"How are the webinars going?" is a common question heard here in the halls of MakeMusic, and with good reason. We've committed to offer music educators more virtual learning opportunities this year—and we're off to a great start!

Attendees tell us the sessions have been informative and convenient. And not surprisingly, our special offer for webinar attendees—50% off an educator subscription and a free SmartMusic microphone—has been well received.

In February, we're featuring some new webinar topics to help you, whether you're a new user—or not so new! Choose from:

• Sending Assignments in SmartMusic: Motivating Students to Practice Efficiently (30-minute demo plus Q&A)
• SmartMusic: Your Questions Answered (60 minutes; Q&A-only session)
• Getting Started with SmartMusic: Technology to Extend your Reach (30-minute demo plus Q&A)

At the end of each session, attendees can choose to take advantage of two special, limited-time offers:

• 50% off an educator SmartMusic subscription, plus a FREE SmartMusic Windows microphone (or $19.95 off a Mac mic)
• Buy 10 student subscriptions, get 10 FREE SmartMusic Windows microphones (or 6 FREE Mac mics)

You can visit the website to view the schedule and register for an upcoming session. And if you know anyone who wants to learn more about how SmartMusic can help them do more in their music programs—by all means, spread the word!

Going to TMEA? We’re excited about our dynamite lineup of SmartMusic and Finale clinics at the show—and we’d love to see you at one (or more) of them:

Finale 2012 for Band and Orchestra - Thursday, Feb. 9
 | 2:00-3:00 PM
 | CC 002

SmartMusic 2012: New Assessable Sight-Singing and Sight-Reading Capability - 
Thursday, Feb. 9 | 
6:30-7:30 PM
 | CC 102

SmartMusic: A Sight-Singing Tutor (Cynthia Gonzales, TSU)
 - Friday, Feb. 10 | 
11:00 AM-12:00 PM
 | CC 102

Finale in General Music - 
Friday, Feb. 10 | 
12:30-1:30 PM
 | CC 102

SmartMusic in your Band, Choir and Orchestra Program - Friday, Feb. 10 | 
2:00-3:00 PM | 
CC 002

Demos at booth #1629

Stop in for a 20-minute SmartMusic or Finale demo—and hear about all the exciting changes at MakeMusic (hint: ask about Free Finale NotePad, the Garritan and MusicXML acquisitions, contests, and more!).

Here are the 7 unique demo topics we’ll be covering:

1. Getting started with SmartMusic: Quick ways to motivate student learning
2. Vocal/General: New SmartMusic repertoire and assessment
3. Sight reading made easy with SmartMusic
4. Extend your reach with SmartMusic: Send customized assignments and messages
5. Eight great Finale tips, including the fastest note-entry options
6. Percussion in Finale
7. From Finale to SmartMusic: Create custom worksheets and accompaniments

This year, we're also focused on providing more virtual opportunities to learn about SmartMusic. See our February webinar calendar to register for one of our upcoming sessions: Sending Assignments in SmartMusic: Motivating Students to Practice Efficiently; Getting Started with SmartMusic: Technology to Extend your Reach; and SmartMusic: Your Questions Answered (Q&A only).

Image appears courtesy of MikeLicht, NotionsCaptial.com on Flickr

If you’ve been meaning to check out SmartMusic, now may be just the time to take the plunge.

This week, we’re kicking off our free webinar series, designed to help music educators learn more about SmartMusic and how it can help you in the classroom.

In these webinars our best and brightest will guide participants through a 30-minute demonstration, followed by a 30-minute live Q&A. Presenters include:

• SmartMusic Education Specialist Bob Grifa
• SmartMusic Product Specialist Dave Hawley
• Senior Account Manager Leigh Kallestad

Our first topic is: “Getting Started with SmartMusic: Technology to Extend Your Reach.”

To join us, all you have to do is visit the website (click on Educators/Webinars and Conventions), and click on the date you’d like to attend. You’ll be directed to our WebEx registration page from there.

The next topic in our webinar series, slated to begin in February, will be “Sending Assignments in SmartMusic: Helping Students Practice More Efficiently.”

We hope you’ll accept our invitation to learn more. See (or, more accurately, “hear”) you soon!

Have an iPad? A new version of the SmartMusic Inbox app is now available that puts the iPad’s added real estate to great advantage.

If you’re not yet familiar with the SmartMusic Inbox, it’s a free mobile app, created for SmartMusic educators. It provides an alternative means to review, grade, and comment on student assignments any time, any place.

Like its predecessor, the latest Inbox app also supports Android® and Apple® smart phones as well as the iPod touch®, while adding fully dedicated support for iPad, including:

• A new editing view that allows educators to see and hear student performances simultaneously.
• A landscape view displaying the list of Inbox items and the details of a selected assignment at the same time.
• An improved interface that automatically removes graded assignments from the Inbox list and cues up the next assignment in the list.
• Additional improvements including academic year selection, and iOS 5.0 compatibility.

The new SmartMusic inbox app is available now on the App Store and in Android Market.

Let us know how it’s working for you by clicking on “Comments” below.

SmartMusic 2012a is here. If you don’t plan to create SmartMusic accompaniments with Finale 2012, you don’t need the SmartMusic update. No action is required: you’re off the hook.

If you create SmartMusic accompaniments with Finale 2011 or earlier versions of Finale, you don’t need SmartMusic 2012a either.

If, however, you’d like to create SmartMusic accompaniments with Finale 2012, you will need to use Finale 2012a AND SmartMusic 2012a, and both “a” updates are now available.

That said, there is one very compelling reason to create SmartMusic accompaniments in Finale 2012a: this is the first version of Finale to create SmartMusic accompaniments that support vocal assessment. If you’d like to create accompaniments and assignments for your vocal students, Finale 2012a is the ticket.

Don’t own Finale 2012 yet? You can download the free trial and use it to create SmartMusic accompaniments for 30 days – for free.

Have any questions or observations to share? Please do so by clicking on “Comments” below.

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

MakeMusic announced today that it has signed an agreement to purchase Garritan Corporation, makers of Garritan Personal Orchestra and several other best-in-class virtual sound libraries. Founder Gary Garritan will join MakeMusic as director of instrumental sciences.

My wife, Becca, and I enjoyed spending some time with Gary and his wife, Marianne, when we visited beautiful Vancouver Island near the end of October. Among the many beautiful places they shared with us were the Butchart Gardens, seen in my snapshot above. Since we assumed that late October wasn’t peak season for the gardens, we were delighted at all the color and blossoms – quite a contrast to Minnesota.

While Gary and I have spoken by phone and at tradeshows many times before, this was the first time we’d shared meals and museum visits, and he and Marianne proved to be wonderful hosts AND tour guides. I wish that I could look forward to seeing them both in our offices often, but for some reason they have yet to express any interest to moving to Minnesota. Go figure.

Lest you think I’m a mover and shaker, integral in the planning of the Garritan purchase long in advance, I should clarify that I’m not. In part because MakeMusic is a public company, great care must be made in not revealing pending acquisitions, and so I wasn’t aware of the negotiations until very recently. It strikes me as funny that Becca and I traveled to British Columbia and spent time with the Garritians when we did. Perhaps I had an unconscious premonition! Thank goodness I didn’t scare them off.

Please join me in welcoming Gary and Marianne to the MakeMusic family.

Earlier this month we announced that MakeMusic would be purchasing MusicXML and Dolet software from Recordare. Yesterday the agreement was completed. What's more, the Dolet software is now available – for free – at MakeMusic.com!

If you'd like to create SmartMusic accompaniments from Sibelius files, this is great news.

Why?

The Dolet software allows users of nearly any version of Sibelius to save MusicXML files. These files can then be read by Finale, where they can be saved as SmartMusic accompaniments. While Sibelius 7 included the ability to read and write music XML files, users of previous versions had to purchase the Dolet software for $199. Now it's all free, and the free software even includes improvements upon the MusicXML support found in Sibelius 7.

Let us know how the free software is working, or ask any question, by clicking on "Comments" below.

The SmartMusic Knowledge Base is a powerful resource at your fingertips. Have a SmartMusic question? This is the place to go to get it resolved, whether you browse solutions or submit a question directly to our support staff.

We've just released a mobile version of the Knowledge Base! Access it from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device, and the site automatically appears in the correct format, optimized for browsing on your device:

How might you use it?  You might:

• Have the Knowledge Base displayed on your iPad while you work on your computer.
• Find answers while using the SmartMusic Inbox app on your mobile device.
• Submit a case from your mobile device while you ride the bus home.
• Check on a submitted case from your mobile device while at the park.

For quick access, you can even create a web clip (shortcut) for quick access from your device’s Home screen, right alongside your other apps.

Ready to check it out? Navigate to: http://smartmusic.custhelp.com/app/

If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, click on this button:

…and select Add to Home Screen. Name the web clip whatever you’d like, and it will appear on your Home screen for quick access.

If you’re using an Android device, click the Bookmarks button then add the site as a bookmark. Tap and hold on the bookmark then select Add Shortcut to Home.

Try it out today and let me know how it works for you by clicking on “Comments” below.

Yesterday MakeMusic announced it would purchase MusicXML and Dolet software from Recordare. If you're interested in the details, check out today's Finale blog post and the official press release.

What does this mean for users of SmartMusic?

If you or your colleagues have Sibelius 5 or 6 files you'd like to use in SmartMusic, you previously had to purchase Dolet for Sibelius (at $199) in order to save MusicXML files from Sibelius. These files could then be read in Finale and saved for use in SmartMusic. The big news for you is that MakeMusic will soon make Dolet for Sibelius available for free, making it just that much easier to get this music into SmartMusic.

In short, if you or your coworkers have old Sibelius files you'd like to use with SmartMusic, you will likely receive one holiday gift a little early this year.

To share your thoughts, please click on "Comments" below.

SmartMusic offers a huge advantage in the competitive world of drum and bugle corps. Today at least ten world-class DCI corps incorporate SmartMusic into their recruiting and training programs.

One of those corps, the Carolina Crown, has recently become a serious contender for the DCI championship. They began using SmartMusic four years ago. They’ve since won DCI’s Jim Ott High Brass Award twice in the last three years.

Ben Harloff is the Brass Staff Technique Specialist with the Crown. SmartMusic Education Sales Representative Matt Ferry (himself a drum corps veteran) and I met up with Ben this summer, and Ben was kind enough to share some of his secrets with us. Kinder yet, he let us capture them on video to share them with you.

In the two-minute video above, Ben makes the contentious claim that SmartMusic might be even more perfect for drum corps than it is for public school. What do you think of Ben's comments? Please let me know by clicking on "Comments" below.