HMS Virtual Band Practice: Beyond the Rehearsal Room
Mr. Lee Lynn’s grades 6-8 band students at Highlands Middle School are still making music happen – albeit virtually – through a special interactive, computer-based practice system called SmartMusic.
SmartMusic helps students get better faster, and makes practicing more fun. With amazing accompaniments for more than 30,000 titles and challenging exercises, the program greatly augments music education, especially through remote instruction.
At the heart of SmartMusic is a respect for the deliberate practice model and a recognition that students benefit from immediate feedback. Students are able to immediately access work assigned by Mr. Lynn. After practicing the material, students can record themselves “performing” the assignments. They receive immediate feedback on correct pitches, wrong pitches, wrong rhythms, and incorrect timings (see illustration below). Students can immediately replay their work and hear what they did well or what needs improvement. Once they submit their efforts, Mr. Lynn is notified, and can correspond remotely with the student about setting goals for improvement, praises for awesome work, and other immediate feedback, electronically.
(green notes are correct; red notes are incorrect and what the student accidentally performed, so they can isolate their future practice)
Finally, students can perform their work with a recording of an entire ensemble as they practice! While nothing beats “live and in-person” music performance and rehearsals, SmartMusic provides Mr. Lynn and his band students with an alternative to move forward in their music education during remote instruction.