SmartMusic is now offering a one year educator subscription ($140 value).  Plus you get free online training to help you get started and learn how to use it.  Want to know more?  Read on to find out!

There is no doubt in my mind (nor in the minds of the majority of people who have used it) that SmartMusic, used in the proper way, can significantly increase retention and achievement in music classes.  The problem though has always been the price.  At $140 for the teacher subscription many teachers who have not used it cannot find a good rationale to buy in for a year.  Now MakeMusic has made that a nonissue, obviously hoping that those that give it a try for a year will buy in for an even longer stay.  Getting your free SmartMusic subscription requires jumping through a few hoops though.

First, sadly, if you are already a subscriber to SmartMusic you can't take advantage of the free year offer.  Of course, there is nothing to stop a person from opening a new account, but there are a few additional requirements as well if you want to play for free.  In order to qualify for the free year of Smartmusic you have to be a new subscriber AND you have to participate in three online training sessions.  In looking at their calendar it looks like they do each session on a consecutive night and do at least two sets of clinics each month.  They also have some online training videos but as far as I can tell those do not count toward the free subscription requirements.  

So, long story short, if you want to get your hands on one year of free SmartMusic you will need to commit yourself to about three hours of online classes.  That's a pretty cheap deal, and honestly those that go through the training make much better use of SmartMusic to begin with so in many ways it is a win-win situation.  Hop on over to the free SmartMusic page, take a closer look at the training requirements, and enjoy twelve free months of SmartMusic goodness.