Category Archives: Mobile Apps

The 1-Minute Documentary Project

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For Travel Tour (a.k.a. Group Class) #5 last night, one of our activities was what I dubbed, “The 1-Minute Documentary Project.” The idea was inspired by the fabulous Videolicious App, and it turned out to be a lot of fun!

I started by coming up with a handful of music-related topics, like a composer or a musical element. The students were grouped in pairs and each pair drew one of the topics. Here’s a rundown of the step-by-step process from that point on:

1. Read/study material about the topic (students were permitted to use any resource in the studio).
2. Select key information to include.
3. Write a 50 second narration.
4. Select and take 4-8 pictures to correlate with the narration.
5. Open Videolicious App.
6. Select General Video.
7. Select previously taken pictures in the order you want them to appear in the video.
8. Film one student saying the narration.
9. Select an excerpt from your music library to play in the background (if the students have time during their research they can find and download a piece of music for this purpose).
10. Preview and publish the video.

In addition to being a lot of fun, the process was educational and provided a great opportunity for the students to work together. There is still plenty of room for improvement in a variety of aspects (especially the direction of some of the pictures!), but I thought they did a good job in a limited time. And we all enjoyed watching the finished documentaries at the end of the class:


Levi and Andrew on Dynamics


Desiree and Hayley on Bartolomeo Cristofori


Amanda and Mercy on Tempo


Lucas and Landon on Key Signatures


Olive and Noelle on Articulation


Tommy on Domenico Scarlatti

Happy Anniversary to EasyEarTraining.com and Giveaway of Chordelia App!

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EasyEarTraining.com is celebrating their second anniversary this week, so it seemed like a great time to run a giveaway for them! They kindly offered to give a copy of their new Chordelia: Triad Tutor app to one Music Matters Blog reader in honor of the new blog design earlier this year, so I am thrilled to take them up on the offer!

EasyEarTraining.com says, “It has always been our goal to be a valuable online resource that meets the needs of musicians, audio professionals and anybody who is passionate about music.” Their website is choc-full of great articles and resources pertaining to ear-training and many other music topics. Be sure to check out their special free Valentine’s Day rhythm activities that you can download and use with your students!

I am really excited to use this app with my students and even sneak some time in on my own to help improve my recognition of chords by ear! And…if you’d like the chance to win this app for use in your studio, just leave a comment below. A winner will be selected using a random number generator at noon (CST) on Thursday, February 23, 2012.

 

Monday Mailbag – Video Recording on the iPod Touch

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I’ve been looking into buying a tablet or something similar to use in my studio.  I would like to be able to record video and watch it back right away, and then later upload to YouTube.  Would the iPod Touch work well for that?

At this point I pretty much feel like the iPod Touch can do anything, including transport you into the galaxy. :-) I use my iPod Touch almost every day to do video recording in the studio. Here are a couple recent videos I’ve shot in the studio using the iPod Touch exclusively:


This is a short compilation I put together using the free Splice app.


This narrated video was done using the free Videolicious app.


Here’s a simple, straight from the device, rendition of What a Friend We Have in Jesus that I recorded in preparation for the Christmas Recital. It’s as easy as finishing the recording and then selecting the option to upload it directly to your YouTube channel. The iPod Touch does all the work of connecting and uploading while you can move onto something else. Within minutes, the video is live and accessible to the world!

I’ve done lots of video recording over the years and this is by far the simplest and most efficient approach I’ve found!

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!

Another Fun Video Editing App!

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While the Videolicious app that I posted about several weeks ago is great for creating narratives, I’ve been looking for a video editing app that would retain the original audio from the video files. Splice is just what I was hoping for! It is super simple to create a timeline of video clips, edit them, add transitions, and either keep the original audio or add a different audio file. I love it! Here’s a quick compilation I put together from some videos I had on my iPod Touch just to get a feel for how it works:

Theory is the Grammar of Music

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As many of you know, I rarely use theory books with my students, but we are constantly discussing theory concepts as they relate to the scales and music they are playing. It is so fun to do a chord analysis of a piece with a student and watch the proverbial light bulb come on as they discover that the passage that looked so intimidating is really just a progression of I-IV-V chords with which they are already well acquainted!

In this video clip introducing his new app Music Theory Pro, developer Dr. Joel Clifft makes the poignant observation that you wouldn’t ask a student to memorize a speech in a foreign language, having no idea what it means. Likewise, he calls music theory “the grammar of music” and encourages the use of fun games to teach and reinforce important concepts.

I haven’t downloaded the app yet, but it is next on my list. I’m excited to check it out and give it a try with my students!

HT: Megan’s Piano Lessons

Giveaway of Princess Piano App!

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Light up the imagination of your young girl students with this fun princess-themed piano music reading app! From the developers, “In this melodious adventure, Princess Piano introduces the notes of the scale and how they are written on the staff. As Princess Piano climbs the skies towards the Cloud Kingdom, you will start with simple melodies, but will soon progress to be able to play well-known folk songs and selections from classical masters such as Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Debussy.”

Can’t you see your budding elementary girls just loving this? What a fun way to introduce and reinforce note recognition and reading!

The developers of the Princess Piano app have generously offered to giveaway five codes for a free copy of this app to Music Matters Blog readers! Just leave a comment below to be entered in a drawing to win this for you (or a student!). The winner will be drawn using a random number generator at noon (CST) on Thursday, October 27.

Review and Giveaway of The Classical Melody Book

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Have you ever had a tune stuck in your head and you wished there was a way you could figure out what it was? Imagine if there was a handy little app where you could just play in the first few notes and it would automatically search through a database of songs and find the one that matches that tune. Well, guess what? You don’t have to use your imagination because there is now an app that does just that! And more!

The Classical Melody Book app is ingenious! In addition to alleviating the mind of those nameless tunes, the Classical Melody Book also enables you to store hundreds of pieces of sheet music right at your fingertips for easy access. You can search through it by title, composer, instrument, or even the year it was written!

You can add personal notes to any piece of music, e-mail it, or print it. And any pdf file can be added to the collection by clicking on an e-mail attachment or importing it from a website. The app is designed for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. What a truly amazing app for any musician or music educator!

The best part? You can win your own free copy of The Classical Melody Book App! Just leave a comment below and you’ll be entered in the drawing to win one of three free copies of the app that the developers have set aside for Music Matters Blog readers. The drawing will take place on Thursday, September 29, at 12:00 noon (CST) using a random number generator.

Review and Giveaway of Two Cool Music Apps!

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When I got my new iPod Touch, there were several music apps at the top of my list. Here are two of them:

Scales & Modes

I have to admit, as a very visual person the first thing that attracted me to this app was the beautiful design. But if all it does is look good, an app will be pretty short-lived. Which is probably why this one is still around and going strong. The functionality is incredible! I love the fact that it has way more scales/modes than I will ever need for my own purposes or for my students. It’s not like I’m going to be teaching the Lydian Augmented scale anytime soon…okay, ever. But you know, it’s nice to have it there – just in case. :-)

The navigation is super simple. Just select your root note, then your scale type and voila! you have a screen with the letter names spelled out, the notes placed on a staff, and the keys pictured on a keyboard. With a click, you can switch over to the guitar view and see what it looks like on the frets. And in either mode you can play the audio recording and hear what the scale sounds like. Super cool! And great for both aural and visual learners!

Metronome Plus

This sleek design is perfect for a metronome! With a quick tap you can change the tempo marking, alter the beat structure (to alternate sounds every 2, 3, 4, beats, etc.), or select a different type of sound for the beat. They are also currently working on a Tap Tempo feature and the capability to listen to your iPod while the metronome is going so you can check tempos, etc. This app is already becoming a must-have in my studio!

And now, for the exciting news! Both of these app developers have generously offered to giveaway three copies of their app to Music Matters Blog readers! Just leave a comment below to be entered in the giveaway. The six winners will be drawn at noon (CST) on Thursday, July 21 using a random number generator.