MakeMusic CEO Karen van Lith

Juan Costello, senior analyst for the Wall Street Reporter, recently interviewed MakeMusic CEO Karen van Lith.

In addition to highlighting our Finale, SmartMusic and Garritan products, the investor-focused conversation covers:

• Recent corporate developments and partnerships,
• Karen’s perspective on future education and technology trends,
• MakeMusic’s advantages in the marketplace,
• Karen’s background and experience in transforming companies, and much more.

If you’ve ever been curious to hear about the business strategy behind MakeMusic, this is a great opportunity to hear it directly from the top.

Take a listen to the interview here: http://www.wallstreetreporter.com/2012/05/make-music-nasdaqmmus-ceo-interview and let us know what you think by clicking on “Comments” below.

Reminders are good. We're all busy people, and we need them—so we don't forget the important things in life. Appointments. Paying the dog sitter. Eating all the veggies in your fridge before they go bad.

MOTHER'S DAY!

(Yes, folks, it's this Sunday. Pop a card in the mail today and you'll avoid a, ahem, "prickly" greeting when you call.)

In other reminder news, we have some great new webinar topics this month that just may appeal to you or a colleague:

1. Using SmartMusic in Your Summer Program
2. Dollars and Sense: Helping Students Get Home Subscriptions
3. Secrets to Success with SmartMusic
4. Training Students to Use SmartMusic
5. SmartMusic in Your Band and Orchestra Program
6. Sending Assignments and Documenting Student Progress

See the complete schedule on our website, and click on a topic to register. (They're free.) It's that simple.

Plus, attendees can get a half-price educator subscription and a free mic, or 10 free mics when they buy 10 student subscriptions. Great deals either way!

So how are you celebrating Mother's Day? Leave us a comment and tell us all about your plans!

Composer Christopher Theofanidis with students at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School in New Haven, CT

BandQuest® is a project of the American Composers Forum (ACF) that pairs up world-class composers with middle school bands. The program recently came up in conversation, and I realized what a great story it would make for our blog. So I scheduled a call with Suzanna Altman, the manager of education and community engagement at the ACF, to help me fill in the details. As you’ll see below, the timing of our conversation was very fortuitous.

Scott Yoho: What are the origins of BandQuest?

Suzanna Altman: Back in the 1990s the ACF underwent a very extensive survey of music educators. We were trying to learn what the forum, as an organization with a really great resource of national composers, could do for the field of music education.

What we discovered, through an overwhelming response, was a shortage of repertoire for middle school bands. We recognized that we could help by commissioning composers to write new music for middle school band, and we could publish the results nationally.

SY: How does the program work?

SA: BandQuest has two parts: There’s the initial commission, and the residency process. So there’s one specific school that has a very personal experience with one composer. The composer writes that school a piece that’s really for them – they get to premiere it and have a great experience with that composer.

We set up the residency; the composer visits the school several times, and then works on writing the piece for the school. We stay in contact with the composer and the school through the process of the writing. As the composer finishes, they send us files. Hopefully they are Finale files, if they’re not we convert them because we do all our editing in Finale. We can ensure that the final look is always consistent by using Finale. Then we publish the music. Hal Leonard distributes for us, so the pieces get really widely distributed not only throughout the U.S. but also around the world.

SY: How much repertoire have you created?

SA: We’re about to publish our 19th piece with the series – at first we did a few a year, now we do one each year. It’s been highly, highly successful. We’ve added a lot of new pieces to the repertoire that have a very different feel than what was available before.

Michael Colgrass wrote a piece that’s been very popular called Old Churches that calls for metal mixing bowls to be played by the percussionists to kind of sound like church bells in the distance – and there’s a little bit of graphic notation involved in that piece. He spent a lot of time with the students in the school where he did his residency to write the piece, talking to them about graphic notation, and encouraging them to write their own pieces using graphic notation.

The piece that came out last year was by an up-and-coming composer named Chris Theofanidis, who is a professor at Yale. He wrote a piece called Sweet like that for a band in New Haven. He went into the school and asked the students: “This is going to be a piece for you. What would you want?” One student asked to play drum set, other percussionists wanted to play fun percussion instruments, and of course the flutists all wanted to play piccolo (some, but not all of them get to play piccolo in the piece).

The tuba player wanted a solo because he so rarely gets to be heard, so the piece starts and ends with a low brass emphasis. It’s been a really well-received piece in part because Chris responded to what students were looking for and what they wanted.

SY: And Michael and Chris are just two members of an amazing list of participating composers.

SA: The goal was always to get the best composers we could to be a part of these. Our advisory board has a dream list of who they’d love to have participate, and it’s remarkable how many of these composers have agreed to participate and add to the education repertory, and affect the lives of children.

Okay, here’s where the story gets even better. The very day I spoke to Suzanna, she received some exciting news. She learned that this year’s BandQuest composer—who is currently working with the Scarsdale Middle School in Scarsdale, NY—had won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in music. He is, of course, Kevin Puts!

SA: Kevin is actually the fourth BandQuest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize. It’s fun too, because he’s not done with the residency, so I just got to email the teacher to share the news!

Imagine being a band director and sending home a note that your students have been studying with a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer.

You can learn more about BandQuest at the official site. Here you can listen to all the pieces, and several include additional curriculum materials (and more are on the way). In addition, many BandQuest pieces are also available in SmartMusic, so feel free to explore them there too.

Check out the compositions and let us know what you think by clicking on “Comments” below!

We're excited to announce our new partnership with Drum Corps International, the world leader in producing events for elite student marching ensembles! This summer, DCI fans will notice a SmartMusic presence at performances and events around the country -- including DCI's new INpact project, in which our technology will help 1,000 Indiana middle-school band students learn the music they'll perform at the DCI Championships in August.

“This is a unique sponsorship as MakeMusic is also providing us with SmartMusic technology that will be integral to the success of DCI programs,” said Daniel Acheson, executive director and CEO of DCI. “The ability of students to prepare and perfect music before they come together to rehearse and perform is part of the huge advantage SmartMusic offers, and this will be a critical component of programs like ‘INpact Indiana’s Future – Band.’ Gone are the days of simply sending students sheet music and hoping for the best.”

We're happy to support an organization that inspires such passion for music and performance in students. If you'd like to spread some drum corps excitement to your marching band students, check out the DCI website and consider attending an event this summer!

(Photo credit: Drum Corps International)

This is the time of year when I usually decide to practice a lot of boring technical stuff. Scales in every key, arpeggios, simple etudes—basically, the stuff that's usually pretty difficult to execute in keys with lots of sharps and flats. I think that in my younger years, the combination of Easter (playing a lot of stuff in E major) and big youth orchestra concerts made me associate springtime with "difficult-to-play, sharp keys."

If you're a heavy SmartMusic user yourself, you may have done a lot of woodshedding already—setting up a never-ending repeat of a 2- or 4-measure phrase until it's played perfectly. Even better—perfectly done 7 times in a row. There's some psychological research from the 1950s that makes 7 a magic number for our memory, and a teacher telling me that years ago made it stick nicely in my head. I think he said it 7 times, too.

Pull up a tricky "Twister" exercise in SmartMusic and try the Loop feature. It can be especially challenging to speed up the tempo and loop it through the Circle of 5ths. Give those fingers a workout!

This blog, and our SmartMusic Facebook page, are focused on you -- SmartMusic educators. Oddly enough, educators represent a minority of SmartMusic users: Students outnumber you by far. So it only makes sense that we should be in an online conversation with students, too. Maybe even give them a place to have fun, and connect with other students who share their passion for music.

Introducing I <3 SmartMusic, the new Facebook page that's "only for the young, hip, and musically passionate." (Don't get why the "less-than" sign and a "3" are doing in the previous sentence? Before you give up and ask your texting-savvy students, try tipping your head to the right... and envision a heart! Now you're with me.)

The page will feature plenty of drum corps content this summer, reflecting our exciting new partnerships with DCI, Michael McIntosh, and The Cavaliers. And over time, we'd like the page to reflect students' wider musical interests -- choral, band, orchestral, and beyond.

Keep an eye out for:

• Videos (like the McIntosh "Epic Stick Tricks" series, updates from The Cavaliers, and more)
• Student video uploads of their own killer performances
• Video contests
• Quizzes and prizes
• Giveaways (cool SmartMusic swag)
• Hot new artists
• Accomplished musical groups

We hope to see lots of SmartMusic students over at the new page. After homework and practicing their music, of course.

(Hint: If kids have trouble finding it, you can advise them to type in https://www.facebook.com/ILoveSmartMusic. Or simply search Facebook for "SmartMusic" -- no spaces.)

We’re excited to announce a new, three-way partnership with acclaimed percussionist and composer, Michael McIntosh, and The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps!

Michael, one of two percussion designers for The Cavaliers, has agreed to share his percussion arrangements for the 2012 Cavaliers performance season—in SmartMusic!

“There’s been some buzz about the fact that we’re doing this,” says Michael. “Our goal was to share the music in a way that’s fun and educational. We want fans to come along for the ride this summer, and see what it’s like to be a Cavalier!”

(The first and second movements for the Cavaliers’ 2012 percussion music are now available in SmartMusic. Note that you’ll need SmartMusic 2012 to download.)

We had Michael in the studio last week, recording video lessons for both beginner and intermediate-level percussionists (“Mike’s Epic Stick Tricks”). While we had him pinned under those hot lights, we asked how the Cavaliers percussion section planned to use SmartMusic down the road.

“Our goal is to get the guys practicing along with the Cavaliers’ percussion arrangements in SmartMusic,” says Michael, noting that the Cavaliers hoped to help members practice efficiently between camps, and track their progress via audio assessment.

“The cool thing is that they can slow down the tempo to practice the more challenging parts, and record and listen to their own practice sessions,” says Michael.

While we’ll let you know as soon as the video lessons are available, I thought I'd share some home video I shot of Michael warming up in the studio. Check out the video above and let us know what you think!

I started taking cello lessons in October 2011. As a music teacher, it’s been a long time since I’ve been a beginner on an instrument. But I figured it was important to experience a little of what my students are experiencing. Cello was the right instrument to choose. I have never played a string instrument before, and am not fluent reading melodies on the bass clef. I do indeed struggle like a beginner.

After four months of working with a private instructor, I was invited to participate in a strings recital at my music school. Of course I agreed to participate, even though I’d be the oldest by about 15 years (and likely the roughest sounding on my instrument—especially for my height).

I’ve been working really hard in SmartMusic, and I’ve heard from both our customers and our marketing materials that it is perfect for accompanying during recitals. I thought I’d give it a shot. (Hey – this will make a great blog post, right?)

I was delightfully surprised to find that the recital performance was very anti-climactic. I showed up about 5 minutes before the recital was to begin (running late as always), and found that I was first on the program (Murphy's law). I opened the SmartMusic tuner and tweaked the knobs on my cello until SmartMusic told me I was in tune. I didn’t need to connect to the internet—I’d been playing my recital tune in SmartMusic for weeks, so it was already downloaded. The tune loaded with lightning speed. The sound guy plugged my laptop into the system. I kicked the USB foot pedal and SmartMusic started my intro.

SmartMusic played the way it plays every time I practice. There were no surprises. I played the way I’ve been playing the last few times I practiced. And then it was over. I handed the stage over to the other participants (whom I’d overheard talking nervously about playing with their accompanist). I shrugged, then went out for a beer with my parents. (I suppose that’s unique from my underage co-participants.)

I will say this: later in the evening at a different venue, I performed on keyboards with a live blues band that was a part of a “Rock Camp for Adults.” I was brought in as a ringer to fill in. The guys got nervous and our show didn’t sound half as good as the last rehearsal. I’m a huge advocate of playing with live musicians, but I was glad I didn’t have two rough concerts in one day. SmartMusic was solid.

So there’s my blog for today. Want to learn a new instrument and perform in a recital with no drama? Do it right: use SmartMusic.

We're happy to announce that—based on feedback from our dedicated SmartMusic subscribers—we’ve enhanced our assignments functionality! The list of updates is fairly long and chock-full of technobabble, but I’ve pulled out some of the choicest ones for you:

• Great news for international educators: the assignments function is now available anywhere in the world! (Contact Customer Support for more information.)
• You can now send comments when you reassign an assignment
• You may choose to allow students to report “non-SmartMusic time” on a practice report
• It's now easy to delete multiple assignments at once if necessary (see the screen shot, above)
• When you assign a unit, it will now display in the order you’ve set up, not alphanumerical order

We’ve already updated the built-in User Manual with information on these, and our Customer Support team is ready to help you with your assignments questions. Other features you’d like to see? Let me know in the Comments section below.

Rippling water. New repertoire. What’s the connection?

The answer lies in the newly released Elements (Petite Symphony) from FJH Music Company—one of 46 titles released in SmartMusic this month.

The often-requested Elements is a short, 4-movement work in which each movement depicts a specific element: air, water, earth, and fire. The second movement, Water, is “impressionistic in nature,” according to the composition notes in SmartMusic. (Composer is Brian Balmages.)

Expanding Repertoire: Closing in on 3,000
Our repertoire development team just added 46 more ensemble titles, all of which are listed below. Our new ensemble total is 2,987… we should hit 3,000 soon!

Concert Band:

Jazz Ensemble:

String Orchestra:

As always, you can search for these pieces by title, composer/arranger, publisher, skill level, and more, both online as well as from within SmartMusic. You can also request future titles and view other recent blog posts highlighting repertoire additions.

Did this batch include a title you've been waiting for? Let us know by clicking on "Comments" below.