SmartMusic

This is an extraordinary resource. It gives music a way to assess students like you would with any other class. I know that a serious issue with music classes are way to assess our students. You can have them play in front of the class a short line from the music, but then you have to leave time during the class, and you would have to factor in a certain amount of stage fright when grading. This allows a music teacher to assign homework just like any other class. All that's needed is a computer. A student can play into the computer and re-do an assignment as many times as they want, just like they could with a math or science class. Then the teacher's job is to listen an let a student know what they need to improve on. For a student that may not have a computer at home, a computer could be made available for them. I know in my high school we had practice rooms, and as a teacher, I could do something like bring in my own laptop and leave it set up for them in a room like that, and that way each student would have the opportunity to complete the assignment. SmartMusic also gives students the chance to practice with an orchestra outside the orchestra setting. With home practice it can be hard sometimes to think about what the rest of the orchestra is doing, and short of practicing with a metronome, there really isn't a way to keep yourself in check. With SmartMusic, there is the chance to hear the rest of an ensemble, and know that what you are playing is definitively right or wrong. It takes away a lot of the guess work, and can make the job of being a music teacher a whole lot easier.