Aha! The coronavirus has finally hit Australia and we’re all doing online classes. That means I get to live my best lyfe (not). It was a bit of an interesting week but I’m glad it’s working ok!
Monday-(More) Step Sequencing Apps!
We all tried out this interesting app called Groove Pizza https://apps.musedlab.org/groovepizza/?museid=SJCrCn-8U& on Monday. It’s a circular step sequencer designed by NYU Music Experience Design Lab.
The “pizza slices” are divisions and the numbers around are “bars”. Users can drag the dots to different spots to create shapes (rhythms) There’re several things we can play with in the bottom left corner-volume, BPM, swing and number of slices.
If you click on the drum kit in the centre, a few options will pop up and you could select your preferred drum sounds.
Another interesting thing is the templates provided. I think it’d be easier for students to build up something on top if they’re not from musical background. Here’s a little conclusion of the pros and cons of the app
Pros:
Easy to pick up, not much teaching required
Good metaphor-it is a loop turned into a circle
Con:
Limited number of bars which means it’s only applicable to short exercises
Wednesday–Notation Software
On Wednesday we had a look at a few notation software. The first one was, obviously, MuseScore. I was too stingy to buy Sibelius in second year so I got through all my assignments for this composition unit with it haha.
So here’s the layout. The best feature is the playback, even though it sounds real BAD. I also love the fact that it’s FREE. It’d be perfect for schools that have low budgets.
The other website James introduced was Noteflight https://www.noteflight.com. The superficial side of me thinks it has a superier colour scheme. Overall, the functions are quite similar to Musescore except options such as guitar chord charts (fingering?) and transcription (premium members only) and mixer (again, premium members only)are available. The midi instruments are SO MUCH MORE REALISTIC as well. What’s even more interesting is that you could import a MuseScore file! Definitely would recommend to those who don’t want to take up space on their computers/ on a budget.
One feature that isn’t education-related is they let you sell your own transcription without all the copyright hassel, which is pretty awesome.
Kidz! Music! 
Great analysis. The “Pros and Cons” is actually a really great way to quickly give your response to different technologies for learning … even if you’re not writing software reviews!
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