Chromatik is a free online program
that contains sheet music for many instruments in several different styles. The
user may browse the music in the categories such as “The Grammy Collection,”
“Disney” or “Alt. Rock” or enter a particular artist or title to find the song
they would like to play. Once a song is selected the sheet music appears with a
YouTube video in the corner. Press play and the user may read the sheet music
and play along with the actual artist in the YouTube video. Pages scroll at the
appropriate time so that the musician may play continuously.
I found this program very user
friendly because it was easy to search for a song and change instrument types.
The person that uses this has to be a competent musician because it does not
include an indicator as to where you are in the song or tempo control features.
It also does not include a print button so you have to view the music on the website
and then are only able to view one instrument part at a time. However, taking a
screenshot of each page and then printing those pages can solve this problem.
Some of the categories such as “Classical” and bands such as “Metallica” are
also lacking in sheet music. However, even though the music selection isn’t
very vast I was still able to find songs I was interested in playing after
browsing through the categories. I found that some songs would be inappropriate
for my middle school students and I’m a little wary of having the YouTube video
play in the corner if I have not had a chance to preview the video myself. One
way around this is to print the sheet music and not have the video project on
the board for students to see. I have already introduced this program to my
guitar students and they played the song “Mad World.” The students enjoyed
playing the song with the actual artist. I showed students some of the music
selections that are available and I encouraged them to use the program at home.
I can definitely see myself using this program with my orchestra students as
well. They are always requesting to play more popular music. I could have my
students select a song to play as a class; print the individual parts, and once
they have mastered the music they could play along with the video. Again, this
is something they could explore further at home and would hopefully inspire and
motivate them to practice. Here is the link to the Chromatik homepage: https://www.chromatik.com
SmartMusic is a wonderful music
practice and assessment tool. Students for the price of $40.00/year may
download the program and teachers may get an educator subscription that costs
$140.00/year. A teacher may also purchase individual practice room
subscriptions for $44.00/year. The educator subscription enables teachers to
add students to individual classes in a grade book and allows the teacher to
send assignments to students and to receive their recordings and assessment
grades straight to their grade book. Then the teacher may listen to the student
recordings, make comments, and revise the grades if needed. Parents may also
log in to listen to their child’s recordings and view their grades. Also, mp3
recordings of the students’ performances may be sent to family and friends.
SmartMusic unlike Chromatik
contains a wealth of music that is used in music classrooms daily including
several different method books, solos, exercises, and ensemble pieces.
SmartMusic is mostly geared towards the band, orchestra, and chorus programs
and unfortunately does not contain much music for guitar and piano, especially
method books. SmartMusic is a great practice tool for students at any level and
has several tools to aid in practicing. Students may change the tempo of a
piece, loop a difficult section of music, and play along with either just their
own part or with an accompaniment. Unlike Chromatik, there is an indicator
light that moves to each note so that students can easily follow the music. Students
may record and listen to their playing for self assessment or may choose to be
assessed by SmartMusic. Once the student chooses to be assessed they will
receive immediate feedback with a grade and notes on the screen will appear
green if they were played correctly and red if they were incorrect. Red notes
may be selected and a fingering chart will appear to show students how to play
the note correctly. A note may also turn red if the student did not play the
note at the precise moment in the song. So, if a student is not playing with
the beat and/or with the correct rhythms they will receive a lower grade. This
is when it is useful for a teacher to listen to a students’ recording because if
the student is only to be assessed on correct notes the teacher may need to listen
and re-evaluate that students’ grade.
I used SmartMusic last year as an
assessment tool as well as to motivate students to practice. It was very easy
to use and there are many video tutorials on how to use the program. I watched
some of the videos to learn how to set up my classes in the grade book and how
to add students to each class. I sent a parent letter home with students
explaining the program, the website address for parents to explore SmartMusic,
and a request that parents purchase a subscription for their child. Only one or
two students purchased SmartMusic for home use so the remaining students had to
take turns during class to use the program in order to complete the
assignments. This was not very effective because the students would miss important
rehearsal instruction and some students spent too much time in the practice
room. I began setting time limits for the practice rooms and I tried different
ways to provide an opportunity for every student to complete their assignment
outside of class such as offering the use of the practice rooms before and
after school, but not many students took advantage of that. However, just using
SmartMusic to receive an assessment grade excluded one of the main purposes of
the program, which is to make practicing more effective, efficient, and fun.
Midway through the school year I stopped assigning students songs for assessments
and instead I started using the program as a recording device to record the
entire ensemble playing a piece of music. I would play back the recording and
students would make self-assessments and suggest ways to improve their
performance. Because the viola section was very competitive and wanted to have
challenges for seating I used SmartMusic to assess who played the best and won
the seat. I also used SmartMusic as an assessment tool during my 4th
and 5th grade orchestra classes. I would tell the students which
song they were going to be tested on, they would practice, and then they would
come up to the front of the class and each student would play the song and
receive a grade. I didn’t use the actual grade they received but instead the
purpose was to see if they could improve their grade the second time around.
The elementary students looked forward to playing with SmartMusic and they
found the activity to be fun and challenging.
SmartMusic may be a great program
for student assessment and practice but only if students are actually going to
purchase the subscription and use it at home. I was very disappointed that my
students were unable to use SmartMusic to its’ fullest extent. I also thought
students would be more excited about using the program at home because I know I
would have loved this program when I was their age. The students thought $40.00
was very expensive which is why I
sent a letter home to inform the parents about SmartMusic and all the benefits
and features it provides for the students. Check out the SmartMusic website for
more information: http://www.smartmusic.com
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