touchscreen macs

METT Podcast #16 - Master Your Virtual Teaching Tech, with David MacDonald

Thanks to my sponsor this month, MusicFirst

David MacDonald returns to the show to talk about the hardware and software in our virtual teaching setups. Then we speculate about touchscreen Macs and consider how Apple's recent App Store policies might impact the future of creative professional software on iOS.

Topics include:

  • New Zoom features for musicians and teachers
  • David and Philip Rothman's new podcast, Scoring Notes
  • Using Open Broadcaster Software to level up your virtual teaching
  • Routing audio from your apps into Zoom and Google Meet calls
  • Teaching with Auralia
  • LMS integration with third-party music education apps
  • Using MainStage and Logic for performing instruments into virtual classrooms
  • Touchscreen Macs
  • Apple's App Store Policy

Show Notes:

Where to Find Us:
Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book
David MacDonald - Twitter | Website | Blog

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Today's episode is sponsored by MusicFirst:

MusicFirst offers music educators and their students easy-to-use, affordable, cloud-based software that enables music learning, creation, assessment, sharing, and exploration on any device, anywhere, at any time.

MusicFirst Classroom is the only learning management system designed specifically for K-12 music education. It combines the flexibility of an LMS with engaging content and powerful software integrations to help manage your students’ progress, make lesson plans, and create assignments.

And for younger students, MusicFirst Junior is the perfect online system for teaching elementary general music. It includes a comprehensive K-5 curriculum, hundreds of lessons & songs, and kid-friendly graphics to making learning and creating music fun!

Whether you’re teaching remotely, in-person, or in a blended learning environment, MusicFirst will work with you to find a solution that fits your program’s unique needs. Try it free for 30 days at musicfirst.com.

David’s teaching setup.

David’s teaching setup.

My teaching setup.

My teaching setup.

…From far away.

…From far away.

Is Apple Making Touchscreen Macs?

Speaking of forScore coming to the Mac, I continue to hear chatter in the technology community about touchscreen Macs. The design of Apple's forthcoming macOS update, Big Sur, has larger, more spread apart, user interface elements, indicating that it might be getting prepared for touch input. This would align well with Apple's transition to putting their own silicone chips in their devices this year.

I have no idea if Apple is making Macs with touchscreens, but I find it hard to believe they would take their existing Mac laptop and desktop designs and simply make the current screens touchable.

At Apple's developer conference this past June, there were obvious signs that Apple wants developers to adopt design elements from macOS in their iPad apps and vice versa.

Silicone enabled Macs will run touch-first, iOS apps natively, and Apple has been working hard to make their technologies consistent across all platforms. I wouldn't be surprised if touch screen Macs came out of the box with Apple Pencil support. And if Macs have Pencil support, no one wants to awkwardly hold a pencil up in the air in front of them and draw on a horizontal screen.

Here is where I am going with this. With sheet music apps like forScore finally coming to the Mac, and Apple technologies being shared across devices, I am starting to think that I would love a Mac with a display that folded back on its keyboard. Something that I could plug into my audio interface and large screen monitor to edit audio on at home, and then flip onto my podium and read scores off of during band rehearsal. They could charge nearly anything for a 14 inch MacBook Pro in this format and I would buy it.

Who knows if it would be an optimal experience? Who knows if it's what Apple is planning? Who knows if it is anywhere near ready? Not me. It will be very curious to see what happens over the next few months as Apple has announced that some Macs will make this transition by the end of the year.