[Trombone-l] Smart Music Worth the Money!

[Thomas Ervin]

Yes Smart Music is worth the money! Terrific tuner, amazing metronome  
and other wonderful toys for us, and for our students. If you haven't  
tried it, this is the time. $25 for a year. Two pizzas!

To get the most from it, of course, it is a play-along program, with  
a GREAT deal of repertoire, very decent ready-made digital  
accompaniments. It'll change keys if you want (like on the jazz  
materials) , and tempos. Click track if you want. It'll record you,  
on any material, to an mp3.

A problem is, to use the accompaniments, one does need to be  
practicing near the computer, and have a fairly decent sound system  
set up on the computer. But of course. Indeed some of my students  
cannot practice near their computers, or only rarely. Some schools  
have set up a dedicated practice room for this (but here it turned  
into a hangout room, nuts).

The FOLLOWING feature ("Intelligent Accompanist"), which is  
adjustable, does take some getting used to, and I find periodic  
glitches when the program misbehaves. Only sometimes. Get the  
microphone anyway.  You can also turn off that feature and play it  
straight. But it is pretty darn cool when it follows your tempo  
changes. And you CAN program in some tempo changes if you choose,  
modifying the Sulek to play "your way", for instance.

Sadly  here's no EQ in the program, and no panning, so if you want  
more Bass you'll have to accomplish it some other way.

But overall it is VERY worth it.  A great way to allow your students  
to become familiar with the piano parts (to the Hindemith or Sulek,  
for instance, and much other repertoire). Overall it is much better  
than what I have described.

You can probably see the trombone repertoire online: Bordogni (MANY),  
Hindemith, David, Defaye, Galliard, Barat, Jacob, Marcello, ,Sulek  
Guilmant, Martin, Blue Bells, 6 or 7 different Aebersolds and some  
equally good jazz tracks from Alfred, and many of the "albums" books  
of collected solos. And much more. All that repertoire is included.   
Oh, you also get the lit for all the other wind instruments as well,  
an amazing amount of literature! Of course it doesn't include ALL the  
pieces we'd like, not yet. And you do have to buy/get your own sheet  
music.

PLUS, if you've got some Finale files of your own, they can be  
imported into Smart Music (I've not done this but 2 students did,  
smart kids).

My favorite feature is the Practice Loop, in which we can practice a  
certain 8 bars (any number) over and over, all night long.

The price has come down very nicely, no?  I will not tell you what I  
paid for VIVACE (it's parent product) about 15 years ago.

Terrific tool, and it deserves our support. At least take the online  
tour. It's not just for kids. Customer service is terrific. Do check  
your specs -- an older computer may have troubles processing it all.

Tom Ervin
University of Arizona (4 weeks and finally counting down!)


>
> Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Smart Music
>
> I saw that offer and was thinking about it. Is it worth the money?
>
> +++++++++++++++
> If anyone is interested in subscribing to Smart Music (I use it and  
> find it
> worthwhile, especially for students who need to practice with the solo
> accompaniments), there is a special offer for ITA members.  Regular  
> one year
> subscription is $100, but ITA members get that one year for just  
> $25.  If
> you aren't already a member, it makes it well worth it to join ITA  
> just to
> buy the subscription for that price.
>
>

Tom Ervin, Professor of  Music
University of Arizona (Music 133)        (alt: with street address)
PO Box 210004                    MUSIC, Univ Arizona
Tucson AZ 85721                    1017 North Olive Road
                                 Tucson AZ 85719-0506
520/621-7021
<ervint at u.arizona.edu>
<http://tom-ervin.com>   (website)
<http://cdbaby.com/cd/tomervin>