i-pads in the young band class

[nafmeadmin]

Please share apps that you use in your band room.

[nafmeadmin]

Naturally I use it for a quick tuner and metronome, especially if I’m teaching a lesson. It’s no different than a regular tuner/metronome but its the gimmick that the kids like. Plus most of my kids have an iPad/ipod touch at home and that encourages them to download free music apps like that. I also have the Apple Remote App that lets me control my stereo from my stand. AWESOME for when we are listening to recordings of our band music and I want to point something out.

I have a garage band club after school which is great for teaching about loops and simple recording. I only have 10 ipads in my classroom so it can only be a limited after school club but the kids enjoy it and are inspired to use their own ipad/computer to make music at home. <— that's really the goal of my classroom! MadPad is another app for my general music class but I can see uses in the band room as well. I use it to explore timbres of "regular" sounds and then organize those sounds into music. That could easily be adapted to record individual instruments and create some awesome music! MadPad has a great website with youtube examples of projects others have done. http://www.smule.com/madpad

[nafmeadmin]

I really like Teacherkit for all my classes. Its free and I use it in Band, Chorus and my general music classes for seating charts, attendance and basic participation grading. At one point it cost money but now its free.

For a tuning app I had to have the best and the iStroboSoft by peterson is the best tuner I have come across for accuracy. Its kinda expensive though at $10.

One silly app thats fun is the free bagpipe app which you can blow into and play melodies. My favorite free is instrument is the SoundPrism, its a unique instrument that uses chords to create sounds.

[nafmeadmin]

The October 2012 issue of Teaching Music magazine has an article on apps for music teachers (p. 22).
http://musiced.nafme.org/resources/periodicals/teaching-music-online-edition/

Linda Brown
NAfME Staff

[nafmeadmin]

I have used several apps in the classroom. I agree that TeacherKit is a great tool. It will help with organization, grading, attendance, etc. It keeps all of that info in one place. Tuners are great and they usually come with metronomes. I have come up with a list of several apps that may be of use here on my site: http://musiced21.blogspot.com/

[nafmeadmin]

I think that using an iPad or another app in a classroom (especially among younger students) is a really neat idea.
The app in the classroom I am currently in uses Pyware 3D, iMovie, Sibelius, Garage Band, etc. I think that the general idea is to not only allow students to use these programs and play around with their imagination, but to also allow them to get a better grip on technology. Let’s face it, technology is taking over our society and nearly everything is run on computers.
Personally, I’ve used iMovie so many times, not just for assignments, but for my own recreational use. I find that it’s so easy to use and it allows for the student to play around with the program and think about what they want to use, and also allows them to edit the video to meet their needs. And this could be whether it was an assignment, or just a simple picture movie for a social gathering.

[nafmeadmin]

Tonal Energy Tuner is great for tuning also – it turns into a smiley face when the student plays in tune – our 7th and 8th graders and even high school students love it 🙂

[nafmeadmin]

I (and some of my students) use ForScore, which allows you to load pictures of sheet music or image files of scores, and read your music from the iPad. You can also annotate on screen, and highlight, add text, etc., as well as sync a sound file to the score, and there’s a metronome function. You can create setlists for concerts and festivals, and turn pages with a swipe (or if you have a pedal peripheral, you can use that to turn pages hands-free). I have used this for many performances, and I’ve had kids use it too (they can use the same app in other classes with worksheets and stuff). It’s not free, but it’s worth the few dollars!

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