This blog is about my integration of technology into music education. In specific this will be a journal of how well the iPad from Apple can fit into, enhance and replace my current tech. I believe this device holds great promise and I really do not know what it is capable of. I have no idea of how to even describe it or tell others what I want to do with it.
I teach band grades 5 to 12, five different band classes every day of the week. I love using technology and i love teaching band. The question I am always trying to answer is how to integrate technology into my teaching to make things easier, better and help the students enjoy and understand what we are trying to do in class. The other issue the music teachers in my district are trying answer is how to make music relative to today’s world that our students live in.
ipadmusiced.wordpress.com 
I created a collection of fingering applications and a metronome that conducts beat patterns for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad.
I think these offer an extraordinary resource to music educators. There are over 1100 woodwind fingerings illustrated alone.
iPhone applications:
Fingering
Fingering Brass for iPhone
Fingering Woodwinds for iPhone
Note Names & Pitches
Maestro
iPad applications:
Fingering for iPad
Fingering Brass
Fingering Woodwinds
Maestro XL
A detailed explanation is here: http://fingering.patrickqkelly.com and at http://maestro.patrickqkelly.com
The list of instruments in the fingering applications:
• Note Names (Treble, Alto, Tenor & Bass clefs)
• Piano (Treble & Bass clefs)
• Piccolo, Concert, Alto & Bass Flutes
with m2, M2, m3, M3 trill fingerings
• Oboe, Cor Anglais
with m2, M2 trill fingerings
• Soprano, Alto, Bass & Contrabass Clarinets
with m2, M2 trill fingerings
• Bassoon & Contrabassoon
with m2, M2 trill fingerings
• Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophones
with m2, M2, m3, M3 trill fingerings
• F/Bb Double French Horn (Treble & Bass clefs)
• A, Bb, C & D Trumpet / Cornet / Flugelhorn
• Tenor/Bass Trombone (Treble, Tenor & Bass clefs)
• Euphonium & Baritone (Treble, Tenor & Bass clefs)
• BBb & CC Tubas (Treble & Bass clefs) (iPad versions also include the Eb & F Tubas)
Treble clef on the brass instruments follow British Band tradition of being in transposing notation for non-transposing instruments.
Affects Trombone, Euphonium/Baritone and BBb (Eb & F) Tuba.
The Maestro & Maestro XL metronomes conduct over 120 different beat patterns in either the conductor’s point of view or the performer’s point of view. So you can learn either how to conduct or follow baton patterns. It makes a nice visual metronome for when you need it to be quiet.
Thank you,
Patrick Q. Kelly
I’m just looking to gather info for iPad use in a band room setting. Thanks for sharing your experiences/insights!
Just found your blog through the Tech in Music Ed blog. I too am trying to figure out how to incorporate the iPad into band. I teach middle school band (grades 6-8) and small group lessons for elementary and middle school. I use the Rainbow Notes app with my beginners as a fun way to reinforce note names on the staff.
Glad you found this blog Mary. I had not seen the Rainbow Notes app before! It looks very colorful! I look forward to hearing more from you as you look around and read a few things. I’ve been writing since the day I got back from Spring Break last year and had bought my first iPad.
There is another blog very similar to mine but written by a choir director that you might like too – http://techinmusiced.wordpress.com/
I forgot to ask… so I take it that your kids have access to the iPad as well as you? How much access do they have?
Dear Paul,
I am a 79 year old who has been taking jazz piano lessons for 9 years and loving it. I am struggling with Notion and would love to know if you would give me an hour or so of your time as a tutor to be paid of course? I am quite capable on a computer and iPad and want to use an Apple Pencil on my 6th gen iPad. Thank you,
Peter (pssidel@gmail.com).
Thanks for all your research! I just downloaded Reflection App and use it with my iPad. One of my favorite activities with the band is to put the scores up on the projector so students can see how their parts fit in. With ForScore and Reflection I can get rid of the clumsy dongle. Plus I can walk around the room with scores and tuners etc. At some point, I would love to see my school go to a one-to-one iPad program. Thanks again!
I know! Isn’t this wonderful! It brings an entire new level of interaction to our rehearsals!
I see you are starting a web site/ Blog for your band! Good stuff. Keep it going!
Thanks Paul. We are working hard at integrating more technology. I’m really enjoying reading your blog.
I’ve started to migrate some of my website contents to wordpress, since Apple is no longer updating iWeb. Unfortunately I’ve put so much into my iWeb site, it’s going to take me a while to get a wordpress blog up and running as efficiently. You can check it out at http://band.d92.org
Thanks!!
Bill
Wow! You do have quite a bit to get moved over. The good news is that once yu figure out how WordPress works and how to move it all over it becomes easy. I think even easier than iWeb was.
HI teachers.
I just released a suite of apps with music teachers in mind. – Music Theory Basics – contains modules that test – Notes, (piano and notation), Keys, Intervals, Chords, and Rhythms. – they can all be customized quite a bit. The best part is that it records all the tests taken with the student’s name, date, etc. the parameters of the test – in an editable list. – so you could essentially pass it around the class, with each student entering their name -take a quiz (or a few) and then give it back and you would have the results to monitor how the kids are doing with basic music skills. anyway, check it out.
Descriptions af these and my other apps (interactive fingering charts, etc.) can be found at patrickqkelly.com – thanks.
I would like an app that has the pitch tendencies for all band instruments.
Hmmm… Good one Mandy. Not aware of one. I will look though.
Our high school music department is in the process of purchasing a large number of i-Pads (20-50, awaiting new pricing model from Apple after Tuesday’s announcement) and a few laptops to enhance what we do in our classes. We have used a lot of information in your blog to move us in a good direction. Thank you for all of your experiences as we have found them invaluable. We’ll be doing this with band, choir, guitar and music theory using a mix of apps, websites, full software (SmartMusic, Finale/Sibelius, Musition, Auralia, etc.) all through a Promethean Board. I am sure we will encounter hiccups, but your blog has been a great help to us. Thank you!
I am very glad to hear your comment! That’s great that you have found such helpful information here.
I am also very jealous that you guys have found the money to purchase that many iPads! It will be a very interesting, and I believe beneficial, journey for you and your students. The things that you will be able to do with those iPads as a part of your program now will open new doors and learning experiences. My son just wrote a paper that points out how students are expected to learn in the same manner in so many classes when in fact we teachers know they don’t benefit from that type of instruction.
Keep us posted here about things that work and don’t work. In fact, I encourage you to start your own blog and share with the world how this works for you all!
Our school has implemented a 1:1 iPad program, and we are in our second year. As a teacher of middle school band and choir, I am just beginning to experiment with iPad use. I used the SoundNote app quite a bit this year to collect samples of the kids’ playing/singing and then assessing them individually.
A Drum Method for iPad!
Hello Teachers! I have just released myDrumbook which is a digital drum method for iPad and OSX, available at the Apple iBooks Store. It’s a new fun and easy way to learn how to play the drums. The possibilities with an e-book are unlimited and myDrumbook is much more interactive than a traditional printed book. Clear pictures, mp3 files in different beats, fills, grooves and video clips guide you through the lessons. You can find more information on https://itunes.apple.com/se/book/mydrumbook/id635033317,
http://www.beatnote.se,
https://www.facebook.com/beatnote
http://www.youtube.com/BeatnoteCompany.
I hope you will find this interesting.
Mats from Sweden
RhythmiCity for the iPad!
Hello Music Teachers,
Here is a great resource for your music students.
I have just released “RhythmiCity” which is an amazing new app that turns the iPad into a library of musical rhythmic patterns. This app can be used to practice new rhythms, learn difficult rhythms, expand your rhythm vocabulary, increase the ability to quickly recognize common rhythmic patterns and help solve sight-reading issues. Rhythmicity includes an full-featured metronome, rhythm tutorial assistant, piano keyboard and up to ten practice levels from easy to difficult.
Its available at the Apple iTunes App Store.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rhythmicity/id766756872?mt=8&uo=4
http://www.rhythmicityapp.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheRhythmicityapp
Hope you like it,
Calvin from USA
Very interesting blog !
I use iPad for music creation too, one of my favorite app is “Garageband”, take a look on my last cover :
See you soon I’m a follower 🙂
Glad you are finding some helpful info on my blog! So glad to see you enjoying using the iPad to create music! It’s so much fun to create on the iPad!
Hi Paul,
Thanks for this great blog, and for giving so many kids the gift of music! I think I found you from Chris Russell’s site a few weeks ago. I would like to send you an email about my iOS app but can’t find a way to do that directly. Would you please email me?
Thanks,
Nathan Vonnahme
TonallyAweso.me
Hi Paul,
I recently released an interactive iPad recorder method called “Go for the Gold! Recorder!”
Based on your posts, I think you would really enjoy it.
“Go for the Gold! Recorder” is an interactive method created for specifically for iPad music education.
Touch the screen to reveal the note name and fingering. Play along with the music.
Cross curriculum learning encompasses Geography, Global Cultures, Sports Competition.
Created for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners in mind!
Especially designed for 1:1 iPad music education settings.
I’d love to get your thoughts on it!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/go-for-the-gold-recorder/id809441884?ls=1&mt=11
Best,
Kevin
Hi Kevin, I will pas this info on to our elementary music teacher as well! Thanks for letting us know about it! We will both take a look!
Great! Looking forward to your input! -Kevin
I believe you should be interested in AURALBOOK app by Playnote. It is an artificial intelligence music teacher who can teach music. The design is based on international examination authority. You must love it. Review and see what is your comment. Visit their product website http://www.auralbook.com
Dear Mr. Shimmons,
I’d like to draw your attention to the app for iPad that enables music performance students to take instant multimedia notes during their individual lessons – audio, video, graphics, and text. The core advantage of these notes is that they are presented directly within the music text. So that a student can see at a glance what are the main tasks the teacher has set.
Here is the preview of the app on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4B7B-QLUTQ
And here is the link to App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lessonnoter/id648631076?mt=8
The app is called ‘Music Lesson Noter’ (on App Store it’s listed as ‘LessonNoter’).
If you find a few minutes to look at it and let me know what you think, I’d really appreciate it.
Best regards,
Igor Borodin
Good way of showing, and appealing post to get information on the area of interest of my presentation subject matter, which i am going to show in academy.
Hi Paul,
EarMaster is a brand new iPad app for ear training, sight-singing practice and rhythm study. A PC/Mac version has been around for years, and the iPad port includes all the goodies from the desktop version: live vocal input with real-time evaluation of pitch and rhythm accuracy, rhythm tapping on the screen of the iPad with instant feedback, thousands of lessons for beginners to advanced levels on intervals, chords, cadences, scales, dictations, detailed stats, etc. For music schools, it’s also fully compatible with EarMaster Cloud, with Cloud syncing of assignments and results.
I hope you’ll check it out: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/earmaster-ear-training-sight/id1105030163?mt=8
Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want more info!
Cheers,
Quentin /EarMaster ApS
Utterly written written content, Really enjoyed looking through.