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David MacDonald unboxes the Odla music notation ...
David MacDonald unboxes the Odla music notation controller
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The 50 Best Albums Of 2022: NPR

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Ever since NPR started putting these playlists on Apple Music and Spotify, I haven't been compiling them. I guess there was some value in that process, because I almost forgot to check out the list this year!

Read more, and find music streaming links below.

The 50 Best Albums Of 2022 (50-41) : NPR

A year like this one makes hand-wringing about the death of the album seem silly (if anything we should be concerned about the single). Musicians gave us experiences in 2022. Immersive, ambitious, focused, sprawling, explosive, swerving albums expressed their power in any number of ways: Vibes to make summer stretch on into the year's cold months. Bottomless layers of invention. History lessons that sparkled like the best party you could imagine. There were too many great albums to count, let alone narrow down to a round number. But here are 50 that made us feel awe, ache or adoration, selected and ranked by the contributors, public radio partners and staff of NPR Music. (Oh, and we also ranked the 100 Best Songs of 2022.)

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Scripting SDK in Pro Tools

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I do a lot of automation. I have always felt like the tools for automating basic computer productivity are more vast and varied than those for the more advanced creative professional software.

Pro Tools has a new update, and while I have not used it in many years, I took note of this particular addition, which will allow third parties to create their own scripting tools, which could improve and streamline cumbersome workflows in the DAW.

It would be very cool to see some other DAWs do something like this. I wonder, often, why Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro do not have any support for Shortcuts, Apple's new and cross-platform system for automation. Shortcuts has eliminated countless hours of work and stress from my email, calendar, writing, and task workflows. Why should their creative pro software be any different?

What's New in Pro Tools - Avid Technology:

Scripting SDK

The Pro Tools 2022.12 software release includes support for a new Scripting SDK (software development kit) that enables high-end facilities and application developers for scripting Pro Tools to help automate repetitive tasks and create whole new workflows. This new free Pro Tools Scripting SDK provides developers with everything they need to get up and running.

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Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process

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Frequent Music Ed Tech Talk guest and pal David MacDonald was recently on my Holiday Gift Guide episode of the show and mentioned the book Critique Is Creative, a book about Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process.

From the book's description page:

Devised by choreographer Liz Lerman in 1990, Critical Response Process® (CRP) is an internationally recognized method for giving and getting feedback on creative works in progress. In this first in-depth study of CRP, Lerman and her long-term collaborator John Borstel describe in detail the four-step process, its origins and principles. The book also includes essays on CRP from a wide range of contributors. With insight, ingenuity, and the occasional challenge, these practitioners shed light on the applications and variations of CRP in the contexts of art, education, and community life. Critique Is Creative examines the challenges we face in an era of reckoning and how CRP can aid in change-making of various kinds.

David and I got to talk about this process when he recently visited me while presenting on this very subject at the Teaching Composition Symposium at UMBC.

I really liked the idea of a methodical approach to providing more empathetic and consistent feedback to students, with detachment from emotion and ego. I picked up a copy and am eagerly reading for ideas I can integrate into my own teaching practices.

I encourage you to read David's blog post about the book which includes the text of his presentation.

Better Feedback on Compositions Using Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process – This Page Left Intentionally Useless.:

This is the text of a presentation I gave at the inaugural Teaching Composition Symposium at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on 21 October 2022. I’m told presentations were video-recorded, so I’ll update this post later with that recording.

I’m sure you’ve had the experience of getting feedback on a composition that was well-meaning, but ultimately unhelpful. Even someone telling you how great your music was or how much they loved it is often frustrating because it’s hard to know what they heard that made them love it. Feedback that your music was mind-blowing and that your music was stomach-turning are equally unhelpful, because without more information, it’s impossible to learn something from this feedback.

In this presentation, I’ll talk about some of the common limitations of informal, unstructured feedback like this; and I’ll describe how I have used Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process (CRP) to better support and motivate composers in my studio, and how you might implement it in yours.

In my previous experiences with critique sessions in studio classes, I found that the feedback offered usually said a lot more about the person offering it than it did about the music they were nominally responding to. Rather than suggesting how the composer might have written a work differently, this feedback often seems to answer the question “How would this piece have gone if I had written it, rather than you.” While I do think there should be space for composers to respectfully challenge one another’s creative intent, it is worth starting by identifying what that intent was to begin with. A better feedback system should assume that each composer in the room has a different set of musical goals and experiences.

Free Form Released with iOS 6.2

The Freeform app from Apple is now out with the iOS 16.2 update. It is an infinite whiteboard/canvas kind of app that combines...

  • some of the intuitive and rock solid formatting tools from the iWork Suite
  • the iOS Apple Pencil scribbling features I have come to love in Apple Notes
  • some of the recent collaboration updates from Apple's operating systems

Like many of Apple's apps, it is nice for most people but if open canvas apps are something you need particular features from, I wouldn't count on Apple's version to do everything you want.

MacStories has a good review of it (see below).

Freeform Leverages the Freedom and Flexibility of a Blank Canvas - MacStories:

Freeform is a brand new iPhone, iPad, and Mac app from Apple that lets users create multimedia boards on an infinite canvas that include text, images, drawings, links, files, and more. It’s an ambitious entry into a crowded category of apps that take overlapping approaches, emphasizing everything from note-taking to collaborative design to whiteboarding.

As is so often the case with Apple’s system apps, Freeform falls squarely in the middle of the landscape of existing apps. Freeform isn’t going to replace apps that are deeply focused on a narrow segment of apps in the blank canvas category. Instead, Freeform is targeted at a broader audience, many of whom have probably never even considered using this sort of app. For them, and for anyone who has felt constrained by more linear, text-based ways of exploring ideas, Freeform is a perfect solution.

At first blush, Freeform’s spare interface may give the impression that it’s a bare-bones 1.0 release, but that’s not the case. The app is easy to use and impressively feature-rich for a new release. So, let’s dig into the details to see what it can do.

The Alfred Gallery

On the most recent episode of my podcast, I mentioned that my Mac feels broken if CleanShot isn't installed on it. Another app I feel that way about is Alfred. It is a replacement for the Spotlight feature of macOS that adds a whole lot of intuition and power for free, but which allows the installation of user-created workflows on the paid version.

Installing these workflows is about to get way easier with their new gallery which you can browse through here.

MuseScore 4 is released

MuseScore 4 has been released. This is exciting news, particularly for many of my students who need more composing power than a web app but are limited by the expensive costs of the professional options.

You can download MuseScore 4 for free here. I also recommend you read David MacDonald's Scoring Notes review by clicking the link below.

Long-awaited MuseScore 4 release brings major improvements to engraving and audio - Scoring Notes:

Today’s release of MuseScore 4 is a major update and quite possibly the most significant one in the open-source application’s history since the release of MuseScore 1.0 in 2011. It includes major improvements to the user interface, layout, engraving, and playback features.

MuseScore 4 is delivered via a hub which installs both the MuseScore scoring application and the orchestral plug-in Muse Sounds, The MuseScore application can be downloaded separately, as well.

Not coincidentally, this is also the first major version of of MuseScore to be released under the product leadership of Martin Keary (Tantacrul). Coming nearly two years after the last MuseScore update (3.6) and nearly four years after the release of MuseScore 3, Martin told Scoring Notes today that, “I’ve worked on a lot of complex creation software and this is the largest release I’ve ever put out,” including the launch of Paint 3D and a variety of PS3 games.

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My guest appearance on The Omni Show Podcast

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It is the best feeling to be invited on to a podcast that I already consider to be one of my favorites.

I was recently a guest on The Omni Show Podcast, a show dedicated to the OmniGroup’s award-winning products, many of which I have written about here (and also here).

I had so much fun talking with Andrew about using OmniFocus to manage my tasks, OmniGraffle to design ensemble seating charts, and OmniOutliner to outline everything (including lessons, curriculum, books, and presentations).

You can listen below and see a transcript of the entire conversation here:

If you like hearing me talk about OmniFocus, you can also catch me on Learn OmniFocus where I go into more detail about managing tasks:

Holiday Gift Guide 2022, with David MacDonald and Craig McClellan

I've got a new podcast episode out, and while it's probably not in time for most of your shopping, the stuff we discussed are amongst my favorite things of 2022 and are certainly great ideas to treat yourself with down the road, if not sooner.

Show regulars Craig McClellan and Dr. David MacDonald join the show to talk about stuff we like.

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Become a Patron!

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Thanks to my sponsors this month, Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks.

Show Notes:

Music Ed and Tech News

Books

Software

Services

Hardware and Gadgets

Bags, Pens, and other Misc stuff

The Pen Addict Podcast

Pilot Metropolitan - 6 Cartridges https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Iroshizuku-Shin-kai-Ink-Deep-Sea-6-Cartridges/pd/34517)

JetPens.com - Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai Ink (Deep Sea) - 6 Cartridges

Rhodia Notepad

Plotter

Tom Bihn Bags

App of the Week:

Robby - Spring for Twitter

David MacDonald - Cleanshot X / Spaceteam (Board game version)

Craig McClellan - Timery

Music of the Week:

Robby - Carly Rae Jepsen: The Loneliest Time

David MacDonald - Béla Fleck, Mike Marshall and Edgar Meyer: Uncommon Ritual

Craig McClellan - Bonny Light Horseman: Rolling Golden Holy

Tech Tip of the Week:

Robby - Curating your social media experience

David MacDonald - Firefox add-on: Display Anchors https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/display-_anchors/

Craig McClellan - Focus Mode Updates

Where to Find Us:

Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book

David MacDonald - Twitter | Website

Craig McClellan - Twitter | Website

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

#63 - YouTube and Composition Workflows, with Dr. Scott Watson

Dr. Scott Watson (Professor of Music at Carin University, band director, composer, and YouTuber) joins the show to talk about his favorite technology, tips for rehearsing honors ensembles, his favorite young band compositions, and more!

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Thanks to my sponsors this month, Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks.

Show Notes:

App of the Week: Robby - AnyTune / Downie
Scott Watson - NotePerformer

Album of the Week: Robby - Arch Echo - You Won't Believe What Happens Next! Scott Watson - Barbers Overture to School for Scandal: https://youtu.be/Q387-LXIHUA / Stravinsky Octet for Wind Instruments: https://youtu.be/YyqLnP0hOnI

Where to Find Us: Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book
Scott Watson - Twitter | Website

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

More on Scott

Dr. Scott Watson is Professor of Music at Cairn University (Langhorne, PA), teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in music composition/arranging, music education and technology. For 35 years he was an instrumental and elective music teacher in the Parkland School District (Allentown, PA), first as high school Director of Bands, then as coordinator of the elementary band/strings program across the district. He is a frequently commissioned composer with more than 100 published pieces for band and strings at all levels that have been performed around the world at venues including the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), the Midwest Clinic (Chicago) and the White House (Washington, D.C.). He is an exclusive composer/clinician for Alfred Publications and a contributor for their Sound Innovations band series. Watson has presented numerous workshops/clinics for music educators, frequently serves as guest conductor/clinician for honor/festival bands, and is the author of the highly regarded music education text, Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity (©2011, Oxford University Press). To learn more, visit www.scottwatsonmusic.com.

macOS Ventura, music notation software compatibility, iPad news

Robby does hot takes on macOS Ventura, iOS and iPadOS 16.1, and new iPads.

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Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

Thanks to my sponsors this month, Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks.

Show Notes:

Find Robby elsewhere on the web