I couldn’t stand it growing up when we would be playing a game or doing a competition that involved subjective criteria and the adult/judge would conclude that it was a tie and everyone was a winner. My competitive nature wanted there to be a real winner (preferably me, of course ). But I digress. I don’t think anyone will complain about the outcome of this!

We do have an official winner of the Music Ace Maestro giveaway. Drumroll, please, for Stephanie of the Music @ SWV blog! However, Harmonic Vision has extended a fabulous offer that is available to any Music Matters Blog reader! For a limited time you can receive a $30 discount off of Music Ace Maestro (making it only $97.95), plus receive a free copy of Music Ace Deluxe – PSE (36 lessons vs. 48 lessons, jewel case, no paper, no box) good for student use – a $39.95 value! All you have to do is enter this coupon code when you checkout at the Harmonic Vision store: MAMMMB55

Stay tuned, because we’ve got several other giveaways coming up soon!

I’d love to be able to use notation software in my studio. I have some budding composers, and I also would love to do my own “edits” of songs for some students that is more readable than me just printing it out. However, there are several products out there, and they all claim to be the best! Wondering if you use any, and also thought this might be an area that folks could share their expertise!

My first steps into the world of notation software came when a friend gave me her used copy of Print Music. I used that for several years until I came to the point where I needed capabilities that it didn’t offer. After doing some research, I eventually settled on Finale. There is considerable debate between Finale and Sibelius users and I won’t pretend to know enough to make a case for either. My only experience has been with Finale, but so far it does everything I need it to. They also have a NotePad version that is great for students as a starter-level software. It used to be free, but now costs $9.95. Still well worth it in my opinion!

There are a couple of free programs available: MuseScore is one that I heard about not to long ago. I’ve been wanting to take a look at it, but haven’t done so yet. LilyPond is an automated engraving system that looks really cool! I investigated it in depth several years ago, and if I had the time to devote to learning it, I would love to give it a try. (Definitely just for the more geeky among us, though. )

If you do decide to purchase a software program, I found this website called AABACA Music Barn that had by far the best prices I could find. It’s been quite a few years since I did my research, but I suspect they are still one of the best deals out there for music educators.

Obviously, my expertise in this field is rather limited, so if anyone else has thoughts or recommendations on notation software, please share!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

For years I’ve heard people – both parents and teachers – sing the praises of Music Ace. But I just discovered that they’ve combined the original Music Ace and Music Ace 2 into one software program with Music Maestro, a special program for music educators. The result is one software package called Music Ace Maestro!

I’ve been perusing the 48 Lesson outline, looking at the screen shots, and reading the game descriptions. It looks like a fun addition to any music studio or classroom. What’s even more exciting, though, is that one special music studio or classroom is actually going to win their own copy of Music Ace Maestro, thanks to the generosity of Harmonic Vision!

To enter the drawing for this $127.95 prize, just leave a comment on this post. And…since this is such a great prize, if you’d like to earn double entry, just post about this giveaway on your blog/Facebook/Twitter with a link back to this post, then leave a separate comment letting me know you did so. The contest will end on Thursday, August 19, at 12:00 noon CST. Then I’ll use a random number generator to determine the winner!

Also, if you haven’t already done so, you can click here to subscribe to the Harmonic Vision Piano News newsletter. Archived issues may be viewed on the Piano Teacher page of their website.

Blog reader Cindy Truman recently alerted me to a fabulous resource that could also be a huge time-saver! Check out this website with pre-designed school calendars that you can download, adapt, and print for use in your studio. I’ve already been manually  doing my own from scratch for so many years now that I have enough to just go into a previous file with matching days and dates and just change the year and the events. But I sure wish I had known about these sooner because it would have saved me a ton of time! Plus, I like a few of these designs better than mine anyway.

Ensembles, I love ‘em! They are hard to coordinate and take a lot of patience during rehearsals. I have done what you do, students split lesson times. But only after each has their part learned fairly well. I always play the other part, up until then so they know what the whole thing should sound like.  I love that you record the part as an mp3. That is a super idea. I haven’t looked but could you give us the run down of what technology you have in your studio and what you need to record and compress into an mp3 for us, please?

Would you believe I searched and asked around for several years before finally figuring out how to record CDs and MP3s in my studio?! And now that I know how easy it is, I can’t believe how difficult it is to get straight answers about how to do it. I know that many other people face the same frustration because the two posts that deal with how to set this up in your studio are two of the most frequently visited posts on this site! Just read over these two posts and you should be set up and ready to record, compress, and either send or burn mp3s in no time at all!

Record Audio CDs in Your Studio

Recording Made Easy

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Two of the most popular posts here on Music Matters Blog are the ones that discuss how to set up a recording “studio” using the free Audacity audio recording software (you can read these here and here). I’ve used Audacity for numerous projects, but I know I still haven’t even come close to tapping into all of its capabilities. I know there are other teachers who would love to get some step-by-step instruction on how to use Audacity effectively in their studios. Well, guess what I just found? Yep, step-by-step instruction on how to use Audacity!

Music Creation World has put together a fabulous collection of activities that will walk you and/or interested students through the process of completing various projects using Audacity. Just download the file titled PDF Activities at the bottom of their page. There are six separate activity files that clearly explain and illustrate (using lots of screen shots!) the assignments. I could even see using this as a core lesson plan for a summer camp with a group of students who are interested in learning more about music technology. Everyone could bring their own laptop and work on several fun projects throughout the week. Wouldn’t that be fun?!

HT: Music Education World Resources Page

Which program do you use to create such cool worksheets?

I created this worksheet in MS Word, using Finale for the scale and key signature snippets, and then importing them into MS Word. This was actually my first time using the export feature in Finale, but I had a visual in mind of how I wanted the worksheet to look, so I was determined to learn how to do it! And it was incredibly easy. In fact, I’m so excited about learning how to do this that I’ll outline the steps here in case you want to give it a try. (Also, if you’re interested in getting the Finale notation software, the best place I’ve found on-line to order it is AABACA/MusicBarn.com.)

I’m using Finale 2005, but hopefully the steps will be the same for whatever version you have:

1. In the setup wizard, select Chorus>Voice [No Staff Name].

2. Select the time signature 8/1. (You’ll have to click the ?? option and manually set the number of beats and note value.)

3. Notate the desired scale on the staff.

4. Make the time signature invisible by right clicking the measure, selecting Edit Measure Attributes, and changing the Time Signature setting to Always Hide. I also changed the width of the measure to 3.0.

5. Click on Tools>Advanced Tools>Graphics. Then double-click your right mouse button and drag a box around the area you want to import (the first measure).

6. Click on Graphics>Export Selection. Choose file type and save to the desired location on your computer. Voila! Now you’ve got a nice little image that can be inserted into MS Word or any other program in which you want to create a worksheet. Follow the same steps for each scale.

Isn’t that easy and fun?! I’m sure there are so many other little tricks and tips for using Finale more effectively, but this one will provide me enough fun for a while, I’m sure.

I just gave a workshop last weekend to our local music teachers association on setting up your own website. Regardless of whether you are designing your own site from scratch or are using a pre-designed website from another provider (like Music Teacher’s Helper), you will definitely want to set up your own domain name so that people can easily access your studio website. Here are some step-by-step instructions on how to register your own domain name and then redirect it to any other website:

1. Go to 1and1.com (I selected 1and1.com because a friend of mine has used them with good success for domain registrations and their price is only $6.99/yr.)
2. Click on the Domains menu option.
3. Type in your domain name of choice.
4. Follow the on-line instructions to complete the registration process. Be sure to write down your password so that you can use it later!
5. Wait for approximately 24 hours to let the registration process take effect.
6. Go to 1and1.com
7. Click the Customer Login link at top of page and enter your domain name and password.
8. Click on the Manage Domains link.
9. Check the box beside your domain name and then click on Destination.
10. Select Forward Your Domain from the drop down menu.
11. Enter the URL for your studio website (i.e.teacherspianostudio.musicteachershelper.com)
12. Select the HTTP Redirect option.

After that you should be good to go! Try typing in your studio name to make sure that it redirects you to the appropriate website.

As I’ve given workshops for our local associations on how to use the computer to develop customized materials for the studio, one common desire many teachers have is to be able to make their own well-designed recital programs. In light of this, I am making available the following cover design, and corresponding files, for purchase and use in your studio:

If you have the Print Shop software (either the Deluxe or the Pro Publisher Version), you will be able to open and edit the cover file yourself. I highly recommend this software! It is user-friendly and can be used for designing any kind of material you can imagine! However, for those who do not have the Print Shop software, I am offering the option for you to purchase the same files, but I will customize the cover file with information specific to your studio: your name, recital date and a personal note on the back.

The download includes the following files (and includes the right to print, or have printed by a commercial printer, as many copies of the program as you need at no additional cost):

1. Recital Program Sample (pdf) – the inside of the program so that you can see how the layout is designed
2. Recital Program Cover 1 (pdf) – the full cover (front and back)
3. Recital Program Sample (doc) – the inside of the program in Microsoft Word format so that you can edit it and add all your own program information
4-6. Fonts (in case you don’t have them on your computer and want to use the same ones I used for the cover design. For instructions on how to install new fonts on your computer, read this post.)
7. Cover (Print Shop file) – for those who have the Print Shop software and can open and edit the cover design themselves.
Please note: the files come in a zip format. If you don’t have an unzip program, download a free trial version of WinZip here.

Christmas Recital Program Files | $10

Custom Design for Recital Program Cover and Back | $10

Once you complete your order, if you are ordering custom design services, please click here to send me an e-mail with the following information:

1. Your full name (to be listed as “students of…” on the cover)
2. Your recital date
3. A personal note for the back (100-150 words is best)
4. Verse or quote for the bottom of the back cover (optional)

Once I receive the above information, I will e-mail you a customized PDF file and you will be able to print, or have printed by a commercial printer, as many copies as you need at no additional charge. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions!

Now that you’ve learned how to do audio recording right in your studio and present your students with their own CDs, you probably want to be able to create attractive custom CD jackets to insert into the case. Look no further! I’ve created a template that can be used in MS Word to do this very thing.

Click here to download the template and instructions and then have fun designing it! Make sure your page margins are set to .25″ for top, bottom, left and right.