Music Apps for your phone and tablet are very useful and advancing every day. We no longer need to carry around a tuner or a metronome because there are apps on our phones for that and they work really well. Anytime I'm practicing or rehearsing and need a pitch or a tempo, I just pull out my phone and have it right there. There are also apps that teach you how to play piano and guitar. These can be very helpful to learn the basics on the go. It is more efficient than taking the time to use a book or get lessons. It is a good starting tool. Also, there are apps like shazam which tell you what song you are listening you, who it is by, and who is performing it just by putting your phone near the speaker. This is very helpful when you don't know what you are listening to but like it and would like to get it later. Additionally, there are other apps that are very helpful for teaching. They make apps that have fingering charts for all the instruments, apps for music theory practice, and apps that emulate the sound of certain instruments. These can all be good homework ideas or just practice tools. Additionally, there are apps that to record yourself speaking or performing, and they might not be the best quality, but they will be a good reference to hear yourself playing. Lastly, there are apps that allow you to splice and alter tracks right on your phone and save it as an excerpt or share it.
I love all of the different music apps as well. They make our lives as musicians so much easier. Although, you need to be careful when you whip out your phone in rehearsal! The conductor may think you're texting! This has happened to me a few times in high school. I also love using the voice memo app on the iPhone. The iphone has a surprisingly good microphone for such a small device. I am able to record myself while practicing violin in a practice room. When I get home, I can upload my recording to iTunes to hear what it sounds like. I am then able to practice the next day knowing exactly what I need to fix. These apps are great for us musicians!
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% too. The amount of material that is available to us is amazing. I use the apps on my iphone and Ipad to record my conducting sessions and even practice and jury performances too. Surprisingly, the microphone and audio is sufficient enough that I get a pretty decent quality amount of work. As the time gathers forwards most schools will be equipped with tech. like this and it'll be a beautiful thing. I highly recommend you check this http://vimeo.com/user18062686/ipads-in-mrhs and you'll see that it's not that far away from becoming an reality
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