Music Education Apps - July 2013

Since my early days of teaching, I have used technology in guitar lessons. Years ago I was making students exercise and practice material in the lesson with Finale and Siblelius and printing it for them right there. Now, with the iPad and apps, there are many ways to engage students and convey important musical information. Here's a list of apps I use almost everyday. Since I found most of these by reading other lists just like this, please feel free to post any I may be missing in the comments. I've dated the title of this post as the technology is continually evolving, so I'm sure there will be more as time goes by.

iNote Trainer - I've used this app since the early days of mobile technology. For beginning readers I have them play the beginning levels as is. For students who know how to read some notes, I create custom levels based on the notes they know (strings 1-4, for example) and then have them "say and play" the notes while I tap the button to progress to the next level. 

ReadRhythm - This is a great app for kids (and adults) to learn how to read, count and play rhythms. Intuitive and deep, this app is also updated frequently.

Tenuto - Compiling exercises from musictheory.net, this app is great for things like note recognition, key signatures and fretboard knowledge. I especially like the ability to email your score to someone, like your teacher, and have a certificate of achievement created. 

Wild Chords - This app is simply great for getting kids excited about learning chords. Students play their actual guitar to interact with the game. Kids are captivated by the story of the app, and I've used it to inspire a few students while in a practicing slump. 

DoReMe 1-2-3 - I have some younger students who are really too young to hold a guitar for more than a couple minutes. This game teaches them valuable musical concepts in a fun and challenging environment. I always use the "DoReMe" setting when kids are creating their own songs, so they can be familiar with those terms later in life if they ever come up. 

Flashnote Derby - Who doesn't like a good horse racing game? Even though it might skew a little young for students 10 or older, I find they still enjoy winning the game, and it's good to make the student actually play the note on their guitar before tapping the note name on the screen. 

There are others, including some I'm just getting into, and I'll post more later. I also want to do a post on apps that I use to organize my students and lessons, like Evernote and either Music Teacher's Helper or Moosic Studio. As I'm just now getting into the latter two, I'll report back when I know more. Thanks for reading!