Really is a good day for small projects.

I have a lap top that I use mostly for administrative chores that seemed like a good choice to try SmartMusic 10.2 out on. If I messed something up at least the kids won't have problems. I try not to tweak anything that is working well and I have been very happy with the practice room computers and how they are running.

You can download 10.2 from the SmartMusic web site. The update will change the program, but leave your accompaniments and recordings alone. Pretty nice.

Time to Launch--
The first thing you notice is the interface revamping. The text is saying the same things in the new version, but the layout makes it easier to focus on what you want to do. I got the updates. Yes, getting the updates takes a while. I usually walk to the office for the mail.

There is now a nice big button for getting assignments. Rolling over it will take you to the login or register for class portions of the program. Again a much cleaner look.

The find music button is pretty slick for those that want to work on something other than an assignment. Roll over it to get to assortment of places you may find what you want...the books, library and exercises. There is also a new recently played button there.

The "Recently Played" button is going to save me a boat load of time. It works like a play list of the last several things you have worked on. The SmartMusic play list feature was pretty handy, but you had to remember to use it. SmartMusic is now taking care of that for you. Nice.

If you are playing along on your computer at home, notice the tuner has a new feature. You can record your tuning session. This is an interesting idea that I haven't totally figured out how I am going to use. Tuning should be done with the ears and not the eyes and teaching what something sounds like when it is in tune is tricky. Having a student get the green light while recording it for them with the reference note on, then playing it back for them for reinforcement may be the ticket. I'm going to have to try it.

That's the quick once over.

Do you have to get everyone moved over to 10.2 RIGHT NOW? I would say not. If the kids have everything working, I would say leave well enough alone. Waiting for summer/fall for version 11 would be ok for you.

Remember that the folks at SmartMusic keep pretty much everyone on the same version, so you will get to update then. As a teacher, that is pretty handy because you don't have to remember the tricks for 4 or 5 versions of the program.

If you are not using SmartMusic because you thought it would be too hard to install and get kids registered, I would say what are you waiting for? It just got easier. Need more reasons? Look here.

I'll post some screen shots on my website later. www.rogerwhaley.com

I understand that 10.2 makes installing the program and registering for class much more user friendly. Also, there is a wizard for microphone issues.

I would say that those are the two biggies as far as my kids would be concerned. Cool.

Would I jump to 10.2 now? I think I will try it on the machines that I use and not even mention it to kids who have 10.1 working fine until I have to. We turn our subscriptions over in July. That may be the best time for most kids to upgrade.

That would also give me a chance to revise the handouts with new screen shots and all that. But then, maybe it won't look that different. I'll let you know!

That download link takes you to a short page that connects Winton's Ways of Practice with what SmartMusic can do for you as a practice tool. Mr. Marsalis offers many tips and things to consider when it comes to practice.

Have you talked about practice with your students?

If you haven't seen the Winton Marsalis video Tackling the Monster look to Amazon here I like to show it to my beginners and have referred back to it with my older kids over the years.

Some of that was because when I did a quick poll of the audience, none of them hadn't heard of SmartMusic. All of them had seen SmartMusic. Most of them had it on their desk. I think that says something about the program's maturity and how they are getting the message out.. at least in Minnesota.

So I dumped the last bit of my show and tell. Why not? It seemed the zen thing to do. Show the program by not showing the program.

We did focus on the nuts and bolts of rolling SM out pervasively. This is the talk I wish someone had ready to go when we first started thinking about SM everywhere. It is all about yes. Yes, you should be using it. Yes, it is good for kids. Yes, it is good for your program. Yes, even if the program is facing cuts.

It was good to meet you people at MMEA!

I will be talking about using SmartMusic with kids. Why you should (and you should-- it's a good tool.) The thinking behind the planning. The final plan. How it has worked. What needs improving.

It should be a good session right there, but I think it will be better with your questions.

If Saturday doesn't work for you, try to catch one of Dr. Glenn Pohland's talks on Thursday or Friday.

The tuner is the first one ready to go (I think.) I've included links on this pdf to sites that talk about tuning specific instruments. This is a basic place to start, not the ultimate guide to tuning. If you have some better sites or ideas post them here!

Download file

First an observation, kids that have no e-mail accounts are the ones that forget their passwords.

If a student does not have an e-mail account to use for contacts via SmartMusic, be certain that they use a password that is very easy to remember because there will be no password recovery options (except for sodium pentathol or very deep hypnosis. My district doesn't allow me to use truth serum!)

Actually, I have another way around this, if you don't mind some extra e-mail. I have my family e-mail accounts set-up with a junk mail box. Anything that is not addressed to me or my family gets sent to the junk drawer. Originally, I was using this for businesses that wanted to thoughtlessly add me to their e-mail lists. So, NO_SPAM@rogerwhaley.com was born. Now my students who need to fake an e-mail for SmartMusic use something like SuzyStudent@rogerwhaley.com. When we run the forgot password link, I just look in the junk mail drawer for the password.

It is either that or use that old favorite password-- "password" as your student's password.

Boy. A comment like that can get the idea machine going!

If the kids are bored, suggest they try the other book for sight reading.

Or send them on a hunt for the same topic in another book.

You could see if the examples are better in a different book.

Maybe there are some solos coordinated with the other method. Do you want to see where they fit in their curriculum?

You could have your talented kids get a fresh look at the same topic in another book.

If you need to re-teach something, where will you go for ready made materials?

Have you taught kids how to find exercises that will help them with the topic at hand?

Or..... You get the idea. In fact, send me some of yours!

The really, really, exciting part for me is that one of my students figured this out! Here's a beginner that isn't just doing the assigned. She went out exploring. Pretty amazing!

There has been a rash of instruments going out the door for practice as well.

I do like how the login gets the student exactly what he has left to do for work. That makes it very easy to tell a student what to do...login to SmartMusic and find out!

Interesting observation about working with SmartMusic Impact this week... if you miss a student when making an assignment you can still send it without completely starting over. In Impact, go to assignments, then to your personal library and find the one you want and push the assign button. From there you can assign it to specific student. This may not have been a convenience that was designed into the product to be a convenience, but it sure beats starting over and adding another assignment to pick up the student you missed.

We do have the big All District Band Concert next month.

We do one piece that everyone plays all together. That can be the hard one to select. Because time always seems short between now and the concert, you can bet we will be selecting tunes with SmartMusic assignments in mind.

I hope that music publishers and MakeMusic are moving things along quickly for more SmartMusic enabled pieces.

Thanks for reading!

Roger

How about a little SmartMusic show and tell? I have been looking for a good time to tell kids they should really play back the assignment before turning it in. This was it. The main issues students are having with SmartMusic are mic placement and setting the volume controls. A little show and tell should help that.

We also took a look at the tuners, the other included method books (looking for enrichment opportunities?) changing tempos, trouble shooting the audio drivers, about a million questions and shared experiences with the program. Follow-up is an important part of training. This was an excellent follow-up session at a good time for the kids. It was time well spent.

The kids also had fun watching me try to beat the machine. Who knew playing page 14 could be so entertaining?

Some SmartMusic realated items came to light.

Older students did a much "cleaner" job on the pieces that were SmartMusic assignments. I believe that having the wrong notes and bad timing put on the screen for you is really helping students raise their level of expectation of themselves. "Was he talking to me?" about the wrong note is quickly settled with SmartMusic. I think all concert pieces are about to become SmartMusic assignments!

The beginner band concert went very well. Some teachers who helped supervise the fifth grade concerts from year to year were noticing the difference between this group and several previous school years. They suspected the tool was helping. This group still has sectional time built into their week, so that observation is helpful in decision making. We will keep using SmartMusic.

Overall, I'm pleased with the help. Wish everyone still had sectionals so we could work on tone, articulation, style and teamwork issues in a smaller setting.

The basic gist of what I am going to say involves the educational soundness of using a program like this in your teaching. There are two themes. There are the James Paul Gee thoughts on video gaming and learning as well as good old Bloom's Taxonomy.

I have to admit this talk could be written by the kids in the practice room hallway. The conversations about SmartMusic assignments give clues as to what they would say: "I had trouble with that too, let me help you..." , "Here's what you are doing wrong..." , "I keep making a mistake right here...".

Are your students analyzing and solving their problems?