Web 2.

0 Class: Using Technology to Teach Music

● Audio Editors, Converters, Rippers:

○ Audacity- Free audio sound file editor. Audacity can record live audio, convert
tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3 and WAV
audio flies, cut, copy, splice and mix sounds, change the speed or pitch of a
recording, and more.
○ NCH Switch Audio Converter -Convert any audio filetype to some other type.
Universal audio converter supporting all popular formats.
○ TRAKAX PC- Audio Editor, Multi-track editor, Mixer, Splicer.Has a ton of
features for free and even more with the pro version which only costs $24.95.
○ Garageband- can be used to create podcasts, as well as edit sound, and add
sound to movie clips. Can be downloaded from the Mac App store, or purchased
from apple, it comes standard on Mac computers and laptops.
○ Abelton- music tech projects having to do with sound editing and mixing.

● Ear-Training,Choral, Lyrical, Listening:

○ GNU-Solfege- Great ear training/solfeggio program. It teaches recognising
melodic and harmonic intervals, comparing interval sizes, singing the intervals
the computer asks for, identifying chords, singing chords, scales, dictation, and
remembering rhythmic patterns
○ Verse Perfect- Free popular rhyming dictionary and verse editor for songwriters.
Dictionary of Rhyme And Lyric Writer
○ Ear Master Pro- there is also a music theory and ear training app that has over
like 600 progressive lessons and exercises $59.99- Great way to get students
started in music theory, or to offer extra help, or just to expand a music theory
classroom. Found in the music category of the Mac App store
○ musictheory.net- This is a set of online music theory lessons, and help, there
are also audio examples for each lesson where they are necessary.
○ Pandora-A radio site where you can put in a genre, artist, or song and it will play
music similar to these aspects. It is based on the music genome project and
would be useful for studying different genres and styles of music with in the
classroom. This is a free application.

● Guides, PDFs, and Docs:

○ Music Educators Audio Guide PDF -Click It!
○ Theater Performances Audio Guide PDF -Click It!
○ Google Docs- working outside of class to create one unified project without
having to meet in person
○ www.practicesightreading.com - LOVE this site for rhythm sight reading
examples.
● Notation, Sequencing:
○ Anvil Studio- MIDI sequencer and editor.
○ Finale Notepad- The best freeware notation program.
○ Midi Notation Player- A visual MIDI notation player. The free Notation Player
displays MIDI music (.mid, .kar, or .not ) files as sheet music that you can view
on the screen while the notes play, and also print.
○ Tab Player- Guitar Editor, player and more.
○ Noteflight-Collaborative Notation, in the free version you can use noteflight to
create and edit songs from any computer that has internet access. In the paid
version you can use noteflight to collaborate with other musicians from all over
the world and create a unique piece of music.
○ Sibelius- music notation, can be used to create/compose music
○ Pyware- Allows you to write, print, and see how marching drill charts move
together as well as sync music to the drill, and much more.

● Play-along, Jam, and Karaoke:

○ E-Chromatic tuner- A chromatic tuner.
○ Groove Drum Machine- 1980′-90′s electronic drum machine.
○ Jam Chord Player- Easy to use chord player/song writer.
○ Mixxx DJ- Software for mixing live audio tracks DJ style
○ Tempo Perfect Metronome -A metronome with subdivision ability.
○ midi-piano apps- there are several of these, being able to visualize pianos
works great for music theory and if you would like to start a beginning piano class
this would be a good way to get the students started, with out going through the
chaos of don’t touch that yet. Found in the music category of the Mac App store
○ Real drums- turns your computer into a virtual drumset .99. Found in the music
category of the Mac App Store.
○ VirtualDj app- bring in a different type of student interests. Found in the music
category of the Mac App store
○ Jamhub - Isolated practice center with head phones. Students can practice with
each other without amps or any one else hearing it. It’s good for making several
practice groups in one room. (www.jamhub.com)
○ www.drumbot.com/projects/key_chords/ - Great place to practice chord
progressions and soloing. Drumbot is like band-in-a-box but teaches guitar
fingerings at the same time.
○ Subdivide metronome for mac- based off dr. beat and you can tap tempo,
tempos up to 500 (don’t know why you would need tempos that fast though)
$4.99- This is a good cheap metronome, it sounds great and since its on the
computer it can be projected onto a big screen and the students can see what is
going on. Found in the music category of the Mac App store
○ Band-in-a-Box-Improvisation play-a-long software. Just type in the chords for
any song using standard chord symbols (like C, Fm7, or C13b9), choose the
style you’d like, and Band-in-a-Box automatically generates a complete
 professional-quality arrangement of piano, bass, drums, guitar, and strings or
horns. The recordings on Band-in-a-Box are from real musicians.

● Assessment
○ SmartMusic-Provides a means of assessment in the ensemble setting.
Students can use it as rehearsal tool (metronome, tuner, recording). It also
allows students to loop difficult passages as well as isolate their individual part or
play along with the accompaniment. It is like having a tutor at home. As an
instructor, you can send out assignments to the students. The program will
assess the student’s performance and allow them to send the grade and
recording to you. The online grade book allows you to keep track of your
students progress over time while having concrete assessment.
○ Note-A-Lator- “A music reading quiz program for students and teachers” Note
and Rhythm identification, immediate feedback, report card, can also be
printable. The non-printable worksheets are customizable, the printed ones are
randomly generated and come with an answer key. Downside it requires a 64-bit
processor. Found in the music category of the Mac App store
○ Audi-graph-Gives students more focused tone control practice. It allow students
to work on their tone production and visually gives them feedback. Audi-graph
graphs your sound and allows you to see exactly what you are doing and how
the changes you make to airstream and embouchure effect your sound. The
program also contains sound recordings from top musicians around the country
for students to compare their sound graphs to.It will also graph aspects or
performance such as articulation. As an instructor you can monitor the students’
progress as the work and provide them with tangible feedback on how to
improve.

● Resources/Networking
○ irehearse- used like SmartMusic, doesn’t quite have the same functions, but you
can upload audio files, slow them down and isolate sections, its pretty neat.
$11.99- If you can’t afford smart music and are able to get recordings of your
music this is a great cheap alternative, you can’t create assessments : ( Found in
the music category of the Mac App store
○ musictechteacher.com- fun and games for elementary and middle school music
○ musicracer.com- fun and games for elementary and middle school music
○ Twitter- Middle school and High school, create class and group projects, maybe
even with pros
○ Posterous/MusicPLN/ Wordpress- blog sites can allow students to create and
work on a class website, they can also allow teachers to create a website
specifically for the class
○ musictech.net-Gives tutorials and provides a list of software and freeware that is
discussed on the site.
○ Keynote- presentation app- a good alternative to powerpoint. Found in the Mac
App Store
 ○ Skype - A free and effective way to communicate with co-workers, other schools,
and instructors. It also can be use to get guest speakers in the classroom.
(www.Skype.com)
○ Screenium - Records screen for presentations and “how to” videos.
(www.screenium.com)
○ drummerworld.com - An amazing site to find practicing materials, videos, and
help in the drum world, in general.
○ www.talkbass.com - Great place to ask questions and get material/suggestions
for a rhythm section (obviously bass heavy).
○ www.ted.com - Loads of speeches, video, concerts, and ideas on everything
worth spreading. The includes teaching, performance, and everything in
between.
○ Groupsite.com-Allows you to create a group page where you can communicate,
share and collaborate with other group members. It operates similarly to other
social networks with discussion forums, user profiles, messaging and other
features; but you can customize it to a specific interest or group of people. As an
educator you could create a specific private environment for students in your
class to collaborate and work in groups as well as allow you an easy way to
communicate and share information and resources with students. This is a free
site for the basic subscription.
○ YouTube-YouTube can be used during class and outside of class to provide
students with supplemental information. It is great for giving examples of pieces
of music as well as providing information on a given topic.
○ Google Maps-Can be used as a teaching aid. You can use it for simply pointing
out locations or you can embed videos into it for an interactive map that students
can use.
○ Charms-It does everything that you need to manage a music program. It allows
you to track fundraisers, communicate effectively with parents, create and online
calendar, post grades in a private and secure environment for students to view,
print receipts, and tons of other useful features.
○ Ututti-Ututti is a management program that allows you to keep everything from
inventory to finances and much more all in one place. It really gives you an easy
way to organize your program. It is similar to charms, but the price difference is
drastic. Ututti is almost half the price of Charms at $175 per year.

● Miscellaneous
○ Ipads/Ipods- there are tones of applications that can be used for music
education, not to mention the amount of music that can be stored and
demonstrated with these
○ Kaos Pads - These are XY touch pads used to teach a number of different
things in music. Some of these consist of creating, scales, dynamics,
layering/composition, and much more.
○ Rockband 3 - Uses any midi instrument including guitar. Its the first rock band
that actually can help teach an instrument.
○ Wii controller as a smart-board-This is more of a do it yourself project, but you
can turn a Wii controller and a projector into a smartboard. There are several
how to videos on youtube, but this is one of my favorites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8F3ClZxHZU&feature=channel_video_title