• SmartMusic

    http://www.smartmusic.com/

    What is SmartMusic?

    SmartMusic is the best support you can give your child at home for band instrument instruction. It is an on-line subscription program for your home computer which will give you access to soundtracks for the lesson book used at school. It has the ability to slow down or speed up as needed in the developmental process. There is a cursor that helps your child follow the printed music on the screen within the visual context of a steady beat. You can record performances with and without accompaniment and you can even send a copy of the recording to family and friends! There is an assessment tool that indicates the percentage of correct rhythms and pitches. There is a built in tuner and metronome. Thousands of solo and band arrangements are free to subscribers and there is even music just for fun. SmartMusic will support your child's efforts all the way to high school and beyond including the world standard Jamie Aebersold Jazz improvisation accompaniment tracks. 

    SmartMusic is a learning system which employs your computer, the internet and a software program that you download. The subscription fee allows you unlimited use of the music and downloadable sheet music for one year. The lessons book used throughout the Neshaminy elementary band program, Standard of Excellence Enhanced, is included in the software. The students who use SmartMusic at home can hear how the music they are learning is supposed to sound and the accompaniment makes learning more fun. 

    It is an incredible learning tool for the students and the teacher. SmartMusic is frequently used in the classroom. The band music we use in rehearsals and concerts is available in the SmartMusic software for any student who subscribes to the software service from home.

    What does SmartMusic have and do?

      • it has accompaniment tracks for the lesson book we use and many other popular lesson books on the market.
      • while using the lesson book on the computer screen, a cursor highlights the notes when they should be played.
      • it can slow down the music until the student is more comfortable with the technique or musical concept being taught. The speed, or tempo, can be increased to make the music faster and more fun to play!
      • it has fingering charts, i.e. if you click on a note that is unfamiliar, a pop up will show you how the name of the note and how to play it.
      • it will assess your child's performance. If you don't have a microphone, you can purchase an inexpensive one. When your child plays with SmartMusic, the software with show the percentage of correct pitches and rhythms.
      • it can record your child's performance with or without the accompaniment track and your recordings can be sent to family and friends.
      • it will play the melody your child is learning if you want it to. The "solo" line can be turned on or off.
      • it has tens of thousands of pieces of music that you may access on line. Accompaniments to band, jazz band, orchestra and solo literature from elementary school through college and professional.
      • it includes Jamie Aebersold, the international standard jazz improvisation learning system with the artist played jazz accompaniment tracks useful when learning to improvise. It also has a cursor to help you follow the "changes."
      • In short, SmartMusic is the most incredible learning tool out there right now and it's sweeping the nation's instrumental music educators. Both teachers and students are discovering a new way to learn the concepts and techniques that have been taught traditionally for band, orchestra, jazz band and solo performance.