rapidly? Is it possible the worst sight-readers and musicians could use technology to learn music? Can technology help us save limited resources (funding) for things we really need? Is it possible sheet music could be replaced by the iPad? Can we use technology to better communicate with our students (txtblaster, Twitter)? Can we use technology to better integrate sight-singing, music history, and music theory into our rehearsals (and on a side note, do our colleges and universities model “comprehensive” music education to collegiate ensembles?)? Can we use the ease of recording today for a number of uses?
I’ve said this before, and there are some exceptions, but in general, I feel that music education, particularly performance-based music education, can be stuck in time (1950?) with the exception of modern literature and CD/mp3 recordings. Shouldn’t we take advantage of the technology that exists…and perhaps expect its use in music education?
I’ve now been using a SMART Board for five months of teaching. In prior years, I had used a laptop and PowerPoint. About a year ago, I spoke at the MMEA Mid-Winter Convention and mentioned that I wasn’t sure how I would use a SMART Board in rehearsal. A year later, I have some concrete ideas, which I shared at this year’s MMEA Mid-Winter Convention.
First, however, I’d like to address perception regarding the SMART Board. Due to its most common application (elementary classrooms), some teachers (including myself in the past) felt that a SMART Board was better suited for the elementary level than the secondary level. In some ways, this is true. As I mentioned, the majority of “music” items in the SMART Gallery (included objects, animations, and backgrounds) would be better used by an elementary teacher than a secondary teacher. What this means is that secondary teachers are better served when they find or create their own SMART Board resources.
Here are a few of the ways that I’ve been using my SMART Board, most often on a daily basis:
Attendance
I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted in my career taking attendance. I’m sure my school is just like yours, where accuracy with attendance–and attendance taken by a licensed teacher (not a student)–is required. With choirs or bands…usually with double the membership of a traditional “class,” attendance takes time. There is a local high school with 120 students in each choir…I can’t imagine the time it takes to do attendance for those classes. With the SMART Board, I can make a sign-in, or even copy a class picture from our student information management system, and have students sign in. This has led to some issues, such as certain students “playing” too long as they sign in, making others wait, as well as “milling about” by students after they’ve signed in…but I still maintain that using the SMART Board saves a great deal of time each day with attendance.
Annoucements
I’m not sure if it was Sally Herman or Mike Smith that said this, but they always encouraged announcements before the last song. I can’t seem to find that timing, so announcements are the first thing I do after attendance. I also include the daily rehearsal schedule on the announcement page.
Warm-Ups
I’ve created a jpg (older files are tiff) of each warm-up we do in class, which I’ve grouped into days, and I select warm-ups from those days. In cases of choral arrangements for different parts, such as SSA, SATB, or even SAB, I have those all created as well. I find that when I put the warm-ups on the screen (something going back to my PowerPoint days), students keep their eyes on the screen and are less distracted. I also like the fact that they see the actual notes that go into a warm-up. For the first time, I took a passage out of a song we’re working on and recreated it in Finale, then exported it for the SMART Board, and we’re using that passage–until it’s mastered–as a daily warm-up. I also include sight singing in my warm-ups, and I’ve been putting Bruce Phelps’ Sight-Reading Method into Finale (with his permission). I take a screen shot (SMART Notebook functionality), and paste it into a SMART page. I also include an image that I borrowed from a student teacher years ago, which shows the solfege scale with ascending and descending half steps. That way we can identify accidentals before we begin.
History
SMART Boards make it so easy to put together lessons on music history…either about a composer whose work we are singing, or about any composer. Lately I’ve been using the “Composer of the Day” iPhone app from Wittenburg University, taking a “screen shot” of that page on my iPhone, e-mailing it to myself at school, pasting it into a SMART page, finding a picture of the composer, and then playing a sample of that composer each day.
Theory
Although we don’t have a theory class this year, I’m sure one will run next year. The ability to work on the SMART Board to teach theory concepts will be fantastic. I can quickly grab a background of music manuscript from the SMART Gallery, and quickly write examples on the SMART Board (rhythm, notes, etc.).
FreeHand Music Pad Pro Interaction
My last post was about the iPad and how it will be a logical venue for choral octavos. If you look at the comments, it appears that both FreeHand and its competitor (Music Reader) are in the process of making software for the iPad. Good! With all honesty, the best part of the Music Pad Pro we bought has been its software. The hardware has been my biggest disappointment. I’m able to pull up actual scores on the SMART Board, and interact with those scores using the MusicPad manager (something that Music Reader can do, too). In fact, FreeHand contacted me and let me know that they have some other ideas for integration with the SMART Board, something I haven’t had a chance to follow up on yet. The potential here is HUGE, pending that you can scan something cleanly. That’s why I love taking a PDF I’ve created from Finale and capturing part of it to a page in SMART Notebook…it results in a clean picture. Admittedly, many of my FreeHand scans are a bit fuzzy, although from a distance they look fine. This way, I can make notes in the music and show my students exactly where to write them. The next step, of course, would be for those marks to immediately broadcast to every iPad in the room…but that’s a future step.
Video Clips
I know of one area college-level director who uses a story from the internet (humorous) at every rehearsal. Some of us don’t have that comic timing (unless it’s a personal story, in my case). But there are a lot of video clips that either relate to what we’re doing (e.g. I was talking about an open vowel sound and used the example of E.F. Hutton “We EARN it,” and none of my students had ever seen the commercial, so I found it on YouTube, converted it to a FLV file, and showed it to my students) or just morale boosters (go find Beeker singing “Ode to Joy” on YouTube. You’ll see what I mean). If you want to convert files and place them in a SMART Notebook presentation, use a service like keepvid.com or zamzar.com (both are free) and then save those YouTube videos as a FLV file. If you don’t have YouTube access in your district, you may need to do this at home (or at your local library) and bring it to school on a flash drive.
In the Long Run,
The sky’s the limit. If you have a SMART Board, start small. Don’t try to impress. Do what you can. Try to incorporate your SMART Board every day. Marzano indicates that the most effective users of SMART Boards only use them a maximum of 76% each day (or less!). So the idea of “all SMART Board, all the time” isn’t supported by the research. But SMART Boards can make teaching more interesting, even in the field of music. Admittedly, our field has been resistant to change, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend changing just for change’s sake. But if you are getting a SMART Board, have one already, or are requesting one, you can use it effectively and powerfully in your classes. One final thought…although finances are limited, in many districts, there is money for technology, and principals often look for teachers who want to have technology in their rooms…and more often than not, those that ask, receive. So if you don’t have a SMART Board, ask.
Which SMART Board should you get?
Funny that you should ask. Our planning team chose the Promethean, the techs on our team chose another brand (I can’t remember the name offhand), but in the long run, the district went with SMART Boards (which led to a lot of complaining on the part of our school’s planning team, particularly with the six teachers trained to use a Promethean for a year). In the USA, it’s pretty clear that the SMART Board is the most popular board, meaning more resources and more users to lean on if problems arise. That said, the SMART Board isn’t multi-touch (something Apple users grow to love; by the way a 2-sided SMART Board is either in research or pending, allowing two users at once), but there are a plethora of accessories that just work, including a wireless slate, clickers (SMART Response–at least two varieties), document cameras, and more. Any board can revolutionize your teaching; SMART is a safe bet.
Just over two weeks ago, Apple announced the iPad, a portable tablet computer that will be based on the iPhone operating system. Devices won’t begin to ship until March, but Apple is advertising the device, and tech bloggers are offering opinions. At the moment, the tech world is reacting negatively to the device, mainly because of its “closed” operating system (if you want to write programs for the device, you need to be an Apple approved developer, and your programs need to be approved by Apple for the App Store). They had similar reactions to the iPhone when it was released, and history has set the record straight on that device.
The iPad is designed to be an e-reader, much like the Kindle or the Nook, but it is also a much faster platform in full color. It has a touch screen and can run all iPhone/iPod Touch Applications. It can link to the Internet through wi-fi (standard) or 3G (additional cost for the device plus monthly fees). So basically, it’s a big iPhone.
Is there room for a big iPhone in the market? I think so. In fact, I’d bet on it (it might be a good time to buy stock in Apple). I do a lot of reading on my iPhone, and it’s not an ideal platform for reading. An iPad would be ideal, with full size pages, and Apple is already in negotiations to offer books, newspapers, and magazines on the device…plus it will allow for e-pub documents, a standard used by other e-readers, so if you already own some books in an e-format, you may not have to lose out on them. There will still be a market for the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and Sony e-readers, but that market will be diminished with a device that is so much better for browsing the Internet and running other applications.
How does this apply in the field of music? In the field of music, much of our literature is in printed in octavo format, which is usually 5 inches wide and 8 inches high (this can vary by publisher). With a 4×3 (or 3×4 format), a height of 9.56 inches and a width of 7.47 inches, the iPad will be a perfect device for showing choral octavos. There are devices out there with the ability to show music like Freehand Music Tablet (I’ve written about this on the blog in previous posts), but the iPad will be faster, cleaner, more responsive, and easier to work with. I’ve already e-mailed Freehand, asking them to make their software available as a iPad program. Additionally, our Freehand tablet was $800. The iPad begins at $500, and will drop in price as time goes on.
As for band and orchestra students, we’ll have to wait for an oversized iPad…but I have no doubt that such a device will eventually arrive. After all, MacBooks not only come in a 13″ size, but up to 17″, and iMacs come all the way to 27″ (they are simply huge).
I’d also look for music publishers to be finding ways to capitalize on this development. I see a future where publishers will make a subscription-based annual fee for music, and music departments will pay per student to have access to all music in their catalog. This will eliminate one of the challenges of music education…storage, organization, and upkeep of music collections. It would also allow music publishers to pay composers/arrangers on a per use basis (much like the recording industry).
Years ago, sitting in the Oconomowoc High School Wind Symphony with my tuba, I dreamed of a day when each music stand would be a music display, eliminating paper and pencil forever. Technology has developed to a point where this is a possibility, and I look forward to the benefits our profession will experience as a result!
To see more about the iPad, visit http://www.apple.com/iPad
I will be offering two sessions at the MMEA Mid-Winter In-Service Clinic Program.
The first is on Thursday, February 11, on the use of technology in music education (in general). 4:30-5:30 in Room L100A.
The second is on Friday, February 12, on the use of SMART Boards in Secondary Music. 10:30-11:30 in Room L100A.
| My wife and I have owned iPhones since October 2008, and we owned a first generation iPod Touch for a few months before buying iPhones. In that period of time, we’ve downloaded over 360 applications (and we’ve deleted a few). Some of those apps stay on my phone, others visit a short while and then simply are stored in iTunes. Perhaps you are a new owner of an iPhone or iPod Touch, or you have one and are simply looking for recommendations. By all means, these aren’t the only apps on my iPhone, and there are others that I use. But these are the applications I use most. Here are my top applications on my iPhone at the end of 2009. |
 NetNewsWire
I read a number of blogs, most of them iPhone or Apple oriented. This application is one of the best RSS readers, even having undergone a change where the application pulls your blogs from Google Reader (NetNewsWire used to provide its own blog subscription hosting). If you are an RSS reader, or you read a number of blogs, this is a great program to have. |
 Stanza
Stanza, although owned by Amazon.com, has not disappeared into the Kindle brand, and in fact, was recently upgraded and revised. I love Stanza because the desktop version can open nearly any kind of text file and convert it to a format that can be read on your iPhone (including PDFs and Word Documents). Stanza is used every night as my free time for reading is usually right before I fall asleep for the evening. My current read? The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (including the Hobbit). |
 The Weather Channel
We live in Minnesota. Enough said. |
 TweetDeck
I have six Twitter apps installed on my iPhone, and I use nearly all of them. TweetDeck is my favorite for reading entries. I like how it allows you to swipe between accounts (including Facebook). Posting doesn’t always work so well, particularly if you try to post a picture to two different accounts. For posting, I’ll usually fall back to Twittelator Pro, or my new 2nd favorite Twitter app, HootSuite (which allows you to schedule Tweets…very useful if you use Twitter [as I do] for announcements). |
 Mint.com
Mint.com is a very powerful service, which allows you to keep track of all your finances. We’re in the process of buying a new house and changing banks, a bank which has a relationship with Mint.com. In addition, you can track credit cards, investments, and automatically keep a budget. This is a powerful app, although many users are afraid because it was recently purchased by Quicken. Mint.com only accesses your account data, it cannot transfer balances or make payments. |
 Olive Tree NIV Bible Reader
I don’t apologize for my Christian faith, and I need access to a Bible on my iPhone for church and personal devotions. I like Olive Tree’s iPhone application very much, and I also have downloaded additional translations to use. This application underwent a major revision this year and looks great. |
 TextNow
Please see my previous post for an in-depth discussion of text messaging programs, TextFree Unlimited is also on our phones. |
 Cleartune
As a choir director, I seldom have use for a tuner, but the pitch generator on this app serves me VERY well as a pitch pipe. Highly recommended. |
 Guitar Toolkit
The best guitar package, unbelievable for tuning guitars. Although it is pricey in iPhone App terms, it is money well spent. |
 Fluent News
A great, free news reader, which provides top news compiled from several sources. Much more reliable than many of the newspaper apps we’ve used in the past. |  Sportacular
A way to see how games are doing, if you love sports. A new feature this year was the addition of pushed updates (you set the frequency). This has been great for the football season. |
 DoodleJump
DoodleJump has to be my favorite iPhone game, even though I can’t seem to get past 34,000 points. |
 iQuarium
Sort of a dumb concept, yet every day I enter the app and feed my fish. Go figure. |
 Dragon Dictation
I haven’t used it much, but I should. Speak and have what you say dictated, copy it to an e-mail or text message, and be done with it. |
 Grocery IQ
You can now scan items into the list. Fantastic. This changes the very nature of the application, if you need a shopping list. |
 Dan Bricklin’s Note Taker
A new app for me, but one that seems very useful to actually write notes. If the program could offer OCR, then it would be the best of all possible worlds. |
Text messaging becomes an essential form of communication to those who use it; so much so that I’ve strongly urged my fellow high school music teachers to utilize TxtBlaster (www.txtblaster.com) to communicate messages to their entire choir (and parents, if they sign up as well). Students check their text messages; they check their e-mail far less often. This is hard for anyone older than 23 to comprehend; we are linked to e-mail, and few of us are as attached to text messaging. This generational shift can be seen with the latest iPod Nano; People over age 23 don’t understand why anyone would want a video camera on a device without a still camera. Meanwhile, the Nano has really hit its mark with the under 23 generation, which loves to post to YouTube. As a side note, TxtBlaster only works (for the moment) for traditional cell phones; students using iPhone/iPod Touch texting applications will not be able to use TxtBlaster at this time.
iPhone and AT&T SMS/MMS Messaging
Text messaging is a huge money maker for cell providers. From what I’ve learned, text messages are carried on a basically unused “side channel” of normal cell communication, costing a cell provider nothing, yet the cell user must pay insane costs per text message (usually $.20 to send or receive, $.30 for a MMS), or they must subscribe for a plan of service that includes unlimited texting or pay for a texting plan.
AT&T Messaging Plans for iPhone (December 2009)
In the case of AT&T, the sole iPhone provider in the United States, you have three options: $5.00 per user for 200 text messages a month; $15 per user for 1500 text messages per month, $20 per user for unlimited text messages per month, or $30 for unlimited text messages on a family account. My family’s strategy has been to pay $5.00 for 200 monthly messages ($10 total), and then to use iPhone applications to text message each other, saving those 200 AT&T messages for people that insist on sending messages that way.
If you own a iPod Touch, there are no texting plans available from AT&T, as an iPod Touch is not a cellular phone (this may seem obvious, but some people are not aware of the difference between an iPod Touch and an iPhone).
There are a few iPhone apps that allow for “free” texting for iPhones and iPod Touches, and I have personally used four of them: TextNow, TextFree Unlimited, Ping!, and WhatsApp.
TextNow
A recent App purchase in our home is TextNow, an application that allows the owner to send unlimited text messages (SMS, not MMS [pictures, video]) for three months ($.99 app purchase), with the ability to buy an in-app subscription for a year ($5.99) or lifetime ($7.99). This application works over 3G (iPhones) or wi-fi (iPod Touches or iPhones), and seems relatively fast to load and send/receive messages. During the 2009 Holiday season, the application also included all the possible background images and notification sounds that were available at the time (normally an in-app purchase). You choose an e-mail address at textnow.me where anyone can send a text message to you; or you can simply send a text message to anyone, and they can respond to you (and add you to their favorites that way). The company has been quick to respond to e-mail questions to their support e-mail address. The application also “pushes” notifications, just like AT&T’s “official” SMS/MMS service. There is a “lite” version to try if you don’t want to invest $.99 for three months. Just a reminder that an iPod Touch needs a wi-fi connection to use this application!
TextFree Unlimited
Our standby for free texting on our iPhones and iPod Touch has been TextFree Unlimited. TextFree Unlimited is $5.99, and gives you one year of texting (if you bought the app before July 2009, it was a lifetime purchase). Recently, if you purchased the app for $5.99, they are offering the ability to include advertisements in your application to avoid the $5.99 yearly fee. TextFree has overall been good for us…it has all of the same services as TextNow, including push notifications, SMS (no MMS), and in-app purchases of themes and sounds. Just like TextNow, you choose an e-mail address at textfree.us where anyone can send a text message to you; or you can simply send a text message to anyone, and they can respond to you (and add you to their favorites that way). However, the app is slow to load (even more so on my wife’s iPhone 3G), and there are times that messages don’t get sent immediately, or don’t notify the recipient that there is a new message waiting for them. There is also a free version of this application available, if you want to check out the app before buying the full version. Just a reminder that an iPod Touch needs a wi-fi connection to use this application!
Ping!
The last two applications I will mention are not truly SMS services, but they act like an SMS service. One is called Ping! Ping sells for $.99, and allows iPhone to iPhone messaging. I’ve had issues with this application on wi-fi networks (such as the one at our school), which seems to block the port used by this messaging app (at home and on the AT&T 3G network, it works fine). The true benefit of this app is the author’s intent to write a sister application for several other popular mobile phones, like Blackberry and Android operating systems. This app was once free, which is when I downloaded it, but at $.99 with no future fees, and if you know others with iPhones and iPod Touches, it might be worth the investment. Again, iPod Touches need wi-fi access to take advantage of this application.
The final application is also not a SMS program, it is a iPhone to iPhone messaging service, called WhatsApp. This application sells for $.99, and offers some features not offered by Ping!, primarily the ability to send pictures, audio, and text messages from iPhone to iPhone. Again, if everyone in your “circle” has an iPhone, this is a good app to own. I’ve had issues with this application on our school wi-fi network as well (the port has been closed, just like Ping!), but it works well in our house and over the AT&T 3G network. I was also fortunate enough to download this app when it was free (many are when they are introduced). Again, iPod Touches need wi-fi access to take advantage of this application.
What texting app should you purchase? Any of them, compared to the ridiculous AT&T text messaging plans. My wife and I save $20 a month by only subscribing to the $5 text plan ($10 total) instead of the $30 plan. Here are some examples of how much you can save: TextFree Unlimited is $5.99 per year, per phone. That’s $12.00 annually compared to $240 per year (we bought the app before the annual fee was instated, but this is just for comparison’s sake). TextNow, our current app of choice, is $7.99 per phone for a lifetime subscription, $16.00 forever (let’s just call it 3 years, just in case) versus $720 through AT&T. If you use Ping! or WhatsApp, it’s a $.99 investment compared to any AT&T plan.
It’s pretty clear to see how any of these apps is potentially worth the investment. To save some money (and keep AT&T from having yours), choose one (or more) and download it (them) today.
This past Monday, I had the chance to present a session on our new high school at the 2009 TIES Conference held in Minneapolis. I also had the opportunity to look around the vendor area and attend a few sessions. One of the sessions I attended was about “Twitter for Professionals.” In the session, the presenter mentioned a web-based Twitter service (which now has an iPhone application) called “HootSuite.” One of my colleagues at my high school had heard about the service, but it was new to me.
Compared to other Twitter clients, HootSuite seems to have two unique properties offered by no other service. First, it allows you to schedule tweets. This is a powerful function: if you have a concert in a week, and you want to send a tweet that afternoon to remind parents & students about the concert, call times, and so on, you don’t have to wait until that afternoon to compose the tweet. You can write the tweet a week early, and schedule it to send. If items change, you cannot edit that “pending tweet,” but you can delete it before it is sent and send a corrected tweet.
Second, HootSuite allows multiple users to access one Twitter account. This might be something I’ll look into for our high school, or even for the Technology Integration Specialists. This would allow any number of authorized users to send a tweet.
HootSuite has a plethora of other functions, but they are replicated in most Twitter clients; the logo, however, is adorable.
HootSuite is available as an online service at http://www.hootsuite.com, and it is an iPhone App, too.
I’d like to take a moment to recommend two non-music apps that might be of use for the average iPhone user.
The first app is one I’ve had on my iPhone for a long time, GroceryIQ. GroceryIQ is a shopping list, which was purchased quite some time ago by coupons.com. There are some in-app ads (not obtrusive), and the program offers coupons. The newest version of the program allows you to share lists with other users (e.g. family members) and to scan a barcode of an existing item to put it in your list. I’ve been playing with this feature throughout the night, and only found one item that wasn’t in their database. I can’t seem to find a way to submit a bar code, either. Nonetheless, GroceryIQ was always my favorite shopping list, and this new scanning feature makes this program incredible. I’m sure it works like some other bar code scanners (which I’ll try in the near future), but I am still amazed at the speed and accuracy of the program. At $.99, it is worth having on your phone.
The other app was released this week, and is receiving much attention (even from one of my favorite tech columnists, the New York Times David Pogue). The program is called “Dragon Dictation,” which transcribes what you speak into their program, which can be edited and copied/pasted to any other application. This is quite simply an amazing program, and it is going to save a lot of people a lot of time. I am sure that the next version of the iPhone OS will allow limited programs to run in the background (like the iPhone’s competitors), allowing this program to operate all the time and interact with other programs (e-mail, etc.). The cost of Dragon Dictation? Free. But it doesn’t work on the iPod Touch–yet.
Both of these apps are apps that will simplify my life, and they probably have the potential to simplify yours, too. If you have an iPhone, I highly recommend both of them to you.
Two companies recently contacted me, and asked me if I would consider reviewing their programs. The first was Tonal Memory Trainer (by BidBox LLC).
Tonal Memory Trainer
The idea behind Tonal Memory Trainer is to develop perfect pitch. The program features levels, each adding another note of the Western musical scale. You are asked to identify the pitches on a keyboard which actually is split between the bottom and the top of the stage. You are given a period of time in which to answer at least twenty pitches correctly before moving to the next level.
I have to admit that I’m skeptical of any person’s ability to develop perfect pitch, even though I’ve known three people in my life with perfect pitch. I think continual exposure to certain pitches causes the development of relative pitch. As such, I’m not sure the application can do what it claims to do. Furthermore, the mixture of keyboard and note names, while not truly following the conventional keyboard (split between the top and the bottom of the screen, the keys facing each other) can only lead to confusion for later migration to the keyboard. Finally, I found the pitches to be less random than would be desired. Notes repeated quite frequently, sometimes three or four times in a row (even at level 4, which uses six pitches), and if you indicate a note incorrectly, you usually are given that same “wrong” note when you start identifying pitches again.
I’m grateful for the demo code and the chance to try programs like Tonal Memory Trainer, but it won’t be remaining on my iPhone, and it is hard to recommend to others. I do appreciate the efforts of developers to bring apps to the iPhone that are intended to build musical skills. If you are intrigued by the program, it is available on the Apple AppStore for $2.99.
The second app I had the chance to work with was GrooveMaker House.
GrooveMaker House
GrooveMaker is a collection of applications (eight) that allow you to mix certain groves together, alter their speed, instrumentation, and style, and to make your own music. If you like this sort of application, GrooveMaker is a fantastic program. It is well designed and is frequently on the “top seller” list of all apps in the Apple AppStore. However, as I told the representative who sent me a demo code for the program, I am still unsure of the usefulness of this app in music education, and I know that I won’t use it in my program. However, the representative did have some suggestions, mentioning that GrooveMaker can teach:
- Music sequencing (making a song from scratch using loops, exporting a completed song)
- Mixing (using master track controls, panning, volume, to make different aspects of each track audible)
- Remixing (using preexisting materials to make your own song)
- Song Construction (learning the different parts of a song)
- Multi-Track Recording (how all parts [e.g. drums, bass, lead, vocals, etc.] are mixed into a song)
- Tempo (learning how pitch affects tempo)
All these items are true, but I have to admit that I struggle as a classically-trained musician to fit “mixing” and “techno beat” music into a classically-centered performance curriculum. If a school was teaching an electronic music course (a select few do), this would be a great app. I think many people would enjoy playing with the app (thus its popularity on the AppStore). Ultimately, any time you take existing music and remix it, you are creating something new–that’s undeniable. However, I want every music app that I use in education to point back to the elemental skills of music performance, including the ability to read and write music…something that GrooveMaker doesn’t do (you can become an awesome DJ without actually knowing much about music theory at all…it helps, but it isn’t necessary).
So, my take: GrooveMaker is an awesome mixing program that can teach skills in music mixing, and anyone can use it. It’s just a bit of a tough sell to the music education crowd to be used directly in music education. You can purchase any of the GrooveMaker titles in the Apple AppStore, most are $9.99, but there is currently one free version as well as one for $4.99.
I appreciate the opportunity to review apps, as well as demo codes…but there are times when I personally don’t see the connection of an app to music education, or I don’t see the usefulness of an app in music education. However, these are my opinions, and you may have differing opinions. If either of these apps is appealing to you, please don’t let my opinions sway your own choices. And if you’ve used these apps and found them useful in education, take a moment to add a comment!
It’s November, and my last review of Twitter apps was in August. In that time, Apple has sold billions of Apps on the Apple App Store, and there are now over 100,000 apps available in the store. It seems that the majority of the apps are games, and the balance are either niche software applications (for example, one app that runs the lights in our auditorium–which I have not purchased–for $50) or based on Twitter, RSS, or bodily noises.
There are ton of Twitter apps, and I know that I’m not going to download them all, particularly when I’m already familiar with some of the quality apps.
I currently have four Twitter apps on my iPhone, although I could be talked into reducing them to two. The four apps are:
- TweetDeck v.1.1.1
- Tweetie 2
- Twittelator Pro
- Birdhouse
TweetDeck was the most recent release, and it still is the same, although it now allows for posting of videos as well as integration with Facebook, which I used and then quickly shut off. Facebook is just too active! I still love the unique interface of TweetDeck, and you cannot beat the price. It can be difficult to toggle which Twitter accounts you wish to post to, but still, a great program.
For a while, I was using Tweetie 2 exclusively, but as of late, I’ve been getting errors with Tweetie 2. I switch to a more traditional form of a Twitter app to post…particularly with platforms that I know are more stable. So my go-to program remains Twittelator Pro, which has just about every possible option other than notifications (and the author recommends the purchase of Boxcar for such notifications).
I keep Birdhouse on my iPhone incase I ever want to draft any Tweets ahead of time, or I want to ponder a tweet some more.
If push came to shove, I would keep TweetDeck and Twittelator Pro on my phone.
I also need to give credit to TweetSync on Facebook, whcih allows me to post to Facebook when I send a tweet, if I include a special character (I’ve settled on the ^ symbol to activate a tweet to Facebook).
I stand assured that Twitter is a great way to communicate…if you put your Twitter feed on your website, you can keep your notices up-to-date all the time. And I still recommend Txtblaster for communicating with high school students.
So, although the programs have improved since August, my list remains basically the same. Any questions?
