🔗 New Features Coming to Noteflight Learn's SoundCheck Integration

My school district purchased us some music tech services for use in our online classes this fall. I have been meaning to write at more length about Noteflight Learn and Soundtrap, but I am still getting my heels into the ground with them. Both services take time to learn how they are effective in practice, not to mention there are a lot of quirks with how they integrate with our learning management software, Canvas.

I did want to highlight some upcoming features to Noteflight Learn, specifically regarding their new SoundCheck integration which launched this past summer. My district purchased the SoundCheck integration which means that I can give Noteflight scores as assessments where my band students play the notes into the computer and get a score. Some of these forthcoming features are going to save me a lot of headaches and I am glad to see them coming.

Check out the full list in the blog post below from John Mlynczak. I have quoted some of my favorites.

SoundCheck Check One Two:

New Features Coming Soon

We are working on several new features to be made available ASAP. In the coming weeks, here is what you will see:

- The SoundCheck assessment rating will be automatically added to grade book of your own LMS, including Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Powerschool, Brightspace, Blackboard, Moodle, and more.

- Students just need to complete their assignment and use the same “Turn In” button already available in Noteflight Learn.

- All Content Library scores will include a SoundCheck version that can be used right away. You can always edit a Content Library score and create your own SoundCheck version as well.

And the cherry on top for this iPad-loving, late-night, couch worker:

- iOS functionality. SoundCheck currently does not work in the browser on iOS.

More Jamboard in the Music Classroom (Testing The New Integration with Google Meet)

Google Meet rolling out Jamboard integration for collaborative whiteboarding | 9to5Google:

Last week, Google’s video conferencing tool launched a 49-person grid and background blur. Google Meet is now integrating with Jamboard to add a digital whiteboard for visual and collaborative brainstorming.

Google Jamboard, which I have blogged about here, is indeed a fun tool and all of my students find it engaging. 

This new Google Meet integration is awesome. Once you start up a digital whiteboard from within a Meet, Jamboard asks you if you want to create a new one or use an existing file in your Google Drive. If you opt to create a new one, it automatically saves it to your drive and names it using the date and meet code of your session.

Immediately, a dialogue with share permissions for the file pops up, pre-filled with the accounts of all students who are present in the Meet so that you can make sure they all have access in one click.

The integration is very smooth. I tested it today at the beginning of my classes so that they could give feedback to one another on a recent Soundtrap project I had them do.

The students recorded brass duets and trios in Soundtrap projects last week. I played three examples of them for the class today and students posted sticky notes on this whiteboard that took me one minute to set up last night. It was a simple activity that was made even more simple by this new integration.

Post Sticky Notes to Your Home Screen

Speaking of widgets on the iPhone home screen, this is one that I have a feeling a lot of people will appreciate. 

Sticky Widgets allows you to post sticky notes straight to the home screen that come in different colors and say anything you want. The experience is as simple as you can imagine.

Sure, I advocate for using proper note-taking and task management software, but there are times where you just want to write something directly and trust that it will be plastered in front of your eyes indefinitely.

Check out a full review from MacStories...

Sticky Widgets Brings Simple Sticky Notes to Your Home Screen:

Sticky Widgets enables placing sticky note-style widgets on your iPhone or iPad Home Screen which can be modified simply by tapping on the widget. It’s utility that’s such an obvious fit for widgets, I’m surprised I haven’t seen a hundred other apps doing the same thing.

🔗 Google Meet starts rolling out 49-person grid view, background blur

Click below to read 9to5Google's article about 49-person grid view and background blur, coming to Google Meet on the web.

Google Meet starts rolling out 49-person grid view, background blur:

As previewed last month, Google is starting to launch a handful of pre-announced features for Meet. Background blur and being able to see up to 49 people simultaneously is coming to Google Meet in the coming weeks.

This is going to be huge for teachers. Read the entire article. They explain how to set everything up once this feature rolls out to you.

🔗 Electronic Music School, with Will Kuhn and Ethan Hein

Will Kuhn and Ethan Hein have a new Twitch channel called Electronic Music School. Every Sunday at 5 pm, they go over lesson plans for teaching music technology, using Ableton Live.

Electronic Music School is LIVE at 5. Remixing methods with me and @ethanhein ft. this week's special guest @spooploop. Join in the fun!https://t.co/oJipQJZo8a pic.twitter.com/iIwoIPNtSq

— Will Kuhn (@willkuhn) September 13, 2020

Even though the technology part of my general music curriculum is limited, I have really enjoyed the few of these live streams I have caught little bits of. The visual presentation is very engaging, the guests are diverse, and the discussions are very relevant to the curricular challenges of teaching popular music.

Check it out here.

🔗 Handwriting Note App, GoodNotes, Gets Collaboration Features

From David Sparks...

GoodNotes Releases Collaboration Update — MacSparky:

With GoodNotes, it’s easy to mix drawing and writing. It’s also easy to write in a magnified view while the words simultaneously appear in a normal size on the page behind it.

And with yesterday’s version 5.5 update, GoodNotes is now also able to collaborate.

I use Apple Notes for most mixed media note taking (text, checklists, images, web links) and DEVONthink for my archiving needs (long term file, email, web archiving). But most notes I write by hand go in GoodNotes. It is nice to see any app add collaboration as a feature. I am not sure if I would use this in GoodNotes but it will be fun to try.

The other thing I use GoodNotes for every day (when school is meeting in person) is for annotating my custom-made seating charts to keep track of student data. You can read about that on this article I wrote for SBO Magazine. What makes GoodNotes so convenient for annotating PDFs like this is that it treats them as a paper style instead of fillable PDF, so you don't need to go into any kind of annotation 'mode' to begin marking it up with the Apple Pencil.

🔗 New Version of Final Cut Pro X Has a 90 Day Free Trial (Which You Can Renew Even if You Already Took Advantage of the FCPX 90 Day Free Trial!)

New version of Final Cut Pro X out!

From Apple Newsroom:

Final Cut Pro X updated with significant workflow improvements:

Today Apple is updating Final Cut Pro X with powerful new features designed to enhance remote workflows and speed up editing for content creators. Improvements in creating and managing proxy media provide editors with portability and performance when working with large resolution formats, or when collaborating remotely. New social media tools automate video cropping in square, vertical, and other custom sizes for popular social media platforms, and new workflow improvements enhance the versatility and performance of Final Cut Pro — making the Mac stronger than ever for all video editors and motion graphics artists.

Teachers rejoice! If you are looking to make online lesson content or virtual band/orchestra/choir/whatever videos this school year, look no further than Final Cut Pro X.

If you were already taking advantage of their 90 day free trial, guess what? They just released a new version, and you can renew your trial with the update!

There’s a 90-day free trial for Final Cut Pro 10.4.9 if you want to check it out/train yourself up.

(Yes, even if you used the 90-day free trial on the previous version — whole new free trial for the new version!)https://t.co/5V1DLdUE2P pic.twitter.com/Sb7cICXAot

— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) August 26, 2020

And if you decide to buy, don't forget to purchase it with Apple's Pro Apps Bundle for Education.

🔗 Book: Teaching Effectively with Zoom | by Dan Levy

Dan Levy has a book out called Teaching Effectively with Zoom.

Zoom is not my dominant teaching platform of choice, but this book looks really interesting, and likely has application for all video teaching. Click the link below for more information.

Home | Teaching Effectively with Zoom:

In this website, you will be able to: Find resources related to the book. Read short stories about how educators are using Zoom in interesting or innovative ways Submit your own stories to share with others about how you have been using Zoom to engage your students and help them learn

🔗 Google Meet now works with Chromecast on your TV

Google Meet now works with Chromecast on your TV. - 9to5Google:

Meet on Chromecast works exclusively through the Chrome browser on your desktop or laptop computer. That’s because, when this is running, Google still uses the camera, microphone, and audio from your machine to power the experience. The meeting itself is just cast off to your TV or other display so you can view it on a larger display. Google is continuing to be quite aggressive with updates to Google Meet.

While I am happy with my tech setup in my studio, I know there will be times when I need a change of scenery. I fully plan to teach some lessons from my sunroom and living room. My living room TV has a Chromecast built in and I can totally see myself projecting the class on to the big screen while providing feedback from my laptop on the couch and using the laptop screen as extra real estate for other apps.

🔗 Chris Russell on sheet music scanning apps

Last week Chris Russell reviewed a new score scanning app, ScanScore. I kind of like that he turned this review into a comparison of the different options available, with example photos. Here is a link to the post with a quote:

ScanScore – Technology in Music Education

So, how did it work? Again, I’m not in the scanning mode right now, so I’m creating an artificial comparison (something that really isn’t crucial to me on a need-to-get-it-done-as-quickly-as-possible basis). I decided to take a a version of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata from IMSLP, and to see how the programs did with it.

While one example is not enough to effectively compare this kind of software, it's still interesting to see where they stack up in the example he provided. I personally find that these scanner apps require more touch up than is worth the effort. In many cases it is still easier to manually recreate the score in a notation app. 

Of the apps Chris mentions in the post, Sheet Music Scanner is my favorite, even though it doesn't do triplets yet.