Whiteboard for iPad

Multitouch Whiteboard app

Here is another great iPad app for you to explore. I bought a little whiteboard app last year, which was fun for drawing all kinds of musical signs with my students.

But what I was really hoping to find was an app that would allow me to draw on top of an image that I created and saved on my iPad. For example, if I created a grand staff students would be able to draw clefs and notes using the whiteboard. Found it!

For $1.99 I would recommend the Multitouch Whiteboard, which you can find in the app store. You can choose different colors and customize your marker width. Two people can draw at the same time. I especially liked that erasing and clearing did not alter my background image.

I made this image of the staff and keyboard in Photoshop and saved it in my iPad's iPhotos. When you open the whiteboard app you will find the option to select a photo for your background. Voila, a fun and handy teaching aid.

Click here to view and download my background image, feel free to save it and use it with your students.

Flashcards Deluxe iPad App

For those of you who are out there with your iPods and iPads in the teaching studio, here's another app that I have found very useful. Flashcards Deluxe is a powerful little flashcard app which you can use to study just about anything.

I am taking a performance exam next week and I was looking for a way to randomly quiz myself on the technical requirements. It took me about 10 minutes to set up my content and now I have my own personal examiner.

I can imagine using this app for:

1. Music terminology testing
2. p[[[[[[[[ (my kitten Mauzy typed this one)
3. Technical requirements testing
4. Ear Training (yes, you can add sound)
5. Composer identification (yes, you can add images)

Here are some of my favorite features:

• Customize the background color, fonts and layout
• Organize your decks into folders
• Include images and sound
• Three response levels: 1) Wrong 2) Right  and 3) I kind of know
• Just tap to check your answer or swipe to advance to the next card
• You can even print the answer on the screen with your finger. 
• Share flashcard sets with other people.

You can create your own flashcards right in the app, but if you are making a lot of cards you might prefer to create the file on your computer. You do this using either a spreadsheet program like Excel or a simple text editor like TextEdit. There are good instructions to follow on the Flashcards Deluxe website.

There are a few ways to get your flashcards into your device. You can do it through Dropbox or Google Docs. The way I did it was by connecting my iPad to my computer with the USB cable and then transfer the file using "File Sharing" in iTunes. Again, the website has good instructions to follow until you get used to the process.

So for the price of a coffee, I would recommend checking out this great little teaching aid.  Read more at www.orangeorapple.com or download a Lite version at the iTunes Store and try it for free.

Ah... tidy book shelves!

The first thing I like to do when teaching has finished up for the year is clean up my book shelves... ah! After giving out sight reading material for a whole month my lending library had become a complete disaster.

As you can see I had some help from my new little buddy, Mauzy.

I got inspired by Jen's Spring Cleaning post and bought some cardboard magazine holders from Staples to hold groups of books. Maybe I'll get crafty and decorate the fronts this summer.

I'm wondering if most of you lend out material to your students? After some years the books get so ragged and worn and sometimes are never returned. I suspect that students and their parents don't even realize the cost involved in building and replenishing a lending library. I would be afraid to do the math, but I'm guessing that $1000 per shelf is a realistic estimate.

Do you have a lending system that works for you? Do you have a library fee or a sign-out binder? Maybe you don't lend out books at all. I try to teach my students to respect books by keeping them well organized. I've often thought that I should ask students to erase pencil markings when they return a book to the library after learning a special piece. Any bright ideas out there?

Once Upon a Time...

One of my favorite projects in my studio is the Young Composers Collection. Every year I devote 4-5 weeks to having my students compose, notate and record their original compositions. Usually I do this in November to coordinate with Canada Music Week, but this year we tackled our project in May. It was a fun way to finish the year.

I like to choose an overall theme for the entire studio, this year the theme was "Once Upon a Time". Students were encouraged to use music to tell a simple story. My students tend to compose using one of three distinct approaches:

1. Start with words or a poem to help define rhythm and structure.
2. Create musical ideas to describe each part of the story.
3. Create an overall character or mood.

The project went through a number of phases:

1. Students get started on their creative ideas. 
2. I help them solve how to notate their music by hand.
3. Using Finale PrintMusic students learn to notate on the computer.
4. Everyone creates an illustration and a story.
5. They helped with scanning, typing and formatting the digital book using Pages (iWork).
6. Photo shoot! I make sure I take pictures of my students every year. 
7. Everyone recorded their own compositions using Garageband. After recording they learned how to edit the file to remove wrong notes and improve timing. Then we export the file as a mp3.

In past years I have had the Young Composer Collections printed and students purchased them for $15. This year I decided to deliver the final product digitally. Families can download, save, view and print as they like.

During our last week of lessons, it was fun to dig out the old Young Composers books and flip through the compositions that students have created over the years. My students found it rewarding to see how they have grown and improved. I have Young Composers books dating back to 1994, well before most of my students were born! Here are some more recent cover themes: The Critter Collection, After School Fun, My Science Project and Celebration in Color.

The best thing about this project is that every student emerges as a star. Everyone works together toward a common goal and learns so much about music notation, artistic expression and technology.

The Ultimate White Board

I have been a fan of Glory St. Germain's Ultimate Music Theory books for awhile now. Many of my older students write the RCM Theory Rudiments and her workbooks have become our favorite resource for exam preparation.

I just received an email announcing their revised workbooks and answer books. But what really caught my attention is her new Ultimate White Board. Here is a link to her YouTube video demonstration.

The Ultimate Whiteboard is a two-sided white board with staff lines, keyboard and circle on one side and blank on the other side. It includes the dry-erase marker and the eraser. It’s perfect for drawing the Circle of Fifths, Key Signatures, Time Signature, Scales, Cadences, Chords, Ledger Lines and association with the placement of notes on the staff to keys on the keyboard. (Size: 11 x 16 inches)

Sounds like a fantastic teaching aid! Read more by visiting her website.