Interactive Music Practice Makes Perfect

with Digital Technology:

by John Kuzmich, Jr.

2003 Arizona Music Educators Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, January 31, 2003

2003 MENC Northwest Divisional Conference in Portland, Oregon, February 14, 2003

Digital Playback

Superscope PSD 300 by Superscope at: http://www.superscopetechnologies.com/products/PSD300/index.htm

Automatic Accompaniment Generators

SmartMusic by Coda Music at: http://www.smartmusic.com

Band In-A-Box by PG Music at: http://www.pgmusic.com

Band Methods. See the following URL for an article providing an in-depth analysis at: http://www.sbomagazine.com/sbomag/oct01/technology.html

Standard of Excellence by Kjos (Practice & Assessment by Pyware) with http://www.kjos.com and http://www.pyware.com

Accent on Achievement by Alfred Publishing at: http://www.alfred.com and <http://www.smartmusic.com>

Belwin 21st Century Band Method by Warner Bros. at: <http://www.smartmusic.com>

Essential Elements 2000 by Hal Leonard at: <http://www.halleonard.com>

Music Theory with special student pricings for practice at home. See the following URL for more details at: <http://www.sbomagazine.com/sbomag/apr01/technology.html>

Essentials of Music Theory (extensive tutorial/drill and practice product in separate volumes by Alfred Publishing at: <http://www.alfred.com>

Practical Musica 4 by Ars-Nova at: <http://www.ars-nova.com>

Auralia (best ear training product on the market) and Musicton (good tutorial on basics) by Rising software at: <http://www.risingsoftware.com>

Instrumental Practice: See the following URL for more details covering most band and orchestra instruments at: <http://www.sbomagazine.com/sbomag/jan03/technology.html>

Orchestra String Teach’s Assistant, Woodwind Teacher’s Assistant and Brass Teacher’s Assistant by Swan Software at: <http://www.xmission.com/~pdswan/>. One site license price of $275 per application allows the teacher to duplicate the program disks for all of their students at no further fee including for home use.

The Virtual Virtuoso is an extensive library of excellent string instrument repertory practice at: <http://www.virtvirt.com>

Beginning MasterClass Series for piano and guitar at: <http://www.pgmusic.com/products.php3?load=mc>

Extensive guitar and bass method instruction at Emedia Music at: <www.emediamusic.com>

Extensive electric guitar and piano method instruction at Charanga Music at: <http://www.charanga.com/>

Extensive piano and guitar method instruction at Alfred Publishing at: <ttp://www.alfred.com/frameset.cfm?sub=software >

Interactive piano, guitar, drums and bass instruction at AC Muzik at: <http://www.acmuzik.com/>

Several saxophone, guitar, piano, and drum CD-ROM’s good for supplemental instruction at: <http://www.pgmusic.com>

Practice Cards

Musician’s Online Practice Planner by Molto Music at: <http://www.moltomusic.com/main.html>