Chromatik
and SmartMusic are two software programs that show to be helpful for students
when practicing at home. My review of it shows the positives and negatives.
When getting on chromatik,
the first thing you see at the top is a link for a one month free trial of
chromatik pro (Chromatik, 2016) . I think this is
very useful because the user can try it out for a month and decide if this is
the right program they want to continue with.
As you scroll down, there are collections of music you
can open. When you choose a song, the next thing you would click is the
instrument you are practicing with. Afterwards, the sheet music appears and
then you press the play button for the accompaniment. This is a great tool for
students to use because they have the sheet music in front of them and they
hear their part as well as the accompaniment part. When you click on the
instrument you want to use, there are YouTube recordings of other users playing
the music as well as a music video for the song.
What I found frustrating was the commercial pop ups
when clicking on the sheet music. In order to get rid of them, you must upgrade
to the pro version. This program only gives you 3 free plays before you must
upgrade to the pro version as well. When you upgrade this program, you have an
unlimted pick of music as well as no advertisement. This is not the case on the
basic version. I wanted to look up scores for Broadway musicals and it only
gave me three choices. The upgraded version also helps the website pay the artists
who create the music put on the program. The fee starts at $3.99; which can be
useful to those that use this program a lot.
The
first thing I clicked on from SmartMusic was the tutorial videos. I went onto
the educator videos and learned how to create an assignment, set up a class,
enroll students in a class, and assignment units.
These videos remind me of private lessons in a private
studio. Teachers can choose a piece, make it a unit for their students to
practice at home, and provide feedback on the spot. When you click on the
support button, it gives you answers to questions about this program you may
have (Make Music, 2016) . For example, this
page explains the guided practice tools available from this website such as immediate
feedback, identifying issues from a player, and a tuner as well as a metronome.
Just like Chromatik, this program has a repertoire library that has the world’s
largest digital sheet music available (Make Music, 2016) . When the students
click on their song choice, accompaniment is available as the students are
practicing with a pitch and rhythmic references.
Both
programs seem helpful for students to practice at home. Chromatik and
SmartMusic provide a repertoire library that students can choose along with
accompaniment with the piece. SmartMusic works with both the students and teacher
while Chromatik is for users that practice on their own time. SmartMusic would
work in the classroom and private music lessons. Chromatik would help those,
outside of the classroom, that are looking for music and in need of an
accompanist. These programs would be useful for intrinsic and extrinsic
students as well as maintain their motivation to practice at home.
References
Chromatik. (2016). Retrieved from Chromatik, inc:
https://www.chromatik.com/static/about
Make Music, i. (2016). SmartMusic. Retrieved from
http://www.smartmusic.com/
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