This should become an overview page about music education technology. It may take some time to get there - Daniel K. Schneider 18:30, 12 September 2011 (CEST).
We shall be particularly interested in tools that help learners play and compose music by playing and composing, i.e. use technology as cognitive tool or in other words learning with technology as opposed to learning from technology. More precisely we shall investigate the educational use of music notation software, of editing/recording/playing software using the MIDI standard and the interaction of these with a digital piano.
In addition, there exists some more specific software. “There are applications that use the MIDI connection between your instrument and computer to help you learn different aspects of music. A music-reading program may display a note, chord, or passage on the screen; you play the displayed notes on the digital piano and the software keeps track of your accuracy and helps you improve. An ear-training application may play for you an interval that you then try to play yourself on the keyboard. The application will tell you what you did right or wrong and help you improve your ear. Other types teach music history and music theory. While many of these applications are geared to specific levels or ages, some can be set to multiple levels as you progress, or for use by multiple players.” (Computer Software by Alden Skinner, retrieved sept. 16 2011.
See also:
A range of instruments can be connected to a computer or another device via a so-called MIDI interface. I.e. The instrument can play sounds on the computer and the other way round. A computer can play sounds on an instrument that can produce sounds (like a digital piano). The device that sends messages is called a controller, i.e. a keyboard is a controller when it sends MIDI messages to another sound-producing device. Many kinds of keyboards (from cheap under $100 USB MIDI keyboards) to expensive digital pianos are MIDI capable.
Some of of keyboards include built-in educational technology and that is often based on MIDI or a related standard. A typical example is a keyboard that can play part of a partition (e.g. the right hand), display the music sheet and then follow the student while he/she is playing the left part. When the student makes a mistake, the keyboard then could stop, wait and signal the error.
In a USC News blog post, Julia Fraser reports the use of Yamaha Disklaviers for coaching a student at distance in real time.
Computers (Win/Max/Unix) can be connected through a so-called MIDI interface with most keyboards, some other instruments or other devices.
Of course, various kinds of software can and is being used in music education. See below.
Is there any besides lab furniture and some controlling devices ?
E.g. Korg's educational division, Soundtree provides “turn-key learning systems for education integrating electronic music instruments, audio components, video production tools, computers and software” (retrieved 18:30, 12 September 2011 (CEST)).
According to Wikipedia, A music sequencer (or just sequencer) is a computer program or electronic device for recording, editing and playing back music, in the form of digital audio and/or MIDI data.
Music sequencers come in two basic forms:
Some sequencer software also include other functions, such as music notation.
According to Wikipedia, retrieved 18:30, 12 September 2011 (CEST), “GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iOS that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. as a part of the iLife software package. [...] It can play realistic, sampled instruments, used for creating songs or playing music live using over 100 sampled or synthesized instruments, which can be played using a USB or MIDI keyboard connected to the computer, or using an on-screen virtual keyboard. [...] GarageBand can import MIDI files, and offers piano roll or notation-style editing and playback.”. GarageBand was developed in the early '90s and first published on Jan 2004 by Apple. As of sept 2011, GarageBand is available as version '11, part of the iLive package included in each new Mac. These is also an iPad version available for $5.
GarageBand supports USB MIDI keyboards
Recent versions of GarageBand 5/'09 or later allow to download music lessons from GarageBand's Lesson Store for guitar and piano. There are two types of lesson available in the Lesson Store: Basic Lessons which are a free download and Artist Lessons which must be purchased. The first Basic Lessons for both guitar and piano are included with GarageBand.
According to Tomas E. Rudolph, in Using Notation Software with Students (blog), “many teachers have found that notation software is an excellent medium to encourage composition and to reinforce theory and other concepts.”. Notable links in this blog post were:
See the music notation software article for a list of music notation software !
See also: Recommended List of Music Software for Music Teaching and Learning
The provisional list below was taken from the (commercial) SoundTree Product Guide 2011.
( not complete ! )
Piano lesson software comes with various features, for example:
The list below is highly provisional. None of the software was tested...
Piano Wizard Academy
Most titles seem to be quite traditional, i.e. a combo of Instructional text, videos and play-along CDs. Few truly exploit PC-keyboard interaction or recorder/sequencers built into advanced keyboards.
Learn and Master Piano
Rocket Piano
eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method
Piano for Dummies
Play Piano Deluxe
Piano Suite Premier
Pianoforall