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Robby Burns
David MacDonald unboxes the Odla music notation ...
David MacDonald unboxes the Odla music notation controller

Tweetbot for Mac and iOS is the sanest way to use Twitter

Do you have a love/hate relationship with Twitter?

Perhaps you enjoy interacting with people from various circles all over the world, connecting professionally, and learning things from other music educators?

Perhaps you also hate the constant dumpster fire of negativity and hatred that can be seen on the service. Or, if you are like me, you are burnt out on algorithmic social timelines and would prefer to curate your own online experiences.

I'd like to recommend Tweetbot for iOS and Mac. It displays the tweets of the people you follow, in the order they tweet them. It has great mute filters, does not show ads, and doesn't show recommendations or "liked tweets." This is not to mention that it has a beautiful user interface.

Twitter used to not allow third party Twitter clients to do a lot, but this is recently changing. Tweetbot is a viable Twitter experience these days and does not lack any major features that I miss on a daily basis. And they are constantly iterating. Version 7 came out recently and adds statistics. You can read more about it here.

The Tunable Mac App is my Preferred Tuner on macOS

I have said a lot of positive words about the Tonal Energy Tuner app. Every day I yearn for them to release a Mac version of the app.

Playing just intonation tuning drones in combination with a metronome is one of my most common technology uses in the band classroom. Though I have a phone and a Mac wired into the sound system, my Mac is where I am most comfortable playing audio in class. In a few of my classrooms the Mac is my only device plugged into a sound system.

I'd like to give Tunable some love. Software developer Seth Sandler is killing it with this app. After speaking with him on the Music Ed Tech Talk podcast, he reminded me that there is a Mac version.

I have been using Tunable in my classes for the past few months and I really like it. It has great drones, metronome, multiple tuning systems, and design elements that make it feel like it lives on macOS.

Band Score Order in Dorico 4.0.10 -- Ehler

Band directors rejoice! The latest Dorico 4 update improves score ordering for band instruments. Click and read band director Ehler's blog post below to learn more about this feature.

Band Score Order in Dorico 4.0.10:

It’s a little tricky to find the band score order toggle; you do so by right-clicking the sorting icon at the bottom of the left-pane, which will give you options between different score orders (leaving room for more to come).

If you set that right from the start, then as you add instruments, they’ll appear in the correct order. If you unwittingly were working in orchestral score order first and need to then adjust, simply switch it over to band score order and then left click the same icon again to have it impose that score order on your players.

Ehler provided feedback to Steinberg about this feature and for this I say thanks!

Dorico 2 Released for iPad

Speaking of Dorico, Dorico 2 for iPad is now out on the App Store. It's free and comes with many improvements, my favorite being Apple Pencil support in Read view.

When I wrote about Dorico 1.0 for iPad, I expressed my enthusiasm for it sharing similar code with the then-upcoming desktop version of Dorico 4. Basing the iPad version on the desktop code has indeed expedited feature releases. I am hopeful for the development speed that both the mobile and desktop versions of Dorico will receive in the future.

While I don't use the read view in Dorico for iPad a ton, I am excited to see the addition of annotation support with Apple Pencil. Even though it doesn't do note input, this development shows that the Dorico team is iterating fast and responding to user feedback.

Check out the Dorico release below.

Dorico for iPad 2.0 now available from the App Store:

We are pleased to announce that a new version of the top-rated music notation app for iPad, Dorico for iPad, is now available for free download from the App Store. If you already have Dorico for iPad installed, go to the Updates tab in the App Store app on your iPad to grab the update.

This new version brings many of the new features added to Dorico 4 for macOS and Windows to iPadOS and adds support for freehand annotations in Read view using the Apple Pencil for those users who choose to take advantage of the optional in-app purchase subscription. Read on for more details.

My favorite calendar app Fantastical releases version 3.6 with "openings" and "scheduling" features

My calendar app of choice, Fantastical, released version 3.6 this week.

Fantastical is an amazing calendar app that works with numerous calendar and task services and packs tons of powerful features in a graceful user interface.

The version adds some huge productivity boosts. My favorite of which is a feature called "Openings" which, if you have ever used the service Calendly, adds similar function right into the app.

By setting up a few quick templates, I can now quickly reschedule a private lesson with a parent by texting them a URL. I give Fantastical a window of time; it looks at the free time in between my calendar events and provides the parent with a website that prompts them to choose an available slot. Their chosen time is then added right to my calendar. It is going to help me save tons of time!

There is a video of this feature in action below, and you can read about all of the new features in 3.6 here.

Fantastical has an aggressive subscription price for the premium version, but updates like this make me feel glad I can fund their continued development.

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Communication and Collaboration Apps for Music Teams

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Communication and Collaboration Apps for Music Teams

This blog post, podcast episode, and presentation were prepared for the Ohio Music Educators Association Professional Development Conference 2022.

This blog post exists to serve as both session notes for conference attendees, show notes for listeners of the podcast episode, and any teacher who wishes to explore the many great collaboration tools available for teams today.

Complimentary Podcast Episode:

Where to Find Me

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Teaching Intonation with Tonal Energy (Session Notes, Podcast Episode, and Blog Post)

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Teaching Intonation with Tonal Energy - OMEA 2022 (5:15 pm, Room 21)

This blog post, podcast episode, and presentation were prepared for the Ohio Music Educators Association Professional Development Conference 2022.

This blog post exists to serve as both session notes for conference attendees, show notes for listeners of the podcast episode, and any teacher who wishes to develop intonation in their performing ensemble.

Complimentary Podcast Episode:

Where to Find Me

Subscribe to the Blog...RSS** | Email Newsletter

Subscribe to the Podcast in...Apple Podcasts** | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

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Teaching Intonation

Philosophy

  • Prioritize these...
    • Tone
    • Intonation
    • Balance/Blend
    • Melodic Accuracy
    • Rhythmic Accuracy
    • Expression/Phrasing
    • Technique/Articulation
  • Sound Over Sight
    • If we are asking students to use their ears, then why are we having them use their eyes?
    • Natural Learning - think about how children learn to speak. Through modeling from parental figures, constant repetition, and encountering these repetitions in various contexts.
    • Electronic tuners can only tune intervals of unisons and octaves accurately.
    • We are used to hearing the piano in its slightly “out-of-tune” tempered state.
  • Interval Adjustment
    • Pure intervals have varying degrees of adjustment from tempered intonation to make them in tune.
    • Scale Degree | Adjustment
      • 1 | 0
      • 2 | +3.9
      • 3 | -13.7
      • 4 | -2.0
      • 5 | +2.0
      • 6 | -15.6
      • 7 | -11.7
      • 8 | 0
  • We must teach our students to HEAR when something is out of tune by listening for beats. But how?
    • Resonant intonation is the result of two other important features: superior tone and balance.
    • Good tone comes first.
    • Learning balance is difficult in a room by yourself.
    • Use of an electric drone helps.
    • Turn the drone up to a level that equals the student.
    • Song based learning that utilizes lots of simple melodies in standard keys teaches students to understand basic consonance and dissonance.
    • Lots of repetition!!!
    • Patients!
    • Reinforce that one success does not mean that everything will be in tune from here on out.
    • Don’t strive for a perfect intonation system. Resist teaching students the theory of intervals and focus on them hearing consonance and dissonance through listening to the relationships of intervals.
    • Once you know what a 5th sounds like, you can tune it anywhere.
    • Avoid technical talk unless something is absolutely in a students way.
  • Daniel Kohut - Musical Performance: Learning Theory and Pedagogy
    • Superior Concept
    • Relaxed Concentration
    • Focused Awareness
  • Reasons teachers give up on teaching intonation this way...
    • Fear of other areas of musical performance failing - wrong notes, rhythm, poor technique, inability to execute musically. The solution to this - pick easier music!!!
    • Abstract nature of these skills make them less concrete to student minds and harder to teach.
    • This is a long road. It takes time. But! - the end reward is ultimately better because students own their critical listening skills and now make musical adjustments themselves, even to features in the music that are not tone and intonation related. Each year will have an upswing towards the end. Independent musicianship is the result.

Features of Tonal Energy

  • Overview of each feature and setting - Live Demo
    • Strategies
  • Everything with drone
    • All music taught around tonal centers
    • Students tune down to the tonic most immediately beneath where the majority of their part sits
    • Students write tonal centers in their method books and concert music
  • Analyze mode - Students practice scale patterns and songs in this sequence...
    1. Visual and aural feedback
    2. Aural feedback only
    3. No drone at all
  • Practice Guide

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  • You can balance to the drone

    Tell students to match the volume of the drone at various levels.

  • Play along melodies with students on a keyboard or on the display

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A midi keyboard like the Xkey can play certain key areas in tune perfectly and can automatically tune chords to just intonation. Combined with an iPad, this is like owning a Yamaha Harmony Director.

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Lightly Row with Tuning Drones

Recording Tonal Energy into GarageBand with Inter-App Audio

Embellishing the Drone Track with Drums

Embellishing Lightly Row

Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks with Trap Beats - Promotional Video

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  • More Resources

Extra Show Notes from the Podcast Episode:

App of the Week

Album of the Week

Tech Tip of the Week

Conference Presentations --> OMEA PDC 2022

Are you headed to the Ohio Music Educators Association Professional Development Conference this week?

I hope to see you at one of my two sessions this Friday.

☎️ 2/4, 12:30 pm - Communication and Collaboration Apps for Music Teams

🎷. 2/4, 5:15 pm - Teaching Intonation with Tonal Energy

Both in room 21. Stay tuned to this blog for session notes and two podcast episodes which will compliment these topics.

"What Do We Keep? Integrating New Tech Into In-Person Teaching" Session Notes | NAMM | January 21, 2022 - 2pm

Thanks for coming to my session today! Below you will find links to everything mentioned in the session, and more!

Where to Find Me

Subscribe to the Blog...RSS | Email Newsletter

Subscribe to the Podcast in...Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

Support My Work

Become a Patron!

Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

TAKE LEAVE TRANSFORM

TAKE: Software that empowers student creativity

LEAVE: Virtual performances

TRANSFORM:

  • Podcast episode about transforming the music classroom with tech, featuring Will Kuhn and Ethan Hein:

TAKE: Software that empowers efficiency and teacher creativity

  • Evernote - Cross platform service and app for managing all your notes, research, and resources
  • Spark Mail - Free Apple and Android app with supercharged email features
  • Drafts | Where Text Starts
  • Todoist - Cross-platform task management app
  • OmniFocus - My preferred task management app
  • About my task and time management workflow as a music teacher:

LEAVE: Software that gets in the way

  • LMS--> Find the point of diminishing return. Don't do more work than actually gets results!

TRANSFORM: Practice resources and play-alongs

TAKE: Digital communication

  • Use effective digital communication tools when they eliminate unnecessary logistics!

LEAVE: Lengthy and verbose documents

  • Short, sweet, detailed, and frequent communication is idea in the digital age.

TRANSFORM: New models for non-musical logistics and collaboration

TAKE: Microphones, audio interfaces

LEAVE: need to be tethered to a computer

TRANSFORM: take the best of both

  • Wenger modular stand
  • Being tethered to a computer means more resources at your finger tips!
  • Farrago soundboard app
  • Other Rogue Amoeba apps that are indispensable for making content and wrangling audio: Audio Hijack, Loopback, and Soundsource. Check out their education discount.
  • AirServer app which lets you share an iOS screen to a computer
  • Podcast episode featuring maker of Audio Hijack, Farrago, Soundsource, and Loopback

Dorico 4

Dorico 4 is out! I've been testing it for the past few months, and I'm not even sure I am scratching the surface of what it can do. It is, in my opinion, the most important and exciting update to Dorico since its release in 2016.

This past summer, Dorico released an iPad app, which has many of the design updates and features seen in Dorico 4. You can read my first impressions about the iPad version of Dorico, and hear my conversation with Product Marketing Manager Daniel Spreadbury, here.

Fortunately, the Scoring Notes blog posted a review, which you can read here.

Here are some quick things that I am excited about in Dorico 4

Licensing

Dorico 4 uses Steinberg's brand new Steinberg Licensing, replacing the Steinberg e-Licenser. The e-Licensor was one of the two or three most frustrating licensing processes on my Mac. The new Steinberg Licensing is one of the least frustrating processes for licensing software on my Mac.

Once Dorico 4 launched, I was presented with the option to move my existing Dorico 3.5 license over and log into my Steinberg account. Once completed, Dorico can run on up to three machines without connecting to the web. This is a super easy and generous way to handle licensing.

Key Editor

I covered this in my iPad First Impressions post, so I won't go into too much detail here. The bottom area, which previously only contained project properties, now includes new note input methods like a piano, fretboard, and drum pads. It also integrates a piano roll and mixer right into Write Mode.

I really enjoy writing with notation and a piano roll visible on the screen at once. Perhaps this is because I am comfortable with DAWs. But I think it also speaks to how easily I conceptualize and edit rhythmic duration on a piano roll. Ethan Hein summarizes this well:

You can also view a mixer in the bottom area while in Write Mode. Cool.

Jump Bar

"Command pallet," "command search," "quick open"... whatever it's called, this feature is becoming very popular in pro-software. If you have used Sibelius, you might be familiar with their Command Search feature. The feature is also quite popular in productivity software. I love using Command+O in OmniFocus to open projects and perspectives quickly. In my note app Obsidian, Command+O smartly searches my notes, and Command+P acts upon them.

The idea is that you have a keyboard shortcut that brings up a search, you start typing, and then the software smartly displays some options on the screen for places it thinks you want to go or things you want to do.

Dorico has added this feature with their new Jump Bar, and I couldn't be happier. Just press the letter J, and you can type "m30" to bounce to measure 30 or "dynamics" to bring up the dynamics popover.

Popovers are my favorite part of the Dorico workflow, but I sometimes forget which keyboard shortcuts belong to which menus. In my opinion, having one command that allows for natural-language searching is a workflow win. Even if it is technically more keystrokes to find things, there is way less mental overhead in just typing what you want plainly.

Improvements to Play Mode and the Interface

Play Mode moves a handful of track options to the left, making it more familiar to users who work inside DAWs. Working with inserts and effects feels less esoteric in this design. I like it.

Project Templates

You can now turn any project into a template. Templates appear in the File menu, under the New from Project Template selection.

Previously, I used a Siri Shortcut to manage project templates in Dorico. I wrote about that for Scoring Notes here. My shortcuts method handles some of the file management for you and is worth a look if you want to learn more about macOS and iOS automation.

Generally, I think it is a benefit to store templates inside of Dorico, and I will be taking some of my most frequently used templates in the Shortcuts app and moving them inside of Dorico.

Library

Dorico moves most options relating to customizing the app's behavior into a menu called Library. It drives me nuts when professional creative software stores its settings across numerous custom preference panes throughout the application. This adjustment makes customizing Dorico's various options more discoverable, regardless of the mode or context they relate to.

The new library features also include many new options for font styles, which I am sure will make David MacDonald very happy.

M1

Dorico 4 works with Apple Silicon. From Scoring Notes:

Dorico 4 is the first Dorico version, and the first of any of the major desktop applications, to support Apple silicon Macs, such as the M1 MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini. If you have an Apple silicon Mac, Dorico will run as a native application by default. However, if you use VST plug-ins, Dorico can only load VST plug-ins that can run natively on Apple silicon as well, and these must be VST 3 (there is no support for VST 2 plug-ins on Apple silicon). It is possible to force Dorico 4 to run under Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon, which will allow VST 2 and Intel-native plug-ins to be loaded, though at the expense of slower overall performance.

Overall, Dorico 4 is a huge step forward. I imagine a lot of the work on this update was done in preparation for the iPad release. Now that both versions exist, I expect that the shared development platform between desktop and mobile will mean that future updates are released in side-step and continue to be feature-rich.

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