[NATALIE’S NOTE: Following my initial review of this workbook, I spent some time looking through it again and decided to repost a review that was more inclusive. If anyone else is as picky as I am about theory workbooks, you know how hard it is to find one that you really like. That’s why I’m always up for checking out something new on the market. I hope this review is a helpful introduction to this new workbook and that you will check it out for yourself!]

This attractive, full-color Doctor Mozart Music Theory Workbook grabs your attention immediately and invites students to jump in and get started on the activities. The layout is very clean and the text is very comprehensive, ensuring that students will clearly understand what they are expected to do on each page. The “It’s in-depth” tagline on the cover certainly fits!

Here’s an outline of what is covered in Workbook 1:

1. The book starts by having the student identify black key groupings on the piano keyboard. The explanations and activities are always accompanied by colorful and insightful graphics to further reinforce the concept being introduced.

2. The music alphabet is introduced next, with each of the key names being associated with a specific color as an aid in identification. These colors are used through the remainder of the book on both the piano keys and on the staff lines. The fact that students possess different learning styles was taken into consideration by the Musgraves and they have made every effort to incorporate this realization into their introduction and reinforcement of the concepts.

3. A short explanation and test of steps and skips on the white keys.

4. Staff is introduced. The analogy of a ladder is given – “a staff is like a ladder for notes.” This is a familiar object to which students can relate and I have often referred to the staff as being like a ladder in my own teaching. Concepts are built on this as students are asked to identify notes being on a rung or on a space between the rungs. Terminology switches over to line v. space. Middle C is then introduced, followed by the treble and bass clefs. Note identification follows a mixture of a middle C and landmark approach, with bass B and treble D being the next notes introduced. D is explained as a “drip waiting to fall,” while B is referred to as a “floating bubble.” Again, imaginative presentations lend themselves to a more complete understanding.

5. Landmark notes bass F and treble G, followed by the notes between them and middle C. Students perform a variety of activities - answering questions, filling in blanks, drawing their own symbols, etc. One excellent feature is that the staff is clearly related to the keyboard in a way that will help the students not only identify note names, but understand the concept behind identifying which note is which. In several activities, the student is instructed to draw their own lines from the keyboard to the corresponding staff lines and spaces. A very effective approach!

6. A chord is briefly explained and then the C-chord is introduced, familiarizing the student with both the terminology and the construction of a chord.

7. Note values are next, likening them to a chocolate bar which can be whole, cut into halves, or cut into quarters. Definitely another familiar object for most students! After introducing concepts, students are asked a variety of questions to determine their comprehension of the concept. The relational value of notes are presented: “1 whole note is as long as ___ quarter notes, or ___ half notes.” I find this very beneficial for transfer to a variety of time signatures as the student advances.

8. Stem direction for notes on the staff.

9. Measures are introduced as “Bars are boxes of beats.” Another helpful visual presentation of this concept!

10. Time signatures 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 2/2 are presented. Only 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 are referred to in the activities, though. It is helpful that the student is made aware of the fact that time signatures can include a number on the bottom other than 4. Additional time signatures are explored in greater detail in the second theory workbook.

11. Quarter, Half and Whole rests are introduced sequentially, with a number of activities to help students understand the relationship between rhythmic values and rests.

12. Next, the mnemonic device of using phrases to identify the line and space notes of each clef is presented. For treble lines: Elephants Got Big Dirty Feet; for treble spaces: F-A-C-E; for bass lines: Great Big Dogs Fight Animals; and for bass spaces: All Cows Eat Grass. This is probably my biggest complaint about these workbooks. I know that many teachers find such mnemonic devices helpful, but I don’t use them in my studio. (Students get the phrases mixed up, invert the treble and bass clef phrases, etc.) However, a little white out will do the trick. I’ve done that plenty of times before! The activities utilized at this point are not dependent on the phrases and still serve as a good reinforcement of the note identification work included previously in the book.

13. The relationship between the grand staff and keyboard is discussed in greater detail now that the student has been working with the whole Grand Staff.

14. Half steps, then sharps, flats, naturals, enharmonics and chromatic v. diatonic are all introduced and reinforced with a variety of creative activities, accompanied by more imaginative graphics.

15. An overview of accents, dynamics, staccato, legato/slurs, ties brings us to the close of Workbook 1, the student having now developed an excellent foundation of note identification and a working knowledge of musical terms and symbols.

As can be seen from the overview, concepts are presented in a linear fashion with review of previous concepts woven in as necessary to build upon the foundation that has been laid. The workbook is compatible with the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and the Royal American Conservatory and would probably line up well with the theory requirements of almost any curriculum for a level one student. This workbook would be a nice complement to any method series and I think could be used very effectively in a group class setting. It could be the perfect choice for a summer piano camp for a group of beginning students.

I encourage you to order a copy of this exciting new workbook for yourself. Look it over. Try it out with a student. See what you think. You may find it to be just what you’ve always wished you could have in a theory workbook!

Coming up next: an exclusive interview with the authors of Doctor Mozart!

If you are looking for an easy, inexpensive way to record audio in your studio, check out the FlexiMusic Wave Editor.

While the fact that this software was designed by an India-based company is sometimes reflected in the fragmented use of English, the design and features are well thought out and fairly intuitive.

You can download a trial version of the shareware and use it for seven days fully functional. After the seventh day, the save feature is disabled and you will need to pay $20 to receive the license code in order to register the software for continued use.

Once you complete the installation, you will be asked to select your preferred color scheme from nine varieties (a nice touch!). You can change this at any time through the Tools>Options menu in the program. Here are some features I really liked:

PROS
*There are icons for every feature and action that is listed in the menu options, allowing the user to quickly navigate his way around the software.

* When you mouse over any icon, a little text message in the bottom left hand corner of the screen identifies the purpose of the icon (especially valuable for those who are afraid the computer might self-destruct if they accidentally push the wrong button. ).

* There are 3 play buttons, giving the user three options when playing back the audio.
1. Play selected.
2. Play all.
3. Play viewing range.

* There are 11 view buttons, giving the user a wide variety of viewing options when working on editing audio files.

* When you select the record button, a window pops up with a number of options and adjustments that can be made. I really like the fact that you can set the recording to begin at a specified time and continue for a specified duration, indicating things like how much silence should be allowed before the recording automatically stops or pauses or begins a new file.

* Adjustments and selections can be made to the audio file even during playback (other programs I have used put a freeze on all operations during playback).

* When performing more time intensive operations (high level reverb, etc.) a progress bar in the bottom right hand corner of the screen gives you an idea of how much time is left to complete the operation.

* The quality of recording was quite good, with minimal feedback. Here are two sample recordings that I made:
1. With direct line input from Clavinova into the recording software.
2. With an external computer mic set up by my acoustic piano.

Here are some things I didn’t care for about the software:

CONS
* A separate mp3 encoding program was required in order to import and save or convert audio to mp3. However, this is typical of audio recording freeware and shareware and the process was very easy to follow and was done in less than a minute. When you attempt to convert an audio file to mp3 for the first time, a message will appear indicating that you must select the mp3 encoder to use. Just follow the on-screen instructions and links and it should work fine. You only have to do this once to set it up and then it automatically finds the encoder for future use.

* The commonly used keyboard shortcuts and keys are not programmed into the software. For instance, in order to delete a highlighted area of the audio file, you can’t just hit the delete key on the keyboard. You have to go up to the Edit menu and select Delete. You also can’t use ctrl S to save or ctrl N to open a new window. Little things like that that are customary in other programs. Makes routine operations a little bit more cumbersome.

* I couldn’t find any way to do multi-track recording. The closest I came was opening a second window with the FlexiMusic software and starting the recording, then playing the first window with the recorded file while recording into the second file. Then I had to copy the newly recorded file and paste it into the first one using the Edit>Paste>Mix option. It would be nice if there was at least a way to specify when recording an additional selection that the new recording should be mixed rather than just inserted or replace the first.

CONCLUSION
Although there are a few desirable features that make FlexiMusic Wave Editor a handy, inexpensive audio recording software, you can get almost the same, plus the addition of a little bit more user-friendly multi-track recording, with the free Audacity audio recording software.

Yesterday I posted my review of the wonderful new music history guide, Bigwigs of Classical Music. Today, author Ben Lansing joins us on Music Matters Blog for an exclusive interview.

Music Matters Blog (MMB): What is your musical background?

Ben Lansing (BL): As an instrumentalist, my music training includes piano from middle school to college and trombone in high school. As the author of a music history book, however, I also include music listening and music appreciation as part of my musical background. When I was twelve I bought my first classical music recording, a collection of excerpts from Beethoven’s most famous compositions. I knew absolutely nothing about music when I bought this recording. I didn’t know how to pronounce Beethoven’s name and had no idea what a symphony was. I didn’t even know that “classical music” was considered intimidating or “high brow” by a lot of people. I just liked the Beethoven sound and immediately became fascinated with classical music. Over the years I discovered more composers with even wackier names and was amazed at the diverse sounds and styles that were included in the category of “classical music.” Some of my favorite courses in college were music history courses because they helped to fill in the gaps for me.

MMB: What compelled you to write Bigwigs of Classical Music?

BL: I finished writing Bigwigs of Classical Music last year at the age of 22, but the book has roots that go way back to when I was a freshman in high school. Throughout my teenage years I collected a vast library of classical recordings, always searching for new composers and new styles in the seemingly limitless category of “classical music.” I quickly found that keeping a mental record of hundreds of composers from a period of over 1,000 years was a bit taxing, so I started jotting down the names of the composers in a notebook. Taking inspiration from my baseball card collection, I dedicated each page of the notebook to a composer and jotted down a few “career stats” under their names (like nationality, famous compositions, etc.). (Sure, it was different from the hobbies of most kids my age. But I didn’t watch much television so I had a lot of time on my hands.)

At the same time I was sharing all of the amazing music and fascinating music facts I was discovering with anyone that would listen. At first, I think many of my friends thought I was a geek. But slowly, they recognized that when the snobbish, high-brow facade is brushed away, classical music can be as meaningful, moving, and relevant as any other kind of music - and often even more so. As a result, a number of my friends began their own classical music collections.

I enjoyed sharing classical music so much that I eventually began a process of turning my composer notebook into a full-blown book that would introduce others to the joy of classical music. I wanted it to be fun and accessible for all ages, with not a hint of snobbishness. The result was Bigwigs of Classical Music, a music history book that traces classical music’s amazing history from ancient times all the way up to the 21^st century.

MMB: How does Bigwigs of Classical Music differ from other music history books?

BL: There are a lot of good classical music books, but I don’t know of any classical music history book quite like Bigwigs of Classical Music. Most classical music books are humorless and dry. They assume that the reader is already familiar with names like Ockeghem and Stockhausen and terms like monophony and neoclassicism. Bigwigs covers scary-sounding names and terms, but it approaches every aspect of the classical music history with a spirit of discovery and fun. Each era of classical music contains fascinating anecdotes, cartoons, and novice-friendly information.On a deeper level, Bigwigs looks at classical music not as an isolated historical phenomenon, but as a product of the cultures, times, and events of the society in which the composers lived. Each composer’s life is examined in the context of those who came before and how the composer’s life influenced those who came later. When we listen to the music of Beethoven, for example, we’re not just hearing the music of some German guy that lived two hundred years ago. We’re hearing the emotional, spiritual, and artistic impact of the revolutionary period of the 1800’s that profoundly shaped our world into what it is today. When we look at classical music in this way, Stravinsky is no longer just Stravinsky, he is a representative of the war-torn 20^th century. Hildegard, similarly, embodies the spirituality of the Middle Ages and the era of the Crusades, etc. History, after all, is the product of the struggle for ideas, and these ideas are expressed in no more compelling way than through classical music.

MMB: Do you have any specific ways you could envision a teacher using Bigwigs of Classical Music in their teaching?

BL: This book can be used in a lot of different ways. I have used it to teach high school students in a classroom setting, but it also works well for a self-guided study.

Whether the teacher is a music teacher, a home school mom, or a classroom teacher, they can use Bigwigs of Classical Music as an introduction to students who are new to classical music or they can use it to expand the interest of young folks who have already developed a taste for classical music and want to know more about it. I think it is also a great way to flesh out a general world history education. Classical music is literally the soundtrack of history. It’s one thing to learn about Napoleon Bonaparte, for example, through a textbook. However, when you can hear the great music of Napoleon’s time you gain a unique connection to how people of the Napoleonic era expressed themselves and their ideas about life. An entirely new dimension of history can open up.

MMB: Do you have plans to write any other music-related resources?

BL: There are a number of projects I am considering right now, some of which are music related. However, they’re all in the very preliminary stages right now, so I’ll wait until later to toot those horns.

MMB: Any other comments you’d like to add?

BL: Thanks for this opportunity to talk about my book and my love for classical music. I hope all of your readers find the same joy that classical music has given me throughout my life. Happy listening!

On its back cover Bigwigs of Classical Music promises the reader a unique, easily accessible, humorous, illustrated presentation of the fascinating story of history’s greatest music. And amazingly, author Ben Lansing delivers on every count! If I had to sum it up in two words, I would call my journey through this 310 page music history guide Engaging and Memorable. (Thankfully I don’t, though, so I’ll continue. ) I found myself quickly drawn into the overview of each musical era and the subsequent composer biographies, understanding more completely than ever before the context for their lives and the times in which they lived (and not at all overwhelmed by any of the dry, cumbersome facts that often accompany music history texts).

From Ancient to Contemporary music, Mr. Lansing utilizes his witty writing style to draw the reader into the pages of history and then give him a glimpse into the lives of the composers who both reflected and influenced the society in which they lived. Whether reading from beginning to end or randomly selecting composer biographies, readers of all ages and musical backgrounds will appreciate the down-to-earth, easy-to-follow story that Mr. Lansing weaves throughout his book.

Biographical sketches of 75 of history’s great composers fill the book, along with an illustrated portrait of each composer (drawn by the author, a professional cartoonist), a quote by or about the composer, and a creative byline like “The Nineteenth Century Rock Star,” “The Roly-Poly Opera Guy,” or “Stalin’s Pincushion” (wanna guess who any of those are?? ) to capture the essence of each composer in a memorable way. The chapter for each composer (consisting of 2-3 pages) concludes with Mr. Lansing’s personal listening recommendations and a few brief notes to help the reader become familiar with each composer’s key contributions to the music world. (I absolutely love this about the book and feel like I have a road map to guide me in exploring the music of composers I’ve not been very familiar with up until now!)

In addition to these 75 composers, an additional 97 composers and their notable works are referenced and briefly described. The book’s three appendices include a Glossary of Musical Terms to define words printed in bold throughout the book, an alphabetically arranged Glossary of Composers, again with short descriptions of each composer, and a Complete List of Music Recommendations, organized by genre, then composer. An extensive bibliography with books referenced organized by composer is the second to the last entry in the book, followed by a brief biography of author Ben Lansing.

Formatted on 8½x11” paper, there is lots of room to underline and make additional notes in the margins. The layout is consistent throughout the book and is typeset in a traditional Times font that allows for easy reading. Bigwigs of Classical Music is available as both a traditionally bound book and as an e-book. The e-book version is especially useful for teachers as Mr. Lansing has stated that although his book is copyrighted he has “no problem with a teacher printing several pages from their version of the book to distribute to their students.” This is a perfect way to help students get to know the composers of the pieces they’re studying! Just print out the couple of pages for the composer and send them home with the student to read as part of their assignment for the week.

I’m over halfway through this fun book and have already found occasion (okay, so maybe more than one!) to impart to my students my newly acquired knowledge of anecdotal information about these composers and I’ve got the biography of Dvorak printed out and ready to give to my highschool student who’s playing the theme of the second movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony and told me he loves Dvorak’s music. Between the easy-to-print e-book version on the computer and the traditionally bound version on my bookshelves I’m sure my studio will be overflowing with music history geniuses.

Go grab your own copy of Bigwigs of Classical Music today and come back tomorrow for an exclusive interview with the book’s author, Ben Lansing!

Ask any Independent Music Teacher what they love most about their job and you will get a wide variety of reponses, but ask those same teachers what they dislike the most about their job and, almost without exception, you’ll get the same reply: Bookkeeping!

Wouldn’t it be great to have a way to organize all your bookkeeping and student and event info so that it’s easy to maintain and find when you need it? And wouldn’t it be great if there was an easy way for your students to access their schedule and payment information? And wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to streamline your communication process so that you could send e-mails to, say all your Tuesday students, or all your students participating in a particular event? Well…look no further! There is a way! Music Teacher’s Helper is the Easiest Way to Manage Your Studio!

Developed by Brandon Pearce, Music Teacher’s Helper was designed with the Independent Music Teacher in mind. I signed up for the free plan so I could test it out and see what I thought. I am very impressed! Here are just a few of the incredible features that I immediately liked:

* The site layout is very clean and user-friendly. It was easy to sign-up and get started right away with the free subscription. A very easy-to-understand tutorial walked me through each step and I had things set-up and running in less than 30 minutes!

* There are many report options and every organizational area of the site can be exported to an Excel file and saved on your computer for easy access and reference.

* The site is very customizable. Those who don’t have much experience with computers will find everything clearly explained and easy to navigate. Those with more experience often have the option of entering the HTML code themselves to allow for greater customization.

* Notes can easily be entered into the student files following each lesson and can even be sent directly to the student’s e-mail.

* All the birthdays for the month are listed on the teachers homepage and serve as a great reminder to send off an e-mail wishing the student a happy birthday.

One of the key things I look for in such applications is the level of Customer Service. In that respect, Music Teacher’s Helper is unbeatable! After exploring the site for a while, I e-mailed Brandon with a couple of suggestions. I received a response the next day and found the suggestions implemented almost immediately. Music Teacher’s Helper is committed to making their product the best it can be and is working on constantly developing it and incorporating new ideas.

This short review has not even touched on the student/parent features included in the teacher subscription. And, while Music Teacher’s Helper has some great student features incorporated into it, Brandon notes that “Music Teacher’s Helper is made first for the teacher, then for the student. We want Music Teacher’s Helper to be useful for teachers whether their students want to participate or not.”

With subscription plans ranging from Free to $24.95/month depending on the size of your studio, Music Teacher’s Helper is considerably less expensive that similar web-based applications. I encourage you to check it out - experiment with the Free subscription and see what you think. The time-saving features and excellent service are well worth the up to $24.95/monthly fee for a full subscription, but the peace of mind that will come from a well-organized, professionally run business - that’s priceless!