Chromatik and Smart Music

Both Chromatik and Smart Music allow students to put a new and exciting spin on practicing.  As I previously mentioned in my blog from earlier this week lack of practice at home is a common occurrence with my high school students and 5th grade beginning band students.  After reviewing both of these programs I can clearly see how they would be beneficial in my current classroom.


Chromatix-
There are several features to this program which would be helpful to my high school students.  They often express interest in playing more popular tunes.  We have several pop charts that we play during pep band games, but outside of that particular season pop tunes are not a regular part of our repertoire.  The nice part about Chromatik is a student can fulfill their want to play popular charts even if it is not in a full band setting.  It is great how it incorporates so many instruments into the program.  Although the majority of the music is popular I did appreciate the classical music category.  Students who are rehearsing for college auditions and solo contest would find this very helpful!  Also, I teach several private piano lessons and I know my students could benefit from this program.

Chromatik is convenient in the sense that the music automatically does the page turns.  With technology now making many aspects in life so convenient this is a really nice feature.  Also, users are able to share a short segment of their recording with twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.  This gives students an added sense of accomplishment to let their friends and family hear their music.  Finally, it is cost effective for the students.

Overall I think Chromatik is a good program that has real potential to be used in my classroom.  I don't think it would necessarily be appropriate for beginning band students, however it would be for high school students.  Although it does not have the standard concert band repertoire that is used in my classroom it would serve as a motivator and an outlet for students on more of a solo level.  

Smart Music- 

I have heard about Smart Music for years but have never taken the time to research it until this course.  I was extremely impressed with all of the features it offers students and teachers.  Some of the main features that I found to be most useful to beginning and advanced students is the tempo control feature, fingering chart by note, tuner, and assessment feature.  All of these features add so much to individual practice.

My high school band is currently working on some very challenging music.  We have talked about tempo, notes, rhythms, style, and much much more.  With a program like Smart Music it can help students practice in a much more efficient way.  Smart Music will help them with the multi-tasking in order for them to play their music to the best of their ability.  There are some very helpful videos for teachers and students.  The search is very simple to use and has many titles for everything from concert band to jazz band and solo music.  All of these tools would be very beneficial to beginning band students as well.  One thing I hear most often from new band parents is they do not know how to help their child practice because they do not play an instrument.  With Smart Music it is like having a tutor at home on call 24/7.   

Beside aiding students in their individual practice I love the assessment feature.  Finding an efficient way to give individual playing assessments has been a struggle in my classroom.  With Smart Music teachers are able to give assignments and students are able to work on them at home and record their assignment then turn them into the teacher.  This would be a huge help to the teachers and programs that are stretched for time in daily rehearsals. 

Overall, I would say Smart Music would be a more practice program to use in my current classroom.  One negative is the cost for the subscription.  However, after reviewing the program I feel confident is saying the program is absolutely worth the price.  I plan on talking to my principal about finding funding for Smart Music for the 2015-16 school year.