Who hasn’t wanted to get in touch with their childhood roots and re-connect with the recorder?

Not you? Well, okay. Nevertheless it’s a portable and versatile instrument with a rich history in many cultures. What’s more, recorders are relatively inexpensive and a great introduction to the world of written music. Gaining some recorder proficiency can be a lot of fun, and SmartMusic can help.

If you open the early scale exercises (the whole note scales), you can change the instrument to alto or soprano recorder and use SmartMusic to slowly practice scales with accompaniment. Click on each note and you’ll see a simple Baroque-style fingering chart. Work slowly and in simple keys, moving to the faster exercises, arpeggios, and interval studies.

When you’ve developed some facility, you’re ready to tackle the Baroque titles in SmartMusic. These are pretty much all for Alto Recorder due to the range of the instrument, but once you’ve learned the fingerings, the instruments are transferrable. Look in the Solos section of Find Music, choose Flute, then open any title with the “On Screen” check mark. Switch the instrument to Alto Recorder and SmartMusic will automatically transpose it for you – although you’re welcome to change the key to find something that fits as best as possible (G major, F major, C, D minor, E minor, etc.).

The Baroque titles feature harpsichord and basso continuo in the playback, too, so there’s a more authentic “feel” to your practicing.

Are you or your students using SmartMusic with the recorder? Share your experiences with us by clicking on “Comments” below.

The second installment of our wildly popular “Meet the CS team” series introduces us to another James – “J. G.,” our evening shift supervisor for SmartMusic support. We get many calls from students and parents after 5:00 p.m. Central time, and they all appreciate J.G.’s calming manner, especially when that grade-crucial assignment is due.

James: What is your musical background?
J.G.: I have a bachelor’s degree in music composition, and have played guitar in many rock bands.

Were you a Finale or SmartMusic user prior to joining us?
I’ve been using Finale since my freshman year in college. I discovered SmartMusic much more recently, but have actually used it with guitar, even though guitar is not officially supported.

What did you do prior to coming to MakeMusic?
I worked on the maintenance crew at Inver Wood Golf Course.

Wow, that’s quite a departure. Can you think of how that might have helped you prepare for your work here?
Sure. We were very committed to quality and attention to detail. Plus, today I am rarely caught off-guard by any flying objects.

Do you remain active musically?
I play guitar in a local Delta blues-influenced rock band – The 4onthefloor (www.4otf.com). I also compose orchestral music and am an active member of the American Composers Forum.

How many bass drums should a rock band have?
A rock band should have a minimum of one bass drum per member. (Again, see www.4otf.com)

If you had to learn a different instrument from scratch, which would you try and why?
I’d learn the violin, both for the tremendous sound and its rich history. It has the versatility to be a  part of so many different types of music, from classical violin to bluegrass and Irish fiddle.

If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Perfect pitch.

What do you enjoy most about working at MakeMusic?
Working alongside so many musicians as well as learning the depths and secrets of Finale.

This year we added a new element to our company meetings, where we'll close the meeting by having one department introduce themselves and briefly describe their work. Perhaps because we have so many musicians in the company we're invited to share this information in any way we wish, and encouraged to express our creativity in the process.

Again, perhaps because we have so many musicians in the company, there is also some pressure to stage a compelling performance.

Our Repertoire Development department's solution to the challenge was to create a homemade video to introduce its members and demonstrate how a new title is added to the SmartMusic library. The resulting video was a smash success. Despite the fact that it was intended for internal use only, we encouraged them to let us share it with others, and they were kind enough to agree to let us put it on YouTube.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the video is a lot of fun.

Since the video was posted I’ve heard a lot of feedback through our forum and support system, mostly along the lines of “Wow, that’s much more involved than I thought!”

Of course, as in any film, many topics are glossed over. A big part of the repertoire development process is contractual and copyright-based, which doesn’t make for good TV, but it is essential (and time-consuming). Also, there are a few sections in the film where specific details are rattled off so fast that you have to pause the video to grasp even a few of them. This is a light-hearted way to emphasize the meticulous level of detail involved in their work.

Because of all this care and attention, it's a rare event that a wrong note ever makes it into a SmartMusic piece, there's a process to address that too, and I thought I'd share this as well. When someone contacts Customer Support with a specific problem, we'll enter it in an internal tracking system and it gets assigned back to the Repertoire Development department. They’ll check the engraved notation against the score to verify the report and update the files as necessary. Once we’ve done this work, when a customer opens the piece SmartMusic will automatically download the updated file.

Let us know what you think of the video by clicking the "Comments" button below.

The SmartMusic Customer Support team is made up of a great variety of musicians. Among our ranks are guitarists, percussionists, singers, and brass and woodwind players. We have degrees in audio production, music composition, music performance, music education, and more.

Supporting SmartMusic and Finale requires a broad skill set well beyond expertise in SmartMusic and Finale. The lion's share of our training is done in-house, leveraging years of experience accrued by our staff, as well as help from consulting firms.

We're delighted to be able to provide you with great support and also very proud of our excellent team. As a result I'd like to occasionally feature a member of the team so you can get to know us better. 

Let's start with Travis, who's been with MakeMusic since June 2008. Travis is a trombonist with a degree in music education. In addition to his regular support duties he's also a frequent contributor to the SmartMusic forums.

James: What did you do prior to coming to MakeMusic?
Travis: I taught elementary, middle school, and high school band for eight years in several districts in Iowa and Minnesota. 

Do you remain active musically?
I currently play bass trombone in a community concert band and a brass quintet, and as a freelance substitute player in other groups. 

If you had to learn a different instrument from scratch, which would you try and why?
That's a tough call, but I would probably choose clarinet. It's my favorite woodwind instrument and then I'd get to play the melody a lot more often!  

If you could have a super power, what would it be?
I'd love to be able to stop time for the world around me while I continue moving. It always seems like there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I want.

What is your favorite piece in SmartMusic?
Holst's First Suite in Eb, especially Movement 3.  It's such a melodic bass trombone part and so much fun to play!

What do you enjoy most about working at MakeMusic?
I most enjoy being around people who care about music as much as I do: I've played church gigs with co-workers and I've run into others at rock concerts. I feel like I am always learning new things about SmartMusic, Finale, and music in general. I've also been inspired to do some arranging for brass quintet,
something I've always wanted to do but never accomplished until coming to MakeMusic. It's just a great feeling for me to work here!

SmartMusic includes thousands of pre-written technical exercises. On the Find Music screen, under Exercises, you'll see the eight different types of exercises listed:

Select one of the eight by clicking on it, you'll see a different view of the program:

On the left side is a descriptive "file tree" view of the exercises, organized by type. It's a quick way to zip through the different kinds of exercises. When you choose an exercise by number, that exercise is previewed on the right. Once you've picked the exercise you'd like to work with you can hide the list and get started in one of three ways:

• Double-click on the number on the left,
• Click Open along the top, or
• Click Play (or Record)

Once you've opened a specific exercise, you can use the Prev and Next buttons near the top of the screen to quickly move to adjacent exercises. If you want to make an assignment, click the Assignment button along the bottom of the window, and it'll take all of your current settings and turn them into a custom assignment: Be sure to specify what key you want it to be in before you finish!

The method books also work in the same way, with a list of all the exercises on the left to pick from. The only difference is that you can't alter the key of method book assignments (due to copyright agreements with the publishers).

My advice? Make more scale assignments in C# minor. What else do your students have to do on Spring Break?

Here are four lesser-known aspects of SmartMusic I thought you might enjoy:

Reverb
Not everyone knows that SmartMusic has reverb controls! To access them, select the "Settings" tab and click on "Advanced Settings." Press the play button to hear a sample piece play while you adjust the room type and amount of reverb SmartMusic will include with your performances. There's even a sense of humor exhibited in the list of room choices.

"My Part" Playback
When you select a band, orchestra, or jazz ensemble piece, the "Solo Line" button becomes a "My Part" button. You hear a MIDI piano playing your part. Note that in swing pieces, "My Part" doesn't play back. The thinking behind that is that you probably don't want your students modeling their sense of swing after a computer.

Reference Information
Prior to opening most repertoire in SmartMusic, you can click on "Composer/Composition Notes" to learn more about the piece and the person that wrote it. Similarly, in the Help menu look for "Symbols and Terms." Here you'll find pictures of musical symbols along with their definitions.

The Play Test
When you’re checking out your speakers to balance volume or to position them, a cool little piece plays. In fact, you’ve already heard it if you played with the reverb setting. This tune has been in SmartMusic forever. It’s Allegro from the Sonata No.2 for Flute by J. S. Bach. If you’re feeling feisty, use SmartMusic's Quick Search to check out this piece on your instrument. It’s a fast one!

I am a terrible jazz pianist. It is true, I'm the second to admit it. The first would be my jazz piano teacher from college. Well, maybe him, then the jazz ensemble director - well, and the other students in the rhythm section. The more I think of it, pretty much everyone who hears my ham-fisted chord voicings says "ouch."

Help is at hand, in the form of the Wynton Marsalis tunes in the Jazz Improvisation section of SmartMusic. For an example, select Wynton Marsalis Volume IV and specify "In the Heat of Battle." From the Instrument drop down select "Piano Transcription," and voilà! An actual transcription from Marsalis' rhythm section appears on-screen - making it easy for me to pick up professional voicings and comping ideas - all at my own speed.

This piece also features an "Instrumentation" button at the top, which controls what instruments will play back. This allows me to alternate between playing back ONLY the piano part (as I'm learning a section), and playing everything BUT the piano when I want to play along with a world-class drummer and bassist. Better yet, you can even change those settings as SmartMusic is playing!

These pieces offer bass and drum transcriptions as well. Leading a jazz band? Be sure to share these ideas with ALL members of your rhythm section (even the guitar players will enjoy playing along).

Last week I described how to submit SmartMusic repertoire suggestions. I've since had folks ask if there was a place where they could pass along their ideas for features or new directions with the SmartMusic program.

The answer is yes! We log and track feature requests through our online knowledge base. Please feel free to let us know what you'd like to see improved or added, or share whatever is on your mind. These suggestions are reviewed by our project management team and play an important role as they determine what will be included in future versions of SmartMusic.

If you'd prefer to discuss your ideas with others, I encourage you to visit the SmartMusic Forums where you'll meet a positive, helpful community of SmartMusic users as well as an active moderation team.  Recent "Future of SmartMusic" topics include:

• Whether we'll see the mini bassoon in SmartMusic,
• The use of SmartMusic in the Wenger V-Room, and
• Ideas for iPhone apps

I hope to see you there!

Among many other improvements, SmartMusic 2010 speeds up the file retrieval process and makes files easier to manage. Today SmartMusic grabs content à la carte - as you pick each piece, rather than requiring you to slowly download one very large (+800MB) block of files as it did in the past. In addition to saving you disk space this also offers three additional benefits:

1. In most cases all parts are downloaded - switch from flute to oboe and it just loads the new part. In past versions, you'd be sitting at another download screen while SmartMusic dutifully grabbed the next part for you.
2. Downloaded files are stored locally. It works similarly to iTunes: If you look at the left navigation bar in Find Music, the "On This Computer" section lists all of your downloaded solos, method books, and band pieces. The list has a cool "as you type" search box, too, to quickly pare down the list to help you find something fast.

The third benefit is the whole point of today's post. You can create a playlist of pretty much anything you want, then export it and open that same playlist on another computer, meanwhile SmartMusic will immediately start downloading all of those titles in the background!

Here's an example:

Open up the Solo section in Find Music, then indicate English Horn - click a title, then "Download for Later," and click the next title. Go through all of the English Horn solos in this fashion. Watch the little "Downloads…" indicator in the lower left, and when it's done, jump into the "Solos" section on this computer and create a playlist of these files. Under Playlists, right-click your new list of English Horn solos and choose Export. You now have a file that you can put on any computer that runs SmartMusic 2010 where you only have to double-click the file and SmartMusic will launch and begin downloading all of the content in that playlist.

My example is a little extreme - most folks can benefit from this by making a playlist of a few pieces they're currently working on. I'm sure you'll come up with some more creative uses of this feature - please share them with us here by posting a comment.

Have suggestions on improving playlists? We track feature requests through our online knowledge base at http://smartmusic.custhelp.com/app.

PS: Bob Grifa covers some of these changes in more detail here.

While SmartMusic's ability to accompany your students — and assess them — is extremely powerful, there is a limit to this power: Software can't go beyond the intersection of microphones and math. That's where you come in.

Measuring the accuracy of your students' rhythm and pitch is SmartMusic's strong suit. On the other hand, tone, phrasing, and precise intonation are currently beyond its grasp.

In my experience, tone is subjective. I've played with a dark, vibrato-less tone in some concert bands and brass quintets, to grisly loud in screamer lead trumpet bands. Either sound would be wildly inappropriate in the other context. While we might agree on some basics, even with a baseline a computer is in a poor position to make this judgment.

Phrasing is similarly difficult for a computer to rate. I think most people consider phrasing part of their interpretation as it is rarely bound into the score. Phrasing is dependent on context, too — you might pause and breathe differently when playing a 3rd clarinet part in a large group than in a one-on-one session.

While SmartMusic clearly knows the difference between C and C#, and its pitch recognition seems to improve with every new version, the ability to detect a few cents worth of intonation variation — on every 16th note that whizzes by — remains elusive.

What is the solution for these "shortcomings?"

You.

By checking "Recording Required" when you give assignments from the SmartMusic Gradebook you get the opportunity to listen, review, and assess those things the software can't comprehend.

Tone, phrasing, and intonation are not the only limits to SmartMusic, either. Despite all the things SmartMusic has heard over the years, it can't talk about them. It will never share stories of studying the saxophone with Eugene Rousseau, or of adding antifreeze to valve oil while marching in Minnesota in December.

It's important to not overlook the most important component of the complete SmartMusic system — your experience!