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.

 

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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.

 

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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.  

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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!

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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.

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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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SmartMusic Coming To The ChromeBook

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Chromebook logo

In early July MakeMusic made a big announcement, that they were buying a company from France called Weezic.  On the surface that may not seem like a big deal until you realize WHY they bought them.  Until that point Weezic had been a competitor to SmartMusic, providing a different way for people to do automatic assessment of a musical performance just like SmartMusic does.  The big difference though was that Weezic was truly cross platform compatible, meaning that it could run on just about anything with a web browser.  Now do you get the picture?  If you work in a school district that has gone totally one-to-one Chromebook then rejoice!  SmartMusic is coming to the Chromebook!

 It sounds like it is pretty much a done deal and in the press release it makes it clear that the purchase of Weezic was specifically to gain the technology to be able to eventually port SmartMusic into a format that will run in a web browser.  SmartMusic already runs on PC, Mac, and the iPad, but MakeMusic seems to recognize the demand for a cross platform, Chrome compatible version as more and more of the world realizes the benefits of inexpensive Chromebook laptops.  In a 2014 Edweek article Benjamin Harold points out that during that year "web based laptop computer sales" accounted for one third of mobile device purchases made by school districts. During the same time frame the percentage of iPads being used in schools has declined by seven percent.

In other words, MakeMusic sees the writing on the wall that in the future if they want to remain usable in the education community they pretty much have to embrace the ChromeBook platform or be left behind as more and more Chromebook compatible competitors like PracticeFirst begin to gobble up their once locked down market share.

MakeMusic does not give a specific date for when they expect to be able to make SmartMusic available to Chrome but one would hope that it will happen within the next two years as the Weezic application was already fully operational as I found in a review I did of it a few years ago.  

EDIT: Got some additional information and it now sounds like MakeMusic is planning to release SmartMusic on the Chromebook in the fall of 2016.

So what do you think about the idea of SmartMusic coming to the Chromebook?  Is your school already a Chromebook school or are you still able to get by with using the program on iPads or PC's?  

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