SmartMusic for iPad has arrived!

I’m not going to say much right now but I must let you know that SmartMusic for iPad is here! More coming in the fall. Go read more at their web site!

Practice Anytime, Anywhere

SmartMusic is available on an iPad near you! Download it now on the Apple App Store.

The SmartMusic iPad app combines many of the great practice features that make SmartMusic your first choice in practicing, with the convenience of an iPad, including:

• Music onscreen
• Ability to save and compare takes
• Record and listen to your performance
• Select start and stop measures
• Adjust tempo
• Supports woodwinds, brass, percussion, string, and voice
• Shows your successes and areas for improvement (red/green notes)
• Access to the SmartMusic content library (with subscription)

Promising new Apps for iOS toting Music teachers

Well actually that post title is a bit misleading! These are just some promising new apps that I’ve run across in this month. Now I’m not saying these are apps that JUST came out – you can do the research on THAT. What I am saying though is that I just ran across them this month and I’m liking them.

InstaShare - need to share a file or a  photo? Want to share it right now? Try this service!

Quik.io - is another app much like InstaShare – In fact it claims to be the FedEx of media files!

Like Evernote but want to try something new and fresh? Have you seen Moxtra? Moxtra will help you master the chaos plus share it plus allow online meetings and remote access! I wonder if this would work for online portfolios?

Speaking of portfolios – that makes me think of grading which makes me think of ways to grade better and easier! Which then made me think of PE – no wait… that’s just where this next app came from… Mr. Robbo over at http://thepegeek.com . Easy Assessment App – Create groups, add students then you create rubrics and add items to grade in that rubric. Then you start grading away! This is very slick! Quick too!

If you have run across any great, new, promising technologies/apps leave a comment so we can check them out!

iPad and Music Recording Apps (Audio and MIDI)

So I have been checking out apps that I can record audio and MIDI with on my iPad – here are some of my observations…

First of all there are several major features that are involved in looking at these DAW’s – 1)Recording of Audio – both from the obvious external source like a mic, guitar, wind instrument, etc… but also through the integration of AudioBus that allows recording of audio from other apps. 2)Recording of MIDI – both virtual MIDI as well as being able to access external MIDI equipment 3)Built-in synths, drum machines and sounds or loops.

With AudioBus integration the need for “everything” being built into one app starts to go away. NanoStudio, for instance, has a huge user base because it has allowed people to create some amazing recordings all in one app – go search SoundCloud. You don’t have to go purchase additional hardware synths, audio interfaces, MIDI interfaces or mics and you don’t need the additional purchase of synth apps or FX apps!

With AudioBus enabled apps though I can now use any app to record into another app. This allows the developers of Auria, for instance, to focus on creating an awesome app for recording audio while other developers focus their attention on creating really cool synth apps or drum machines for instance. I’m not so sure that the all in one is the HUGE benefit it was just a short few months ago (like November of 2012 – 3 months ago)

  GarageBand was the first obvious purchase -

• PROS
• So many very cool instruments built in
• Capable of recording audio
• Capable of using external MIDI keyboard to control internal sounds
• Smart Instruments – go read their description and watch the video – very very cool, especially for elementary kids, middle school kids and those without the musical training needed to play the parts themselves!
• Jam Sessions! Jam three friends (4 total people) over wi-fi or blue-tooth. How much fun would THIS be in a classroom setting! This is THE REAL GARAGEBAND FEELING!
• Now has AudioBus integration! (This is huge for AudioBus for Apple to throw their support behind AudioBus!)
• Has iPhone version and Desktop Versions
• CONS
• Will not play external MIDI keyboards!

   MultiTrack DAW – my second purchase because of recommendations of friends on the internet! I LOVE people who share!

• PROS
• Great abilities when recording audio – 8 tracks of stereo upgradable to 24
• per track compressor and EQ – also has delay and reverb built-in
• Very simple to understand
• AudioBus integration (one of the first DAW to do so!)
• Will record up to 8 tracks of audio at once
• CONS
• No MIDI at all

   MusicStudio – my third purchase – again because of friends on Twitter. There is a massive sea of apps out there – ask around to see what others are using and what is working well for them!

• PROS
• Records audio and MIDI both! (Yea!)
• Records up to 24 tracks of audio at once!
• AudioBus integration (just updated in March 2013?)
• 127 track sequencer!
• Instruments built-in
• Has Effects built in – a bit limited though (read below)
• Has iPhone version plus an LE version for free
• CONS
• Very disappointed to find out that there is no way to control the input level when recording audio! (At least I can’t find it yet!) As I am a Band Director this is a pretty vital feature!
• Built-in Effects are somewhat limited. These are more of a global effects unit – you can have basically two effects groups – one for all the tracks or one that is on a separate bus or of course you can have tracks without effects at all. It is not a track by track basis by any means!

    Meteor Multitrack Recorder – make sure you have at least 1 GB of free space available when using this app. The app itself takes only about 200mb but it requires more while running! You should also close all other apps to free up space. In fact, while using these audio related apps I have found this to be essential in having a successful session – no audio stuttering or apps quitting.

• PROS
• Records audio
• Records MIDI
• AudioBus integration (just updated in March 2013?)
• 16 tracks of audio – upgradable to 24
• CONS
• Only records a stereo input?
• Charges extra for the MIDI editor – Really? Come on people, if I am going to buy your app it is probably in part because of the ability to record MIDI! If I am recording MIDI then editing it is a basic function!

    Auria – This app is by far the one that seems the most professional – the one that seems the most like a professional recording studio full of effects, EQ’s and capabilities. This app has astounded people time and time again!

Have not purchased this one – I mean geesh – it’s $50! (There is a $25 version as well though if you want to get your feet wet here and try this out) Ouch! Don’t get me wrong… I am sure it is worth it but I am looking for something that I can use with my students on multiple iPads in the band room. $50 starts adding up really fast! Of course software for the desktop that does what this app is capable of would cost 3 to 5 times as much! Plus many of the plug-ins for Auria are 3 to 4 times cheaper for the iPad then they are for desktop versions!

• PROS
• From everything I can see this app is amazing in it’s ability to record audio
• Records up to 24 tracks of audio at once! Plays back up to 48 tracks of audio at once!
• Lots of plug-ins available as in-app-purchases (watch your kids! We don’t want any $2,500 bills here now people!)
• CONS
• Only does audio – no MIDI
• I’ve read that this app is operated very much like a desktop app in that there are a lot of menus, clicking and such. Not enough use is made of the touch screen interface (just what I’ve read – not from personal use)

    Cubasis – This is from Steinberg. Have not purchased this one either for the same reason – it’s $50! Again… I’m sure it is worth it and the longer I look around for a cheaper option I think I might just have to go this route and pay the money! I am very intrigued by this company as this is now where many of the developers of Sibelius work now, after Avid went through their restructuring. I am holding high hopes for some amazing new technologies to come together in the form of Cubasis and a new notation program from the same company.

• PROS
• Records audio and MIDI
• AudioBus integration
• Unlimited audio and MIDI tracks!
• Will record up to 24 tracks of audio at once!
• Has a desktop version!
• CONS
• Price
• No iPhone app

    FL Studio Mobile HD -

• PROS
• Record up to 8 tracks of audio at once
• MIDI recording
• Compatible with the PC Desktop version (In fact, if you use the desktop version you should buy the iPad version as well!)
• Has a Desktop Version and iPhone version
• CONS
• User interface issues looks much like they just doubled an iPod screen
• Effects only on the Main bus (working on a fix – 3-15-2013)

    Nano-Studio – This app has been around for a long time (in iPad years anyways) and has a huge user base built up!

• PROS
• Some great internal synths/sounds
• Desktop versions
• Great built-in effects
• Has iPhone version
• CONS
• No audio recording (does have a sampler though)
• No MIDI
• No AudioBus integration
• Only 6 Simultaneous instruments unless you pay more $ for and in app purchase to get to 16

    Studio.HD - Not very familiar with this as it seems to be focused on using loops. For those that are into that though this could be a great choice. I would suggest the video they have on their web-site – it is very well done and highlights some exciting thing this app can do with ease! This developer has quite a few apps out there which tells me that he is not going away any time soon.

• PROS
• 24 Tracks of audio
• Lots of effects built in – 14 total – 4 per track? plus master effects as well
• You can record automation of items like volume, pan, effects settings
• Can record multiple takes per track
• 900 loops plus more as in-app-purchases
• Has an iPhone app based off the same concept Studio.M (4 tracks of audio up to 8 tracks with iap)- not sure how compatible they are though
• CONS
• Lots of in-app-purchases (Although these feel more like things that are actually add-ons vs some apps where these in-app-purchases should have been included in the first place!)
• No AudioBus integration
• No MIDI

 

   BeatMaker2 - (Read comment from Greg below)

In looking at all these other apps I have also ran across these Multi-Track audio recording apps -

n-Track Studio MultiTrack Recorder

CONCLUSION
If you have thoughts please let me know! Which is your favorite and why? Which of these do you own? What have you found to be huge benefits and drawbacks of these apps! Are there features you would like me to add to the list so you can compare the apps to each other?

I will keep updating this and will tweet at anytime I do post an update to the list.

iPads and Teaching Private Music Lessons – Can your life be better?

That question is what I approach every app that I use with – How is this app going to improve on my life? Is this app going to make my life easier? Can I do something because I have this app that I could not do before OR does this app allow me to do what I have been doing in a more efficient manner?

Carlos, over at http://www.moosicstudio.com, had these questions in mind when he developed Moosic Studio. He developed this app to make Private Music Teachers, who have a music studio, more efficient. I love this paragraph from the App Store – “A music studio can be a chaotic and cluttered place. If your music studio was anything like ours, you probably have a laptop with Excel running, notebook, camera, maybe a video camera, a calendar, a stack of invoices, receipt book… all piled up and cluttering your piano workspace. On top of all this, you have students coming & going with their assignment binders.”

Moosic Studio is one of those apps that falls into the category of “not for everyone”. It also falls into the category of “expensive” compared to all other apps. I believe thought that this app is one of those apps that is indispensable and worth it if you are in the situation of needing to keep track of who you are teaching, what they are learning, who needs to pay you and needing a quick and fast way to do it!

You really need to sit down and work through all that Moosic Studio offers you. It is not an app that you will be able to “figure out” at one glance. You WILL be able to understand the basics of what it has to offer immediately though and get started quickly. Every time I sit down to enter more information into the app though I continue to find new capabilities and ways of tracking information.

Opening Screen

Let’s Dig in – When you start the app this you will see the “opening screen” shot that i to the right.

This is your Dashboard – Here you can see projected income for the month (you do have to pay for this app some how right!) You will see a quick number of lessons remaining for the week, how many active students and how many items you have in your Music Library. On the left you find a list of basically the same items with a few additions. Tapping on the Projected Income for this Month does nothing currently – I believe Carlos is possibly going to be connecting future features here – right now it is informational only.

SCHEDULE
Tapping on the calendar icon is the same as tapping on the schedule – it pulls up a list of upcoming lessons on your callendar for the rest of the week. You see what time the lessons are scheduled for, who the lesson is with and what type of lesson it is. By type of lesson I mean – Piano, Guitar, Violin, Voice, Recital, Group Lesson, Camp, Workshop. Performance, Field Trip, Competition or Other Lesson. While looking at the schedule you have a nice feature available to you that allows you to print your schedule or email it – I really like how it looks when you do this.

Calendar View

STUDENT LIST
Tapping on the Active Students icon is the same as tapping on the student list – this brings you to what you would expect, a list of your current students. You can sort them by Instrument, Skill Level, Age, Grade or School Type. The useage of School Type here is an interesting choice to me. Not really sure how many teachers will find this useful.

Student List

LIBRARY
This is where you input all the materials you will be using for teaching your students. Things like Theory Books, Technique Books, Sheet Music, Sight-Reading you will use, Writing and Activity sheets and other types of things you would use to teach your students. you also get to list what level these materials are at. Later when you enter information for a students lesson you will be using items from this Library to fill in what the student has worked on and has been assigned to learn.

BILLING
This is currently a work in progress – Very useful in it’s current state though as this is where you will put in info about student’s parents and link them to a student.

LESSON INFORMATION
This is the fun part – Create a lesson for your student and schedule it.

Lesson Creation

Then you go in and start keeping track of what you are teaching those little buggers. You keep track of things like if they attended, if they brought stuff, how well they did, some comment that you make (These are not shared with the student), some notes (These ARE shared with the student), Circle of Fifths – materials used or to be used (This is from your Music Library) and then you can attach recordings – audio and video! I mean come on! How better to use that iPad with a video camera built in than to record specific items from a students lesson – like their finger position that they need to be reminded of – or a recording of you playing a demo of a piece or a recording of them playing ti to listen back to later. This would show improvement and allow you both to track how they are doing and what has been learned. You could even record their performance during the recital and stick it in here! How much fun is this going to be! Proof of what happens in the lessons when talking to Mom later.

Lesson Info

Lesson Info Page

 

CONCLUSION
If you are teaching private lessons – MoosicStudio is going to be a huge asset to you.

This is not one of those apps that you buy on a whim though. You have to know that you will use this app and make money back by saving time on your end and becoming more efficient.

Carlos is planning updates already – think invoicing. He is also going to continue to develop the app. Contact him if you have ways to make this app better! I do notice that the app school levels and terms are a bit more oriented with Europe than the US.

By the way this app is currnetly on sale because of the Music Education Expo going on in London so get it now at a much cheaper price! (3-20-2013) I am not sure how long the price will be lowered so….

 

Lesson Info Page

Opening Screen

Creating Music with iOS – Meeting National Music Standards

iPads in music education can open the minds of our students to wonders that they have never imagined could be theirs! I get reminded of these moments of amazement when a students walks in while I am using technology. So many times they are wide eyed and captivated by the possibilities. Everything from playing my keyboard and having the notation instantly show up on the computer to a student asking what the name of the song is that I am playing for them to listen to and hearing their reaction when I tell them that the song was one I created on my iPad the night before. I can see the wheels spinning in their heads – “What if I could do that?”, they are asking it…. All they need are the tools! Now don’t get me wrong, I know our kids have been creating music for years with the traditional band instruments, singers, drums and electric guitars but I am not talking about the traditional here. I am talking about being able to have one iPad, a set of headphones, and a desire to create!

What if you were able to put a recording studio in the hands of your students, show them a few apps, and then give them the freedom to create? How would your students change?

iPads can open up a whole new world to our students – a world that once was cornered by only those with lots and lots of money! Now an iPad opens up the possibility of an entire recording studio filled with amazing synths, guitar amps, and recorders. Those come in the form of apps, apps that cost any where from being free to $5, $10, $15 and up to $20 and $50! Of course if you take into account the ability to record themselves with the built in mic or if they want even better quality they can hook up and external mic through the camera connection kit.

Tonight was an exploration of several apps for me…. I used MusicStudio as the multitrack recorder. For sounds I used AddictiveSynth, Sunrizer and ThumbJam. I of course used Audiobus to get them hooked together. This recording has 9 tracks.

I would be crazy excited if my students were creating music at home like this! (Not that I think this is anything spectacular – but instead just because they would be exploring and composing and enjoying themselves!)

 +  +  +  +  = one evening of great fun!

Creating Music on an iPad – New Musical Interfaces

How can I inspire students to create music? By giving them exciting tools that will enable them to create something that sounds good, is fun to use and engages them!

Chordion kept me busy for a long time tonight – of course that’s not saying TOO much! It was great fun exploring the user interface…. Here’s a screen shot….

 

You can see the chord buttons on the left and the keyboardish looking section on the right – as it says in the blue screen shot you play with two hands in this app.

I kept thinking about what my elementary kids are going to be thinking when I let them try the app out. I know that it would be an easy experience for them! The way the app is set up you are not going to hear wrong notes. The bad news side of that is I found it a bit limiting and kept wanting to be able to play other notes! Well, after diggin down into the settings I discovered that my wishes could be granted! You can set the right hand side of the screen to play any scale you want! There are quite a few built in as pre-sets scale patterns.

Then I discovered the play button that starts the drum patterns – that along with the arpeggiator makes things more interesting to play along with!

Of course I got bored pretty quick with that one sound so I started fiddling around with trying out all the different sliders and waveforms along with the effects settings. Then I decided to tap on the disk icon and discovered the online sharing world of settings there! (good and bad can be found!)

Tapping on the Record icon gives you immediate access to sharing your newly created masterpiece to iTunes, DropBox or SoundCloud. I found the SoundCloud integration refreshing – not enough apps utilize SoundCloud – it is a fast, fun way to share you music! Here is my “masterpiece“

Go check it out and play with this app – you should be able to imagine a place to put it to use if you work with kids that are creating music on iPads!

PS – I almost forgot to mention that Chordion has builtin in MIDI capabilities as well! That means you can use Chordion to play other apps – For instance play SunRizer with the chords and ThumbJam with the keyboard!

WISHES – I do wish that Chordion would get a bit more creative with the capabilities on the keyboard – give us some variety depending on where you finger hits (far right – middle – far left). This sort of interactivity is pretty standard in iPad keyboard apps. Even if I could control the volume by where my finger was hitting it would be a step in the right direction.

SmartMusic on iPad’s! Demo Video

 

I thought I was done posting for the day….

and then….

SmartMusic sent an email with a link to an online demo of the SmartMusic iPad app in action! Now I’m really getting excited!

Using Evernote and ReadRhythm to build Student Portfolios

If you are a music teacher with even one iPad in your music room you need to check out the ReadRhythm App! (Web Site) (iTunes Store Link)

BASIC CONCEPT
Their web site does not do enough justice to this little app! The concept is simple – there is a metronome on the left of the screen, a drum pad on the right and a rhythm at the top. Hit the appropriate button and then the metronome starts and then you start tapping the rhythm on the drum pad. When done you are presented with a stack of little green, red or blue dots under the rhythm that indicate if you were in time, early or late.

OPTIONS
There are many different options for you to adjust and many different types of rhythms and different time signatures to pick from. Their web site does lay all of that out for you very well. There are plenty of options to keep any student busy for a long time!

EXCITING PART – OUTSTANDING FEATURES
The exciting part is the way the app scores you. I love the little blue, red and green dots! I also love the fact that the metronome is what the students have to stay with. THEN the part that hammers home the idea that students MUST get the rhythm correct is this….. when the student actually gets a 100% then a magical email icon show up! At this time the students are then able to email their score to me!

EVERNOTE and PORTFOLIOS
This is where I have the students send that email to EverNote…. the iPad has a “contact” set up with EverNote as the persons first name and Upload as the persons last name and the EverNote Upload email as the persons email. That way all the student has to do is start typing two letters into the “To:” field and that EverNote pops up, they tap on it and they never have to worry about the long and funky email address that the email is actually being sent to.

Step two – the students then need to make sure that in the subject field they type in the magical formula that sends this grade to their notebook that I have setup for them in EverNote. So… they simply type in something like this…. @LastnameF    Of course in EverNote I have already set up a notebook for that student that has the same name as what they just typed in. (I used their Lastname with their a capitalized first initial of their first name) By using that “@” symbol in front of the name of the notebook what ever it is that they are emailing me shows up in their notebook online!- which in this case is a screenshot of the ReadRhythm exercise with a score of 100%.

Step three – Then I have to go keep track of who has completed which exercise and enter that into our school gradebook system.

BENEFITS
This is so easy! I can check very quickly who has what done each day because of the way EverNote is set up. There is no collecting of papers, no sorting through a bunch of emails and it puts responsibility on the students shoulders to learn how to use technology correctly. If they don’t learn it then they don’t get a grade, it’s that simple.

Here is a screen shot of what I see in EverNote. I can also track how long it is taking students to do these exercises. This allows me to pinpoint kids that may need additional help!

Here is a YouTube Video demonstrating how remarkably easy this process is – I think it is simply magical! It takes some setting up but it is worth it!

Grades in EverNote

Share files between iOS devices and Macs Quickly and Easily!

I’ve tried many different ways of quickly and instantly sharing files between iOS devices and my Mac. I am forever emailing myself pictures or PDF’s. Of course DropBox is always in the mix as well. When I write this blog I take screen shots and email those to my self. It has always seemed like an extra step that was a hassle.

Enter into the picture InstaShare (You spell it R – E – L – I – E – F!) With this app you can quickly push files out between iOS devices and Macs (this app is still in beta but freely available on their website). It is probably much like using AirDrop on Macs would be (I only have one computer that is capable of doing this so I’ve never used it, but it sounds cool AND easy!) I can see this being very useful in a class where you have multiple iPads. Even if al it allowed me to do is send a file from the teacher iPad to my students one or two times I would be very satisfied with the time saved!

If you have not downloaded it yet then go watch their video on their website, install it and start sharing!

LINK to iTunes InstaShare App

Making the Homework Experience Better with Mobile Phones and Apps!

At our last concert I actually remembered to record the bands! This sounds funny coming from someone like me who uses tech so much but it is hard for me to remember to do this when I am conducting. What I do that does work is make this a students job.

After recording the concert then I uploaded the pieces to SoundCloud. If you have never used SoundCloud in your class you need to! It is awesome! Fast, easy and quick for me the teacher to upload recordings to is one reason. Another reason is that the students can then leave comments on those recordings. Those comments go inline – so if at :30 seconds into the piece we missed being prepared for an entrance a student can click on the waveform at :30 seconds and leave a comment. That comment will then popup at the appropriate time while others are listening back. Instantly the kids are writing – gasp! They are evaluating – higher order thinking. They are communicating with each other and me. It’s all good stuff! Plus the students start to realize that they have a world wide audience they are potentially performing for! Of course we could make these recordings more private. Here is a screen shot of one of our songs… you can see the little boxes under the waveform – those are their comments.

 

In conjunction with this homework assignment I also had the students sign up to follow me on Celly. This is from their website…

“Celly believes small messages change the world

so we built a place where 140 characters - builds movements, inspires learning, levels playing fields & promotes free speech

we call this place a cell

A cell is a mobile social network that works with any mobile phone or device. Members can join instantly with one text and exchange group messages, polls, reminders, and web alerts.”

What this allows me to do is send out messages to my class all at one time. You kind of have to go read their web site to get a better picture. Here is one reason I love using this service… In schools, students and teachers can communicate freely with Celly while keeping phone numbers private. Group messages can be moderated by one or more curators to keep conversations on-topic and friendly.

So tonight I sent out a reminder to my students that they were supposed to have their comments/evaluations of our concert (on SoundCloud) done by the morning. the reason I sent this message is because I knew that only a few had actually done this homework because of my ability to check to see who had left comments on SoundCloud. The response to the Celly message was outstanding! Within 10 minutes this is what my iPad screen looked like!

I love the fact that SoundCloud pops me over a message letting me know someone is making a comment on one of my pieces! I like that the kids are evaluating themselves and I love the fact that this is so easy to keep track of who has done it and who hasn’t!