The Importance of Using a Tuner: Finding Your Perfect Pitch
The Importance of Using a Tuner: Finding Your Perfect Pitch

Music is a beautiful language, but like any language, it relies on clear communication.  Just like people speaking the same language can do so with different accents to their voice so too can musicians play the same note but with slight changes in the way it sounds.  The pitch may be a bit high or a bit low, and over the centuries musicians have come up with ways to analyze these differences so that multiple musicians can better "play in tune."  Just as proper grammar and pronunciation are essential for understanding spoken words, playing in tune is paramount for creating harmonious music. This is where the tuner comes in.  For the beginner (or even the more advanced musician) it can be a vital tool for developing accuracy of pitch.

Low Cost MusicTechnology Options For The Music Education Classroom
Low Cost MusicTechnology Options For The Music Education Classroom

Finding ways to stretch your budget in a music classroom is always important and even more so when trying to purchase high tech electronics, software, and other materials.  This article provides an updated list of dozens of different low cost or free alternatives to expensive music education products.  It includes such categories as music notation software, drill design software, special needs hardware, and many more.

 

The Star Spangled Banner- Free Sheet Music For Band Inst.
The Star Spangled Banner- Free Sheet Music For Band Inst.

This document contains sheet music for all common instruments to play The Star Spangled Banner, also known as the sheet music to the National Anthem of the United States of America. You can view the sheet music online or download the individual parts arranged for all common concert band instruments.  If you do not see your instrument listed please scroll to the bottom of the page and try one of the the other instruments.  Most musicians will be able to find at least one instrumental part that matches their range and preferred key signature.  If you are seeking a simple piano version of the song please select from the voice, trumpet, or alto saxophone versions.

 

Using Plickers as an Assessment Tool in the Music Education Classroom
Using Plickers as an Assessment Tool in the Music Education Classroom

Music, band, choir, and orchestra classrooms can be huge and assessing the knowledge and retention of individual students in such a large class can be daunting.  Plickers are one of several solutions that can be adapted to work in large groups, making the act of assessing a student’s understanding a little easier and a whole lot faster.  

Is Marching Band A Sport? Pros, Cons, and a Reality Check
Is Marching Band A Sport? Pros, Cons, and a Reality Check

In recent years the question of whether or not marching band is a sport has been brought up time and time again for various reasons and by various groups.  On one side you have the YES crowd who says that marching band is competitive, physically demanding, and every bit as much a team event as any traditional sporting event.  On the other side of the coin are those who say no, that marching band is NOT a sport and it is a musical pursuit that happens to involve coordinated movements.  Both sides are right, but to make a final decision we need to look deeper into the facts.  Read on to find out what they are!

Portable Digital Audio Recorder Buying Guide With Reviews
Portable Digital Audio Recorder Buying Guide With Reviews

Scroll down to view the comparison chart of over a dozen different portable digital audio recorders.

Buying a portable digital audio recorder is a major decision.  The balance between price, features, and quality is a fine line that has many different options to choose from.  There are dozens of different models of portable digital audio recorders, some of which have drastically different sets of features yet sell for roughly the same price.  This easy to read head to head comparison chart and guide to many of the more popular portable digital audio recorders is intended to help potential buyers more easily see these differences and make an educated buying decision.

Apps and More for the Choral Classroom
Apps and More for the Choral Classroom

The number of apps, software, and gadgets available for use in the music classroom continues to grow each year but finding things that can actually be beneficial to your classes grows more and more difficult as well.  We spoke with Dr. Christopher Russell, Director of Choirs at Oltman Middle School in St. Paul Park, Minnesota to get his must-have list of apps.

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Finale-SongBook-ScreenShotRecently MakeMusic released its new SongBook music reader app for the iPad.  The app has been expected for many months now, ever since it was first announced back in January of 2012.  Back then I wrote that I was looking forward to seeing the finale format music notation app, now known to be called SongBook, and recently was able to put it through its paces.  My first impression, good but still lacking in a few key areas. Read on to find out more.

The SongBook Music Reader for iPad

SongBook is a free iPad app that allows you to open, view, and play back music notation files stored in MakeMusic's proprietary Finale file format.  The SongBook app loads first to a list of files that are available for the program to open.  Out of the box, so to speak, it comes with a selection of songs already included to demonstrate the capabilities of the program.  Getting your own songs into the program is a little more complicated.  In order to load songs into the SongBook app you have to open iTunes, navigate to the apps tab, load the desired files, then sync. Honestly, I hate apps that force you to load data in this way.  I hate using iTunes on a PC, and having to do it this way is cumbersome, especially when other music notation readers like ForScore have things like DropBox support built in.  That's when I noticed a small line at the very bottom of one of the help files.

This small sentence at the bottom mentioed that you can indeed load songs using a sharing service like DropBox but it gives no help in that regard and I could not find anything in any of the menus or settings that allowed for it.  Finally I managed to figure it out after reading an article on Mark Well's technology blog that mentions that you have to using the Dropbox app on the iPad and then open the desired Finale music notation file from there.  When you try to open it from DropBox the iPad gives you the choice to open the file in SongBook.  I guess it works, but it is an extra step, and if other vendors can build DropBox support directly into the app then SongBook should too IMHO.

Music Notation Looks Great in SongBook App

Finale-Songbook-ScreenShot2Once you get the music up and loaded in Finale's SongBook app I admit it is pretty easy to look at and to listen to.  Although the sampled sounds are pretty poor quality compared to the Garritan sound libraries that ship with Finale (the guitar sound is particularly dreadful) they are adequate for most people's needs.  A major plus in my opinion is the ability to select idividual parts from a single score for solo playback complete with the notation on screen.  The demo files provide several nice examples of this including a drum line cadence which I was particularly impressed with.  On the down side there does not seem to be any way to control the music playback other than through tempo.  For example in one help file I got caught in a neverending repeat loop.  The ability to skip repeats during playback or alter the behavior of other markings would be a nice addition to the program.

 

SongBook Good At What It Does But Lacking In Overall Features

As mentioned the visual playback capabilities of SongBook make it very attractive to users of Finale's music notation program, but the apparent lack of support for other formats like MusicXML, the inability to make annotations or markings on the score,  and the other issues mentioned above leave me wanting more.  Perhaps future releases of the app will build on some of these needs, and one can only guess that this is a first, small step toward MakeMusic eventually offering SmartMusic for iPad as well once the technological hurdles are overcome.

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