Treble Cat HD 1

Treble Cat HD 1 is a free app which allows students to practice quick recognition of notes on the treble staff. Notes move across the staff and the user is asked to touch every C in 60 seconds. In this level, all pitches are labeled. The next level asks you to touch the Cs and Ds in the 60 second time limit. In this level, the Cs are no longer labeled, but the other pitches are. The labels are present until each note has been introduced. Once that pitch has been introduced, the labels disappear for that pitch. The settings allow you to choose if you would like letter labels or solfege labels. It also allows you to choose the speed of the game.

I can see some value in this game for increasing the speed in which students recognize notes. At this point, the app makes a positive chiming sound when you touch a correct pitch. I wish it would actually play the pitch you touch, a C plays when you touch a C, etc. Perhaps that is something the developers will address in a future update.

There is an in-app purchase which allows the user to upgrade to the full game for $2.99. I have not upgraded at this point and have not evaluated the paid version of the game. If you are allowing students to use your iPad, please be sure you have turned off in-app purchases in settings.

I mentioned another drill-and-practice note recognition app, Flashnote Derby, last September. This app is a better choice if you wish to limit the pitches in which you want students to focus.

Mozart by Radio Classique

Mozart by Radio Classique is another app I grabbed when it was free for a day. Right now it is listed at $3.99. There are three different sections of the app:

Story - This is a narrated and slightly animated story of Mozart's life. You have the option to look at the text as it is being read to you, but you need to pull down a tab on each page to do that and it does cover up part of the illustration. The information is good, but the narration bothers me. It is very stilted, robot-like as if it is being read by a computer and not a recording of someone. There are some things that are pronounced strangely (27th sounds like twenty-thevents). If I were using this in the classroom, I would mute it and read it myself, which means you don't get the nice Mozart background music, but it's better than the irritating narration

Works - There are excerpts of The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute (2), Requiem (2), Ah vous dirai-je maman, Symphony 38, 3rd mvt, Clarinet Concerto, and Abduction from Seraglio. Having these excerpts at your finger tips may be worth the price of the app since you could not purchase all of those on iTunes for less than $3.99.

Games - This contains a multiple choice quiz based on the information in the story, instrument cards to which you match the correct sound of the instrument, a Where's Waldo-esque game of searching for specific items in a picture., and game called Notes which is like the old game Simon where you watch and listen to notes that are illuminated and then play them back in the same order. One thing I noticed about the instrument cards game is that the tuba is called the bass horn. I think this app may have been developed in France and instruments may have different names there.

The developers of this app have also created an app about Beethoven.

Little Fox Music Box

I downloaded Little Fox Music Box just the other day because it was Apple's Free App of the Week. It's a very nice looking app. There are three songs (London Bridge, Evening Song, and Old MacDonald). There is an option to have the song sung along with the text or to sing karaoke-style where the words are highlighted in time with the music, but the user needs to provide the singing. There is also an area called Fox Studio which has "found sounds" such as bottles, teapots, spoons, etc. for the user to use to create music. I see limited use for this app in the classroom unless you teach preschoolers, but I know my preschoolers at home will love it, so it will keep it's place on the iPad.

iPad Apps Out-of-Control

I have a problem and may need an intervention. I have a LOT of random apps on my iPad and no idea what they do or how they work. The problem is because I learn of an app that has a reduced price or is free for a limited time and I immediately download it regardless of whether I have time to explore it or not. The result is a crazy amount of apps that are never used. I need to start going through them and figuring out which ones are useable and which are not. I'll use this blog to post about the ones I have that are music related. I'll start with Little Fox in the next post.

Guest Post on FreeTech4Teachers.com

Good morning. Yesterday I had a post published on FreeTech4Teachers.com about the use of a single iPad in the music classroom. Welcome to those of you who have found this blog due to that post. This blog has been semi-dormant in the last few months partially due to the chaos of the end of the school year and to the start of summer vacation. I hope to be a little more diligent in posting now. I will be posting about some music-related iPad apps in the near future. Stay tuned...

Butterscotch.com

What a goldmine! Have you looked at the tutorials on Butterscotch.com? I'm planning an iPad GarageBand project with my 5th graders at the end of the month, so I am using the tutorial for GarageBand for the iPad to help me plan it out. It's superb. It's 40 minutes long, but broken into eleven parts so you can watch a little at a time (and skip the parts you aren't interested in). I highly encourage you to check it out.

Apps for Beat Keeping Practice

I've recently discovered two apps through the Music K-8 Mailing List. Both of the apps are games that require the player to be able to keep a steady beat.

The first app is a free app called Talking Gina. Talking Gina features a giraffe who plays hand clapping games. I find the name of the app interesting because I've played five levels and I have yet to hear Gina talk. If you "clap" her hooves at the appropriate times, the area you hit turns green. If you are early or late, it turns red. Gina is very particular. If you miss, you don't pass the level. I can see that it may be frustrating for some students for that reason. The other aspect of the game is that you need to care for Gina. She needs to be fed, watered, and loved. Kids probably like that portion of the game, but it annoys me. I also don't like that there are in-app purchases available. Be sure you have disabled in-app purchases in your General Settings.

Pros: Practice keeping the beat, sharpens reflexes, kids will enjoy it
Cons: In-App purchases, having to care for Gina beyond playing the clapping games, some kids will get frustrated easily

The second app is called Beat Sneak Bandit. The app costs $2.99. All the clocks in town have been stolen and the Beat Sneak Bandit needs to retrieve them. The character will only move if you are tapping the screen to the beat of the game music. I've played a couple of levels and I think upper elementary students will really like this one. As you progress through the levels, there are various obstacles to avoid such as spotlights and security guards. If you get stuck on a level, you have the option to skip it and come back later. I like that option since there are some students who will get frustrated otherwise. My only complaint about the app is that the music I heard in the first few levels was pretty much the same. I would have loved to have some tempo changes periodically.

Pros: Practice keeping the beat, problem-solving skills, kids can skip levels if they are stuck
Cons: No tempo changes, cost

I don't plan to spend any real amount of time in the classroom with these apps. I will introduce the kids to them so they know about them. If they are interested, they can download them on their devices at home. I will also load them on to our iPad labs so that students who have free time in their classrooms can explore them.