Chromatik and
SmartMusic
In the past students,who were
interested in learning to sing or play an instrument signed up for band, choir,
orchestra; attend class rehearsals; and practice on their own at home. As a student of
music learning, I had to endure practicing at home, and had to make choices in
how I managed my practice times. When I
was taking piano lessons at age six, I remember at first my practice time was
exciting, and I could not wait until my next lesson. After three years of
playing the piano, I realized I had my favorite piano books and my not so
favorite piano books. I enjoyed the piano books that were melodic, but I did
not enjoy the technique books. The technique books were challenging, I had to
be self-motivated to practice the techniques that were assigned, and the
technical practice was not melodic like the other books. However, what if I was
able to practice the technical skills in a different venue? Would the use technology
have been a better resource to practice piano techniques? Would I have enjoyed
practice the assigned technical skills by having immediate feedback, instead of
waiting for my next lesson?
For this week’s assignment I viewed
Chromatik and SmartMusic. Both are excellent for keeping students engaged
during their home practice, and exploring new venues of learning modern day
songs. For Chromatki students who are
interested in learning their favorite modern song, but they do not have the financial
backing to purchase the sheet music Chromatik is an excellent resource for
them. For SmartMusic students who need
to help in being motivated to practice their music either it be for band,
choir, or orchestra SmartMusic is another excellent resource for them. Never the
less, the following will be a survey about Chromatik and SmartMusic: how both
resources can enhance learning, how both products are user-friendly for both students
and educators, and the materials that are offered from both products.
Chromatik was created in 2011 and
based in Santa Monica California by a team of musicians, who wanted to help
people practice, perform, and share with others. Chromatik philosophy is to
have students play music as much as possible by having digital access to a catalog
of favorite and popular tunes. With
Chromatik a student can have access to a metronome, notate music with a full suite
of annotated tools on iPad, students can save their recordings to track their progress,
learn the tune of their choice with a reference track, and record their own
video or audio sessions from Chromatik. Finally
they can share a fifteen minute highlight on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Youtube.
Chromatik was only available for iOS until March 20, 2015. Now Chromatik is available
for Android.
There are blogs that students can
access for new information, or helpful practicing tips. For example, the blog
titled Top 10 Practice Tips for a
Perfect Performance (Chromatik, 2015) is helpful information for anyone to
improve their practice time. All thought
there is not a school or group usage, due to low usage and the high cost in
maintaining it, teacher are using Chromatik’s for sight reading exercises, or
assigning modern tunes for home practice.
I found that Chromatik is easy to
navigate I enjoyed browsing through their music catalog. I browsed at vocal,
piano and cello scores. I liked how the musical score changed pages automatically
while the music was playing. The music notation was not highlight like it is
for SmartMusic, and there were some limitations in classical selection. Over
all, Chromatik is a great resource for students who want to learn to perform their
favorite popular tune. It will keep students engagement with practice reading a
musical score, and student can perform and video their performance for feedback
from other Chromatik users or friends.
SmartMusic is a software program
for music educators to enhance their music program and to help students improve
their skills. The program focuses on
student practice and immediate teacher feedback for students. Students are able
to hear how their instrumental or vocal part relates to the ensemble by having
access to a background track while practicing. Students can move at their own
pace by controlling the tempo and clicktrack with subdivisions. Students can
isolate difficult phrases of any lengths by using a loop tool. Students can
record and play back practice sessions for self-assessment. Students can send
MP3 recordings to family and friends. Finally, the solo repertoire accompaniment
follows spontaneous tempo changes. Students
will need the following equipment: a computer (Mac, PC or iPad), SmartMuisc USB
microphone, MIDI for keyboard (optional), SmartMusic USB foot pedal for “hands
free” operation (optional), and headphones and speakers.
SmartMusic has a yearly subscription of $140 a
year for educators, $44 a year for a practice room subscription, and students have
$40 a year to access SmartMusic from home.
Unlike Chromatik, SmartMusic music catalog
had more traditional band, choir, orchestra, and piano music selections.
Teachers have the ability to create and send assignments to their students.
Teachers are able to document and assess their students’ progress.
Individualize instruction for students, and it is effective for time management
so that the teacher has more time for teaching. Teacher can create students portfolios to
share with parents during conferences. Teachers can share their assignments and
assessments with other teachers. Plus, parents can log in to see their child’s
grades and progress.
The program features are built-in
track, built in tuner, has the ability to change the tempo or loop, student is
able to hear their part and accompaniments, assessment score, color code for
correct (green) or incorrect (red) pitches, and students are able to click to
see the correct fingering for each note. Having the music notation highlighted when
playing or singing with the music in SmartMusic is beneficial to help students
read and follow the score. Over all, SmartMusic is user friendly, it has blogs
to provide technical and motivational support for both students and teachers.
After viewing both Chromatik and
SmartMusic, both programs are useful resources. Even though Chromatik does not
have a yearly fee, its program format helps students to practice and perform
modern music. Even though the teacher does not have direct access to their students’
information, students can still share their performance though the use of
Youtube, video, social media. Whereas, SmartMusic that has a yearly fee, the
teacher has more access and control to their students practice sessions. Parents
are able to monitor their child’s progress and view their child’s grade.
Looking back I would have benefit using
both these programs. Chromatik for singing and playing my favorite modern
songs, and SmartMusic for keeping me motivated to practice piano techniques. I believe my students will benefit from both of these programs.
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