Check out this great Scoring Notes blog post and podcast episode about preparing music worksheets and teaching materials

This blog post from David MacDonald, writing for Scoring Notes, has some great tips about making teaching documents and music worksheets using some of the most popular music notation software.

There is a lot music teachers can learn in this post, and from the associated podcast episode. Click the link below to read more.

Preparing teaching materials in music notation software - Scoring Notes:

If you have ever taught music lessons or classes, you have likely needed to share some small bit of music notation with your students that isn’t quite a full score or part, but still requires some amount of staff notation. Preparing this sort of document can be tricky because notation software is built around a certain set of assumptions suited for performance materials — scores and parts — which may not always serve learning materials like quizzes or scale sheets.

In this article, I’m going to cover some of the workflows, workarounds, best practices, and other considerations that I have used in preparing my own materials for the university music theory and composition courses I teach.

Appearance: At Percussion Podcast

I had a blast joining the At Percussion podcast last week to talk about teaching percussion, using tech, running a successful private teaching studio, being productive, and more.

Listen in your favorite podcast app or watch below:

forScore | Piano with Friends

Cool new app from the makers of forScore. The app is designed to work with the forthcoming SharePlay feature coming to iOS 15, which allows users to run an app in sync together while on a FaceTime call. It is designed for streaming Apple Music songs and Apple TV+ shows between two different users in sync, even if they are across the world.

Apple has announced that SharePlay will not whip with iOS 15.0 this fall and that it will come in a later update. Piano with Friends will be ready.

forScore | Piano with Friends-->

Over the past few months we’ve been working on a brand new app based on forScore’s on-screen piano keyboard, called Piano with Friends. This standalone version includes the same great features like a high quality sound bank, fine tuning, note labels, and MIDI support, but it also includes some new features that really make it deserving of its own app.

Cubasis comes to Android and receives a discount

Cubasis is, in my opinion, the app to use if you are looking to produce music in a professional DAW using your iPad.

Good news! Version 3 is currently deeply discounted and they just released an Android version!

What's New in Cubasis 3.2 | Steinberg-->

Musical ideas come when you least expect them and are often gone in a flash. With Cubasis, you always have your mobile DAW with you, because Cubasis is available for all your mobile devices. iPad? Check. iPhone? Of course! Android smartphone and tablet? Sure thing! And now we bring one of the fastest, most intuitive and complete mobile DAWs to the world of Chromebooks, too. Welcome Google (again)! Welcome Chrome OS! Cubasis is ready to capture your ideas whenever and wherever you are.

Going without a wallet

According to this other announcement from Apple last week, Maryland will be one of the first states to allow iPhone users to put their drivers license in the Apple Wallet app.

I am thrilled!

Apple announces first states to adopt driver’s licenses and state IDs in Wallet - Apple--->

“Maryland is proud to be a leader once again in safe innovation with the implementation of mobile driver’s licenses,” said Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. “As we look to the future, we are committed to enhancing convenience and accessibility while maintaining the highest safety and security standards for our state and citizens.”

Between credit cards, house keys, car keys, and drivers licenses all going into Apple Wallet now, I can see the day where all we need it a phone or a watch when we leave the house. I wonder how long it will take to get my school ID card into my phone? I have to use that to swipe into the building.

Apple acquires classical music streaming service Primephonic

Last week, Apple aquired classical music streaming service Primephonic. This service is very similar to [IDAGIO](https://idagio.com) which I use and have written about here before.

[Apple acquires classical music streaming service Primephonic - Apple-->](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/08/apple-acquires-classical-music-streaming-service-primephonic/)

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA AND LONDON Apple today announced it has acquired Primephonic, the renowned classical music streaming service that offers an outstanding listening experience with search and browse functionality optimized for classical, premium-quality audio, handpicked expert recommendations, and extensive contextual details on repertoire and recordings.

With the addition of Primephonic, Apple Music subscribers will get a significantly improved classical music experience beginning with Primephonic playlists and exclusive audio content. In the coming months, Apple Music Classical fans will get a dedicated experience with the best features of Primephonic, including better browsing and search capabilities by composer and by repertoire, detailed displays of classical music metadata, plus new features and benefits.

Primephonic is no longer available for new subscribers and will be taken offline beginning September 7. Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year combining Primephonic’s classical user interface that fans have grown to love with more added features. In the meantime, current Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music for free, providing access to hundreds of thousands of classical albums, all in Lossless and high-resolution audio, as well as hundreds of classical albums in Apple Music’s Spatial Audio, with new albums added regularly.

I would have never guessed that a company as big as Apple would dedicate resources to solving a problem like classical music metadata but I will take it. This will mean that I can use my same Apple Music account, library, and payment, and get a superior searching experience. Viewed simply as a utility, this seems like a win.

I wonder if this means that Apple is aware and working on the many other musical metadata problems in other styles. For example, in jazz, it would be great to search a recording by personnel, soloists, recording enegeniers, and more.

I'm on the iPad Pros podcast to talk about Dorico and Sibelius for iPad

I am pleased to be a guest on the iPad Pros podcast this week to talk about Dorico and Sibelius for iPad.

Tim Chaten does an awesome job with this show and has a background in composition. If you want to spend quite a bit of time with us and hear my thoughts on these two professional scoring programs for iPad, give it a listen!

YouTube version here:

App of the Week: ViDL (Downloads YouTube Videos On Your Mac)

For anyone looking for this kind of tool, I recommend checking out ViDL for downloading video content from websites on to your computer.

ViDL for Mac - Download Web Videos Easily:

ViDL is a free Mac app that allows you to easily download videos from YouTube and hundreds of other websites for offline viewing.

It is based on the popular youtube-dlcommand line tool, but much easier to use, especially with videos/playlists that require a login (like your personal "Watch Later" list).

Free Masterclass on Groove - Andrew Hitz

Andrew Hitz brings the truth…

Free Masterclass on Groove — Andrew Hitz:

If you go deep (Sam Pilafian's take on deep listening - headphones, eyes closed, phone on airplane mode) and truly get lost in it, I guarantee you that your Fountains of Rome or your Bolero or your whatever will be better on the other side of it. Full stop.

Megan Lavengood IDs songs on the Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes toy

Music theorist Megan Megan Lavengood recently took to Twitter to try and identify all of the songs on a Baby Einstein toy.

It’s a particularly fun read, and I had an especially good time with it since we have this toy and our 1.5 year old has played with it off and on since birth.

Click the link below to read the entire thing. It comes complete with audio examples of the toy and a Spotify playlist of all the pieces of music they are based on.

What actually are all these songs on the Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes toy? – Megan L. Lavengood:

For the uninitiated, the Take Along Tunes toy plays a series of excerpts from Classical- and Baroque-era (mostly) orchestral works while flashing colored lights; its purpose is to distract and occupy your baby while you’re forcing them to do something they don’t particularly enjoy (in our case, diaper changes). As musical toys go, it’s really not annoying, because the tunes are pleasant and the excerpts are long enough not to drive you up the wall with repetitiveness.

While there are some obvious, Greatest-Hits-of-the-Classical-Era-type selections (William Tell, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), some other excerpts stumped me.