As of Thursday, Google Drive Now Supports iOS 11’s Files app. Now that Google Drive and Dropbox support the new iOS 11 Files app, you can view all of your documents under one roof. This integration means that using third party cloud drives feels native to the iPad, something we have been able to experience with the Finder on macOS for years. You don’t ever even need to launch the Google or Dropbox apps again. I made a shoe video demonstrating the utility of this integration.
🔗 Why every orchestra is going to scrap sheet music and go digital
Why every orchestra is going to scrap sheet music and go digital | David Taylor Music:
This summer, my orchestra took a risk. Yorkshire Young Sinfonia became the first youth orchestra in the world to become 100% digital, using iPads and an app called Newzik instead of sheet music.
Cool story. Interesting that they are using Newzik and not something like forScore. Newzik is a really cool alternative but I personally do not have a huge need for reading XML files on my iPad. Most of the scores I work with are scanned copies of original paper. There are a lot of cool things you can do with XML though, like resizing the music and having the entire layout of the score adjust itself to the size you prefer. Neat stuff.
🔗 Rogue Amoeba’s 15th Anniversary Sale
EVERYONE! Seriously check out the deal below. Rogue Amoeba makes some very creative and productive Mac apps for audio. I use Audio Hijack daily to record apps and produce my podcast. All of their apps are on sale until the end of the month.
Rogue Amoeba’s 15th Anniversary Sale:
We’re always eager to help even more people with their audio needs, so to celebrate our 15th anniversary, we’re offering a rare and very limited-time sale. Through the end of September, we’re offering discounts on every product we make.
So just how big is this sale? We started by lowering the price of all of our products by 15%, to match the 15 years we’ve been in business. We didn’t stop there, however. We’re also offering the chance to boost those savings by 1.33x, 1.67x, 2x, 3x, or even 4x. A few lucky users will save as much as 60% off our everyday low prices.
Providing a great deal on our apps is one small way we can thank our existing customers for all their support, and to help new users with our tools as well. We don’t discount our software often, but right now, everyone can save on every purchase from Rogue Amoeba.
🔗 macOS High Sierra is out! Make sure you know which notation software is compatible!
The Scoring Notes blog is keeping track of High Sierra compatibility updates for all the major notation editors…
Music notation software and macOS High Sierra:
Today Apple is releasing macOS High Sierra (10.13), the newest iteration of its Mac operating system. High Sierra’s most significant change is its use of a new file system, Apple File System (APFS), for computers with all-flash storage. High Sierra brings a number of other new features, too, but on this blog we’ll focus on its compatibility with desktop music notation software: Sibelius, Finale, Dorico, and MuseScore.
🔗 Integrating Technology into the Elementary Music Classroom: FAQ | Music, Education & Technology -MusTech.Net:
Amy Burns does some great writing for mustech.net. She is writing to the elementary general music classroom in the blog post linked below, but I think her tips and strategies will resonate with music teachers of every variety. Be sure to check out her blog and subscribe!
This question is excellent and is asked often. When I was performing research for a keynote address I gave recently titled, “How Technology is Transforming the Way We Teach Elementary General Music Classes”, I directly addressed this question. When reading numerous Facebook music education boards, there is a divide on this topic. Music educators will comment on how technology can enhance certain activities like composition and music making for those who have limited abilities. Others will state that their music classroom is a “screen free” zone because students need a break from screens. While others are expected to utilize technology to address 21st century skills or their schools have become 1:1 (one device per student).
🔗 Noteflight Learn Now Integrates with Google Classroom:
Noteflight Learn Integrates with Google Classroom:
Noteflight Learn offers direct Google Classroom integration! All student and teacher logins, classes, and assignments are seamlessly integrated, offering several advantages:
• Google login is automatically synced; simply login to Noteflight Learn using Google.
• Individual classes, schools, or entire districts can integrate with a single Noteflight Learn site.
• Google Classroom classes are mirrored as Noteflight Learn Groups, so sharing scores and assignments with classes is easy.
• Noteflight can create assignments in Google Classroom and students can turn in or mark as done from their Noteflight score.
This new integration looks fantastic! The list of reasons to subscribe to Noteflight just keeps getting longer and longer.
🔗 If SoundCloud Disappears, What Happens to Its Music Culture? - NYTimes.com
More on the doom of SoundCloud…
At least the article ends with a little bit of hope.
If SoundCloud Disappears, What Happens to Its Music Culture? - NYTimes.com:
SoundCloud’s fan base may soon learn this lesson the hard way. The service’s founder, Alexander Ljung, declined to be interviewed for this column, but after Chance the Rapper tweeted about his interest in saving SoundCloud, the men talked on the phone, which Chance reported was ‘‘very fruitful.’’ Ljung agreed, tweeting that for now, SoundCloud was ‘‘here to stay.’’ Whether SoundCloud can last another 10 years remains to be seen. But the moral of its struggle is clear: As digital culture becomes more tied to the success of the platforms where it flourishes, there is always a risk of it disappearing forever.
🔗 Howard County Public School System Spotlight: Play it Forward
This is a video from the school district I teach in highlighting one of our middle school bands and their efforts to commission new works every school year.
Andy Spang, Director at Folly Quarter Middle School, is a fantastic educator, and I think all teachers in the performing arts can be inspired and learn something from what he is doing with this program.
🔗 SoundCloud, Which Rose to Stardom on Indie Talent, Lays Off 173
SoundCloud, Which Rose to Stardom on Indie Talent, Lays Off 173:
Not long ago, SoundCloud was one of the fastest-growing and most influential players in the streaming business. Now it is shrinking, and faces an uncertain future in the rapidly consolidating online music market.
On Thursday, SoundCloud announced that it was laying off 173 employees, about 40 percent of its work force. The company will also close its offices in London and San Francisco, concentrating its business in Berlin and New York.
Note: this article is a couple of weeks old now.
SoundCloud is a brilliant service, essential for new and upcoming artists to be discovered, and perfectly applicable in a music education setting for sharing projects. It is great for hundreds of other things too, including podcasting, though my own is not hosted there. I am not sure what the solution for SoundCloud is but I would hate to see them go. If they do, I would be curious if someone could think up a more disruptive and pervasive model for an audio based social media platform.
🔗 Ethan Hein - Teaching Myself the Bach Chaconne with Ableton Live
Ethan Hein - Teaching Myself the Bach Chaconne with Ableton Live:
Gorgeous though the chaconne is, my enjoyment has been hampered by my inability to figure out the rhythm. All classical performers insist on doing extremely expressive (that is, loose) timekeeping. I don’t have the sarabande rhythm internalized well enough to be able to track it through everybody’s gooey rubato. Bach’s rhythms are complicated enough to begin with. He loves to start and end phrases in weird spots in the bar–the very first note of the piece is on beat two. So I needed some help finding the beat. A chaconne is supposed to be a dance, right? Bach wrote those note values the way he wrote them for a reason. Did he really want performers to assign any length they felt like assigning them? My gut tells me that he didn’t. I suspect that he probably played his own music in tempo, maybe with some phrasing and ornamentation but still with a clearly recognizable beat. I imagine him gritting his teeth at the rubato that modern performers use. Maybe that’s just me projecting my own preferences, but this sense comes from listening to a lot of Bach and performing some too.
So, I wanted to hear someone play the chaconne in tempo, just to hear how it works. And since no one seems to play it that way, I finally went and got the MIDI from Dave’s JS Bach MIDI page and put it into Ableton Live. I added a bunch of triple meter Afro-Cuban drum patterns to help me feel the beat, and had them enter and exit wherever I heard a natural section boundary in the music.
My personal favorite way to enjoy this piece is by performing it on vibraphone, but this is cool too. :)