Hi all,
Today I will be reviewing my exploration of Chromatik (https://www.chromatik.com/) and SmartMusic (http://www.smartmusic.com/).
Lets start with SmartMusic. This is a common program that many music teachers have heard of, and most likely have used at some point in their teaching experience. As far as navigation and use of the program it is fairly easy and straight forward. Students would need a tutorial on how to navigate through it, but would probably pick it up right away. SmartMusic is a software made to enhance and promote student practice. It is available for school and home use, however there is a subscription needed. For a one year educator subscription the cost is $140.00, which you could build into your budget. Unfortunately the cost does not stop there. In order for students to have their own account that is accessible to them outside of school a yearly student subscription is required, which runs $40.00. This is another cost that could be built into your budget if finances allow. The following link gives more information about what subscriptions are available and offer, https://store.makemusic.com/store/?tab=smartmusic&_ga=1.93946781.1061081139.1428324440.
If you are thinking the program seems a little pricy for you, my advice would be to just explore the website and see all it offers because it is completely worth the cost! The software is aligned with the National Music Education Standards and offers huge inventory and accessories. Within the inventory you will find a variety of method books, sight reading/singing activities, jazz patterns and more. On top of this there are scale activities (major, minor, whole tone, pentatonic, ect.). There is a built in tuner, metronome and digital recorder for the student to utilize. For more features of the program see the following link, http://www.smartmusic.com/products/educators/features-and-benefits/.
For the educator, SmartMusic has an integrated gradebook that will keep track of every assignment for you, making assessments a breeze. The teacher has the ability to create and send assignments home that students may access on their accounts. Students are able to perform the assignment as many times as they want and submit their final recording back to the teacher where the grade is updated.
SmartMusic is a great tool to have in your music program. When used properly it is capable of furthering student growth, performance, and lets face it, because it is online and uses technology students are more interested in the practice at hand. It also allows them instant visual feedback and the ability to play with an ensemble, making the sometimes tedious task of practicing more interesting.
Unlike SmartMusic, Chromatik is a web based free catalog of sheet music. There is no subscription required, which is amazing for those with limited resources and finances. The site itself is very straight forward and easy to navigate and use. Students would not need nearly as extensive of a tutorial as with SmartMusic. Students would be able to set up their own accounts and just explore around the site in order to figure out the program. Chromatik offers a variety of popular music (many different genres) as well as classical music. See the following link to see all the categories offered, https://www.chromatik.com/. Since this program offers more popular songs students are very interested in learning new music. Students are able to record, save and share themselves playing the selected tune. On the tune they select there is a video attached so allow students to listen to the song and play along with it. The following link shows the basic set up of the page once a song is selected, https://www.chromatik.com/static/about. I think the best use for this program would be to incorporate extra songs into the students repertoire.
As an educator I strongly believe that SmarMusic is a better program to incorporate into your music program. Not to say that Chromatik could not also be integrated, both programs have their place. However, as far as student growth SmartMusic seems to offer more than Chromatik.
Hopefully this was a helpful review for those of you looking to adopt these programs to build and further your music program.
Until next time,
H
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