By Dale Farris, Vice-President
Golden Triangle PC Club
March 2005

Overview

The SmartMusic advantage:  Affordable subscriptions as low as $20 per year!

You'll never practice alone. SmartMusic Studio accompanies you while you practice so it can improve your musical performance in less time by making practicing more efficient and fun.

Accompaniment improves performance. A recent Kent State University study shows that significant improvement in the ability to perform solo repertoire comes from working with accompaniment, and the transition to playing with an accompanist is a lot easier from SmartMusic Studio than from practicing alone.

It not only accompanies you, it follows you. The program's exclusive Intelligent Accompaniment can actually follow your spontaneous tempo changes like a good human accompanist, so you're free to express yourself. Or, if you're learning a piece, you can turn off Intelligent Accompaniment and follow the music's original tempo or the tempo of your choice.

Practice on your schedule. Make practicing a joy, instead of a job. SmartMusic Studio is always available when you need it. The accompaniment always plays the part exactly as you want it played.

Nurture important practice habits. Students who practice alone can perfect bad habits. Pitch, blend and balance are all casualties of students who do not listen as they sing or play. Indeed, listening as you rehearse and perform is a skill that must be encouraged and nurtured.

The best way to develop this critical skill is to have accompaniment as often as possible when practicing. This way listening develops naturally and becomes second-nature.

Understand the music. You need accompaniment to respond to the complete musical composition, to contribute to the musical dialog. Also, only with accompaniment can you grasp the musical form and structure of a work. More importantly, you need accompaniment to sense and develop the drama and emotion of the music.

Practicing things slowly. Practicing difficult passages faster than you can sing or play them perfectly only means that you are practicing them imperfectly. Your body will remember how you performed a passage, so it is important that you practice it at a tempo you can handle confidently.

SmartMusic encourages this discipline and lets you work passages up one notch at a time: Your body remembers accurate performances and allows you to develop technique in a consistent and reliable fashion.

Record yourself with fast-track improvements. While performing, students do not hear how they perform nearly as well as when they listen to a recording of themselves. This is because their inner ear is not as evolved as their outer ear. The immediate feedback loop from recordings dramatically accelerates learning and improvement.

SmartMusic makes it immediate and only one click away. With SmartMusic it is just as easy to record one measure to show a student how late his or her entrance is as it is to record an entire concerto for a college or all-state audition. Furthermore, SmartMusic allows you to save recordings to CD and even email them to teachers for a grade or to friends and family for a smile.

Recordings last, and you can document each student's progress through the years. Adapt to your curriculum or program. Get the most out of SmartMusic Studio at Contest. Assessment encourages good practice habits. Supports popular Beginning Band Methods. Jazz repertoire for improvisation practice.

SmartMusic Intelligent Accompaniments

Take a musical journey through over 30,000 titles

Quality Sounds: Because SmartMusic Studio uses instrument sounds specifically crafted by professional musicians and played through its own proprietary software synthesizer, the sound quality of accompaniments does not depend on your PC's soundcard MIDI generator. Therefore the results are amazingly convincing! Forget standard multimedia or General MIDI sounds, and get to a new level with SmartMusic Studio!

Enjoy practicing with professional accompaniments featuring authentic Basso Continuo, Full Orchestra, Piano, Jazz Trios and even Pop/Rock bands! Our incredibly wide selection includes the most comprehensive list of contest and recital titles, classical pieces, movie themes, songs from musical theater, plus Jazz, Pop, Rock, Country, Religious and Holiday favorites.

Easy to access repertoire - SmartMusic Studio, the accompaniments and over 50,000 exercises with accompaniment are all on a single SmartMusic CD-ROM for easy installation. No downloading required and no ongoing Internet connection necessary.

Always-growing catalog - All new titles we add during your subscription term are yours to enjoy at no additional charge. You can search our expanding catalog for the newest additions. For beginning, advanced and college students, hobbyists and professionals you'll find it in SmartMusic.

Step-by-Step Guide For Music Educators

Get your students started down the right path with SmartMusic Studio. Teach them the basics of technique, listening skills, and musicianship and give them the joy and self-confidence that comes from making music.

Preview accompaniments from a library of over 30,000 titles. Access to hundreds of accompaniments helps students preview and select appropriate pieces for study, contest or recital performance.

Practice with accompaniments that follow spontaneous tempo changes. Ritardandos. . . accelerandos. . . rubato. . . the patented Intelligent Accompaniment technology listens and adjusts to students' individual performances. First students can methodically practice the technical aspects of a piece, and then explore the interpretation when they are ready. This higher order learning is difficult when practicing alone, especially without accompaniment.

Record practice sessions for immediate feedback. Students can immediately review and analyze their performance. Plus a recording can be e-mailed to teachers for additional feedback.

Develop technique with 50,000 skill building exercises. The music and accompaniments for thousands of scales, intervals, arpeggios and finger twisters are built into SmartMusic Studio. Use them to build facility in all keys and articulations. Slow down!

Adjust tempo to fit student abilities. Faulty technique develops when students practice at tempos that are too fast. SmartMusic allows students to start slowly and increase the tempo at their own pace.

Improve intonation with the Chromatic tuner. The SmartMusic system uses a chromatic tuner to visually show how to adjust the pitch plus it plays the correct pitch while the student is tuning. SmartMusic trains the student to hear the accurate pitch.

Isolate difficult passages with Practice loops. SmartMusic's unique practice loop lets students isolate and repeat difficult measures. Start slowly and build speed, focusing on the areas that need the most work. SmartMusic is the model for efficient learning.

Access solo line and accompaniment independently. Listen to just the solo line, just the accompaniment or hear them both together. SmartMusic allows the flexibility to meet each student's needs.

Keep perfect time with a sophisticated Metronome. A built-in metronome click can be used with any accompaniment or a full-featured metronome can function independently. Set it for any simple, complex or compound time signature.

Transpose into any key Jazz students in particular use this unique. SmartMusic feature to practice tunes and progressions in multiple keys. Instrumentalists can read any vocal title - as is - and the accompaniment transposition will occur if selected.

Learn more about the music. Included with SmartMusic are composer and composition notes that give students background information specific to each selection. A musical terms dictionary is also included.

Performance Curriculum

Private Lessons
SmartMusic at home and school, affords daily study of solo repertoire and technique-building exercises.

Individualize the selection of solos and exercises for each student. Concepts taught at school are instantly reinforced with home practice. Preview and select hundreds of solos based on student's input, encouraging exploration. Easy access to solo accompaniments encourages students to prepare solos year-round. Record practice sessions at school for analysis and chair placements.

Recorded practice sessions at home are e-mailed to you for comments-family and friends for fun.

Group Lessons and/or Sectional Rehearsals
With SmartMusic at home and school, you can have daily study of solo repertoire and technique-building exercises.

Assign the same solo and exercises to every student. Concepts taught at school are instantly reinforced with home practice. Other solos are previewed and selected based on student's input, encouraging exploration. Easy access to solo accompaniments encourages students to perform solos year-round. Record practice sessions at school for analysis and chair placements.

Recorded practice sessions at home are e-mailed to teachers for comments-family and friends for fun.

Rehearsals
With SmartMusic at home and school, prepare solo repertoire for contest more efficiently.

Select contest pieces for each student. Make technique-building assignments. Students learn much of the essential technique on their own, receiving much input for interpretation. Recorded practice sessions at home encourage self-assessment and are e-mailed to teachers for comments and evaluation.

Chair placements and auditions are recorded at home; e-mailed to teacher.

Contest Preparation

The more times a student practiced with an accompaniment, the higher the resulting solo rating scores tended to be.

SmartMusic Studio has been approved by the majority of state music organizations for use in their state music contests.

Essential Requirements for the Contest Manager; Educator and Student

First, upgrade all practice and contest computers to the latest version of SmartMusic Studio.

Students should practice their solo several times with SmartMusic Studio. Lack of familiarity with the accompaniment can lead to a less successful experience.

Have computers upgraded to the latest version of SmartMusic Studio. Request list of students and instruments scheduled to play with SmartMusic Studio. Schedule students using SmartMusic Studio for solos in designated rooms equipped with computer and speakers. Test all systems.

Install any custom accompaniment files in advance on designated computers, if possible. Have practice computers upgraded to latest version of SmartMusic Studio. Students should practice their solos several times with SmartMusic Studio. Students should be capable of operating SmartMusic Studio independently. If solo requires more than a few minor changes, use Custom files.

Instruct students on the use of PlayList and Custom files. Run a simulated Contest and trouble-shoot any problems.

Verify that all computers are upgraded to the latest version of SmartMusic Studio. Designate specific rooms for SmartMusic Studio. Have computer and speakers on a cart for ease of use. Use highest quality speakers available; position them for maximum balance and blend. Notebook computers can be an efficient solution if SmartMusic Studio needs to be moved from site to site (use Sleep Mode while in transit). Arrive early to install any custom files. Open and load PlayList for each site.

The following features can be particularly helpful for efficient use at the Contest site. Tuning can be accomplished in one of two ways: For aural tuning, strike the letter B on the computer keyboard for a Bb; A for an A. For visual tuning, use the SmartMusic Studio tuner if permitted by the judge.

PlayList allows you to pre-load all the titles to be played, making them quickly accessible through the PlayList Menu. Create PlayList is accessed in the Open Accompaniment dialog box. Performance Mode automatically opens the next title in the list when you play to the end of the current title Next in PlayList advances to the next title in the PlayList. Titles can also be selected individually through the PlayList Menu.

Custom Files provide a convenient way to save an individualized performance with all of the desired settings. This is saved on a PC formatted floppy disk, which allows you to easily move your personalized performance to any SmartMusic Studio system.

The National Standards

In 1994 the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), in cooperation with the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, announced completion of the highly regarded National Standards for Music Education. They offer "a foundation for education assessment on a student-by-student basis" and provide a solid foundation for music education well into the future. The "content" standards in particular specify what students should know and be able to do in the arts disciplines. For music, there are nine content standards.

SmartMusic helps students in your program achieve a majority of these standards. It allows you to individualize and expand music learning and to engage students in challenging, thought-provoking experiences that encourage them to make musical decisions affecting their ultimate success. These standards are listed below, along with a description of how SmartMusic is used to achieve them.

Content Standards:

Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
SmartMusic helps students of all abilities perform solo repertoire accurately and independently. Most notably, the patented Intelligent Accompaniment is interactive: it listens to and follows the soloist's tempo changes. Each student is free to perform his or her own expressive interpretation of the music. The system provides specific feedback on intonation, establishes a steady rhythmic context that can be changed without affecting the pitch, and allows students flexibility in creating practice loops. Each accompaniment is beautiful, musical, and stylistically correct.

Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
Students enjoy practicing from Jamey Aebersold's many educational jazz books. They can develop improvisational skills independently and efficiently within a harmonic context that is provided by the professional rhythm section. Unique capabilities of the SmartMusic edition make it possible for jazz accompaniments to be slowed when a student is working out a touch progression, or transposed to all twelve keys for an even greater challenge. The Dixieland repertoire includes authentic, fully improvised parts for trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, piano, bass and drums. Students have an opportunity to sit in with the pros by turning off any of the instruments.

Reading and notating music.
The SmartMusic accompaniment repertoire includes over 30,000 titles and 50,000 exercises for brass, woodwind, string and vocal musicians ranging from simple solo pieces to major concerti. Pitch and rhythm reading skills are reinforced by the study of each work. Students can turn both the solo and accompaniment parts on or off for any part of the piece, which enables them to selectively check (and correct) questionable rhythms and pitches independently. A variety of notation symbols and terms have been used by the composers to represent elements of expression, articulation, tempo, and dynamics. Definitions of these music terms and symbols are readily accessible to students from the SmartMusic menu.

Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
This standard indicates that by the time a student reaches high school, he or she should be able to identify simple music forms aurally, and describe the various historical, cultural and musical elements of the piece. All of SmartMusic's accompaniments are professionally created and stylistically correct and thus provide the rich music interpretation necessary to apply the aural analysis skills indicated. The solo line can be played independently or with the accompaniment providing the correct pitches and rhythms so as to allow the listener to analyze its relationship to the accompaniment. The musical terms dictionary, composer and composition notes available for every SmartMusic repertoire title describe many of the musical elements indicated in this content standard.

Evaluating music and music performances.
An important part of solo study is the opportunity to listen and reflect on one's own performance. By using the record feature students can easily capture their own personal performance with SmartMusic's Intelligent Accompaniment. Then they can listen for technical accuracy and evaluate the effectiveness of their personal interpretation. The assessment feature provides students with a visual representation of their own performance of SmartMusic's exercise and band method content. The combination of recording and assessment provides a invaluable evaluation opportunity for students.

Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
The SmartMusic repertoire includes works from Mozart and Vivaldi to Hindemith, Bernstein, and Copland. Each accompaniment is stylistically correct, and set in a piano reduction. Literature from the Baroque era comes alive for students with the authentic basso continuo, harpsichord and cello accompaniment. Information about each composer and composition is readily available to students from SmartMusic's Info Menu.

System Requirements

Windows Recommended System

Pentium 300MHz processor
Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000, XP
128MB RAM
400MB free hard disk space
CD-ROM drive
DirectX 9 compatible soundcard with full duplex support
One available USB or serial port for the foot pedal (optional)
Other Windows computers may work depending on software and hardware configurations
Monitor resolution must be 800 x 600 or greater

Macintosh Recommended System

G3 or higher processor
Mac OS 10.2.8 or higher
128MB RAM minimum (256MB RAM recommended
400MB free hard disk space
CD-ROM drive
Microphone port or adapter

Note:  SmartMusic requires a working microphone. Some Macintosh computers do not have an audio line-in or microphone jack, but do support USB audio interface devices that work with the SmartMusic microphone, such as the Griffin iMic Audio Adapter. For more information, contact Griffin Technology.

Additional USB port for the foot pedal (optional)
Other Macintosh computers may work depending on software and hardware configurations
Monitor resolution must be 800 x 600 or greater

Need SmartMusic for Macintosh OS 9?

SmartMusic 8.5 supports Macintosh OS X and Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, but you can continue to use SmartMusic 8.3 on Macintosh OS 9. Please contact Customer Support at 888-874-2144 if you need a SmartMusic 8.3 CD-ROM.

Internet access is required for a few minutes to activate your account. SmartMusic can be used offline the rest of the time.

Subscription Price

Home Subscriptions
$  9.95 per month
$90.00 per year

School Subscriptions
$90 first computer
$60 second computer
$30 third computer
$20 each computer after three

The subscription provides access to over 30,000 accompaniments and 50,000 skill-building exercises.

School Sponsored Home Subscriptions
School subscribers can offer SmartMusic to their students at home for only $20 per year (10 student minimum).

Two easy options for educators:

Administer the account by ordering the subscriptions, collecting money and distributing CDs and accessories. Choose your own end date!

Don't want to collect money? Your students can purchase their subscriptions direct from MakeMusic! using a code.

Accessories

Finale Instrumental Microphone - $10
Instrumental microphone for use with Finale's MicNotatorT feature. This high-quality microphone clips on to your instrument or clothing.

Finale Macintosh Microphone Pre-Amp Adaptor - $10
For Macintosh users who have an older Mac that has a PlainTalk port. Visit Apple's website for specifications about your Macintosh.

Finale Macintosh USB Microphone Adaptor - $35
For Macintosh users that have USB ports. Visit Apple's website for specifications about your Macintosh.

Notation is displayed on-screen for exercises, Band and String Methods. Sheet music for solos and collections is not included. You can purchase sheet music at your favorite music store or at www.makemusic.com.

The complete music practice system, including accompaniments, is shipped to subscribers on a single CD-ROM. No downloading required. No ongoing Internet connection is necessary. Notation is displayed on-screen for exercises, Band and String Methods. Sheet music for solos and collections is sold separately.

About MakeMusic! Inc.

MakeMusic! Inc. is the world leader in software and systems for music educators and musicians. Among their leading products are Finale, the world's best-selling music notation software and SmartMusic Studio, the complete music practice system that features Intelligent Accompaniment and the world's largest interactive accompaniment library.

The market for MakeMusic! includes music educators and music makers worldwide. In the USA alone there are more than 100,000 music educators and more than 60 million active music makers (playing an instrument or singing at least once a month).

The mission of the company is to enhance and transform the making of music, the teaching of music, and the learning of music.

Their strategy:  MakeMusic! is the only company that creates, owns, and licenses the most advanced and patented technologies and solutions that support the composition, arranging, teaching, learning, and playing of music. This creates a major barrier to entry for competitors. MakeMusic!'s solutions independently are already established as market leaders, and collectively they create a huge advantage for music educators, music makers, and the professionals serving them such as music publishers.

Finale, the industry leader in music notation and the entire notation family that includes Allegro, PrintMusic! and Finale NotePad, are already found in concert halls, publishing houses, colleges, schools, and homes around the world. MakeMusic! is investing in the enhancement of the award-winning SmartMusic Studio through the deployment of an online subscription model that will establish it as the leading practice system for musicians.

Contact

MakeMusic! Inc.
6210 Bury Drive
Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55346-1718
952-937-9611
FAX 952-937-9760
www.makemusic.com