New iPad Air and iPhone

A number of teachers have asked me about the new iPad Air that Apple announced last month. It has been updated to look and function a lot more like the iPad Pro line and many are wondering if they need to go Pro or if the Air will satisfy their needs.

iPad Air and iPhone 12 (announced last week) reviews are out, and I have been reading through them this morning. Here are a few that stood out to me:

2020 iPad Air review: Almost Pro | Sixcolors.com

iPad Air Review: Forward-Looking | MacStories.net 

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro | Daring Fireball

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Review: The Best iPhones-but Note for the 5G

Based on everything I have learned so far, there has never been a better time to buy Apple's entry level products. The regular iPhone 12 and iPad Air are spectacular products, and I am guessing that a very large majority of users, even tech nerds, and professionals, are going to feel totally satisfied with them.

I have not tested pro apps like StaffPad, Ferrite, or LumaFusion on the iPad Air because I am still using the 2018 model iPad Pro. My educated guess is that you would not feel limited by the iPad Air, even if you use these apps. You would especially not feel limited using music apps like Tonal Energy and forScore.

When it comes to the iPhone, I am more compelled by the new Mini size and the Pro Max size (which comes with a much better camera system than the regular 12 Pro). Reviews for these are not out yet.

I will probably upgrade my phone, and it will probably be the Pro Max, just because I have a 9-month-old and want to take the best pictures possible of him. That said, I really miss the iPhone 5 days of the tiny phone and might consider a Mini in a future year if I read good things about it later this season.

I am going to keep my iPad Pro around for a bit, but if the Mac were ever to come equipped with a touch screen and Apple Pencil support, I would have to re-evaluate needing the larger-sized iPad Pro and whether or not I need an iPad altogether. I do miss the comfort of the smaller iPad size, particularly for reading, and my gut says that this iPad Air might satisfy my needs down the road.

Conclusion - You probably won't regret not going Pro on Apple's fall lineup of products, but the differences are definitely in the details so make sure you read up on them first.

Syncing Peloton Bike Workouts to the Apple Watch Activity Rings

My wife and I started using the 12 dollar a month Peloton service, without the bike, early this year. It is full of engaging, thorough, and motivating classes that span everything from yoga to strength training. I recommend it. Even if you don't have an interest in the bike, it is still a viable service for staying physically active at home. That said, we did become interested in the bike through this service and have been owners since around February.

Go to the Apple Health settings of the Peloton app to begin setup.

After my bike workout, I go to this screen of the Peloton app to review my workout.

One of my favorite features of the bike is that it syncs my activity to Apple's health ecosystem, where I also track sleep, water, and numerous other fitness metrics.

The newer and fancier Peloton bike uses Apple’s GymKit technology to sync metrics only the bike knows (like distance) with metrics only the Apple Watch knows (like heart rate) and then immediately track it as an Apple Watch workout. 

I admit I am slightly jealous I don’t have this version but you can get the same results if you have a third-party heart rate monitor. All I do is wear this third party heart rate monitor on my arm when I do a bike ride, and then open up the Peloton app on my phone when I am done. The Peloton app syncs my ride metrics to the Apple Health app, which then syncs the fitness data to the Fitness app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, ensuring that I fill my rings. 

Post workout, I review my workout in the Peloton app and then open Apple Health to see the data tracked in that workout alongside other thigns I am tracking like diet, water, meditation minutes, and blood oxygen.

Next, I open the Apple Fitness app. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for the rings to show up here, and then later on the watch, but they always do.

The best part is that I can charge my watch while I ride, which means I can wear it to track sleep throughout the night using AutoSleep.

Peloton also has an Apple TV and Amazon Fire Stick app now. Great for doing yoga in the living room. I track these workouts normally on my Apple Watch by running the appropriate workout type before I start.

Stay healthy out there.

How Is Apple’s Keynote Stacking Up in the Age of Online Learning?

In the age of online learning, the teaching world is embracing Google Docs even more than ever. Google Slides are all the rage, especially in combination with the great ecosystem of Chrome Extensions like Flat for Docs and Peardeck.

I love the extensibility of web-based software, but I feel more at home using native apps like Microsoft Office and Apple's iWork. These apps feel like they belong on the operating system, they function reliably offline, have great keyboard shortcuts, more professional features, and great designs. 

I am spending less time creating documents for my classes this year as things have moved to online Canvas content, Noteflight scores, and Soundtrap templates. There is a lesser need for my usual rosters, seating charts, posters, and other data that I create in native software. Presenting information online is still as relevant as ever though, and for that, I am finding that Apple's Keynote is still the tool for the job. 

No, I can't add a Peardeck to my Keynote presentations, but I can access them from a web browser and share them with my colleagues, where we can both be editing the same presentation at the same time, just like a Google Slides presentation.

I am using Google Slides for some things (notably, the extensions above), but Keynote is still my go-to app. It gives me more speed, more control, better templates, and fine integration across Apple’s ecosystem. If I edit a slide on my Mac, for example, that presentation even becomes quickly launchable from the Files widget on my iPadOS home screen for further editing.

Widgets on the left side of my iPad homescreen allow me to see recent data across all my apps including timers, calendars, tasks, recent notes, and recently opened documents across all my devices! It’s fair for me to mention that while this works more reliably with documents stored in iCloud, I have been noticing my Google Docs starting to show up in this Files widget. Horray!

Keynote recently received two updates that make it even better for teaching online. 

Running a Presentation in a Two Monitor Setup Without Overtaking Both Screens

I run two monitors for my online classes. The one on the left is used in combination with Open Broadcasting Software to quickly share my screen without fiddling with options inside of Google Meet or Zoom. Until recently, running a Keynote presentation would overtake both monitors, rendering it useless for my secondary screen, where I watch over the Google Meet, and interact with other software. 

Now through using an option in the Menubar called Play Slideshow in Window, Keynote can run in a standalone window, which can be put into full-screen mode and only take up one monitor. You can also right-click the Toolbar and permanently add an option to present this way. See these options in the gifs below.

Now, I can run this on the monitor I share with students and have them enter my class to a rotation of slides, while I do unrelated tasks on my other display.

via GIPHY

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Embed YouTube Videos Into Slides

One of the last standing reasons I loved using Google Slides was because you could embed videos from websites like YouTube and Vimeo right into the slides and have them play with an internet connection. If you show a lot of YouTube to your class, this is way faster than downloading YouTube videos to your hard drive and then embedding those into Keynote or Powerpoint (although, the Downie app makes this process very easy).

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Now that Keynote can embed YouTube videos right into a slide, I can save a lot of time, and space! I have the entire Breathing Gym video series in one of my slide shows, and the storage really adds up!

I play a “Friday Video Feature” for my students every Friday, usually pertaining to some kind of educational goal, but sometimes just a short, fun, video. I used to save these on my hard drive, and at one point, I archived them in Evernote, but now I think I am just going to leave a year’s worth of my favorites embedded YouTube videos right into the same presentation I run for the class each day so that I can pull them up on command.

Overall I am pleased with the results I get in Keynote, particularly how good the final presentations look. Some of these recent updates, particularly the YouTube support, seem related to Apple’s understanding that their education users are probably depending on the web more. If that’s the case, I am curious to see what else they have in the pipeline for iWork.

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Weekly Recap: Learn OmniFocus, Teaching for MSDE, and New Online Store

The past eight or so days have been very exciting and busy for me. I have been engaged with a number of online learning opportunities and resources. Here is a recap:

Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks

Last week, I launched my store on this website. I am selling my first ever resource for teachers: Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks with Trap Beats underneath them. You can buy just the audio play-alongs, or the Logic and GarageBand projects I produced them in to edit them in any way you like.

You can find my store here, a blog post about them here, and watch the promo below.

Learn OmniFocus Workflow Guest

On Saturday, I was a Workflow Guest for LearnOmniFocus, a fantastic website and community where you can learn not only about the task manager application OmniFocus, but about other great productivity apps and the very nature of being a mindful and productive worker.

You can read about the appearance here and join the community here. There are educator discounts. The video of my session will be made available publicly and for free very soon. 

Links to two of my more recent blog posts about OmniFocus can be found below:

- Never Miss a Task, with OmniFocus Project Templates

- Staying on Top of Teaching Responsibilities With Omnifocus Perspectives

Creating and Using Virtual Performances in Your Music Instruction

I am teaching this online class for the Maryland State Department of Education with my awesome friend and colleague, Peter Perry. Peter's book, Technology Tips for Ensemble Teachers is third in the same series as my own, and is worth checking out.

You can learn more about the class here.

It has been a busy week or two but I am excited at these opportunities to share my love of technology with these different communities.

New Software Updates from Apple: Exploring Widgets!

iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14 came out a few weeks ago. I have a lot to say about these updates, but today I wanted to write about widgets for a moment.

Widgets are catching on as a significant feature amongst the masses. As someone who plays around with the way apps are organized on the home screen at least twice a week, I can tell that widgets are going to add a lot of excitement (and anxiety) into my life. I have been toying with them since July when this software entered the public beta, and I am far from resolved.

Here is where I have landed for now…

Page one (middle image) contains my most tapped app icons. This will be a hard habit to break, but I find lots of value in having upcoming calendar tasks and weather permanently on my most visited screen. Weather Line and Fantastical have the best small-sized widgets, in my opinion. Even this smallest widget size takes up four app icons, so they need to be beautiful and information-dense for it to be worth me sacrificing four apps.

I didn’t think I would want weather on this first screen, but now that it is always visible to me, I don’t see how I could live without it. The Weather Line widget is awesome because its user interface depicts the weather on a line, almost like a chart. It even manages to fit an hourly rain graph into its small space when it is raining out. Not even my second favorite weather widget, Carrot Weather, does that.

The Today View (left image) is where I keep Siri Shortcuts and the older, legacy style widgets from iOS 13. As much as I like the newer widgets’ look, the older style widgets are interactive. I keep OmniFocus, Timery (for time tracking), Streaks (for tracking daily habits), and Waterminder (for quickly logging water) all on this screen because I can tap right on the buttons to act on these apps without the widget needing to launch into the app.

I am continually playing with page 2 (right picture). I like it to be mostly another grid of tappable apps, but I am experimenting with various widgets here. I think what I have settled on is to have the Maps and Notes app widgets stacked on top of each other at the top, and then to use the Siri Suggestion widget, which shows me two rows of apps that swap in and out throughout the day based on my phone’s predictions of which apps I want to use in which contexts. The image above shows some other widgets I am experimenting with, but I think I prefer having more app icons there.

On the iPad, I keep: calendar, weather, notes, Apollo (a Reddit app I use to keep up on the latest news about my interests), Siri Shortcuts, and the Files app for launching into recently modified files. 

On both my phone and iPad, I am waiting for an OmniFocus widget to track my tasks. Even though I like the one in the Today view where you can mark the tasks as done right from the widget, I think I might want to have my next few upcoming tasks permanently visible on page one.

9to5Mac.com and MacStories.net have been two great websites to follow if you want to stay up on which apps offer widgets.

Introducing My "Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks With Trap Beats" - Available Now on My New Online Store!

I am announcing a new section of this website. A STORE! Starting today, I will be selling digital products and services I have created for musicians and music teachers. Check it out here!

First up is a collection of Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks with Trap Beats underneath them.

You bet there's a promotional video.

Here is the product description from the sale page:

This collection contains over 70 major scale play-along tracks for your ensemble.

Each track includes a tuning drone playing the tonic with a scale overtop in just intonation so that you can reinforce flawless intonation, tone production, and blend amongst your students. Every exercise includes a count-off and a trap beat underneath to engage your students while reinforcing slower playing and subdividing!

The audio-only version of this package includes mp3 files of the following recordings in all twelve major keys, at 70bpm.

• Whole note scale

• Half note scale

• Quarter note scale

• Eighth note scale

• Scale Exercise in Thirds

• Mini-Scale with Arpeggio

Also included:

• Remington at three different speeds! Perfect for playing underneath many of the exercises that come from popular band methods.

The premium version of this product includes the audio tracks above in addition to the Logic Pro and GarageBand stems so you can edit every element of the tracks, including speed, pitch, and instrumentation.

These are perfect for running through your Zoom/Google Meet/Virtual Classroom to keep kids playing as much as possible.

I have been using tracks like these with my band students for years now and they LOVE them. The trap beat resonates with them. Its popularity in hip hop music aside, there is something compelling about them, musically. The backbeat on three, combined with the busy hi-hat activity, helps kids subdivide slower tempos and keeps them motivated to practice stuff like long tones and scales. The strong 808 baseline asserts the beat while adding fun syncopation.

It was essential to me that the drones were in just intonation because I teach my students to hear and adjust to the beats that result when unison pitches and diatonic intervals are in/out of tune. The Yamaha Harmony Director was definitely the tool for the job. Here's a really brief blog post I shared earlier this month about the process if you want to take a stab at making something like this.

You can alternatively do this process using the (excellent) Tonal Energy Tuner App, a MIDI keyboard, and GarageBand on iOS. I wrote about that here. I prefer the Tonal Energy experience, but the Yamaha's hardware keys made it easier to "perform" the drones and allowed me to create in Logic Pro, which I am more proficient in.

The original concept for this was very ambitious initially, and I simplified the vision a ton to help myself "ship it." I have seen music teachers asking for something like this on social media a lot lately, and it seemed like time to do the work. I am happy with how they turned out and I hope to create more of these down the road in varying style, tempo, and exercise patterns.

A few notes:

1. Due to file upload limitations on Squarespace, buying the stems directs you to download a text file instead of the audio files. The text file contains a link to a third-party hosting source. A little inelegant, I know, but setting up a Squarespace store was otherwise the most comfortable choice.
2. These are incredibly effective for engaging synchronous ensemble rehearsals. No, we still can't play at once, but running rehearsal tracks through your Google Meet or Zoom call while students are muted is a great way to keep them playing. These tracks are slow enough that I have had success having groups of 3-6 unmute while playing along, and it is not total chaos. Between these, my Solfege Bingo tracks, and The Breathing Gym DVD, we can be synchronously active for more than 80 percent of each class. I get the audio to route directly through to the call using Loopback.
3. Many of these tracks, particularly the scale exercise in thirds, mini-scale, and Remington tracks, pair perfectly with a multitude of examples in the Foundation for Superior Performance band method books series. I did not title them as such because the book and my project are in no way connected. I bring it up here because I know those exercises are ubiquitous in band rehearsals, and it's for this reason, many directors have their students purchase those books.
4. I made the arrangements of these tracks simple to keep the appeal as wide-reaching and flexible as possible. My hope is that people who really want to change the style, edit the beat, change the speed, or any other kind of alternation, will buy the version that comes with the GarageBand and Logic stems. Tip: If you want to use software instruments to create your own accompaniment, and want them to be justly in tune with my tracks, Logic Pro has support for tuning systems. That means that if you mute my trap beat and add your own samba tracks, you can have the instruments play in the key area you select instead of their usual equal tempered tuning.

Apple's Apple Watch and iPad Event

Apple had an event yesterday where they announced some new stuff. Here are some very quick thoughts I have on the announcements...

• The new blood oxygen sensor in the Apple Watch Series 6 looks great. I love my Apple Watch for health tracking. The more health sensors, the better.

• Apple Fitness+ looks awesome. I am a dedicated Peloton subscriber, but it will still be interesting to see Apple's take on this. One issue with Peloton (and other third party app workout class content) is that watching on Apple TV or iPad doesn't track any data from the Apple Watch. This seems to be a big benefit of Apple Fitness+. But as with most services, whether people like it or not will be determined largely by the quality of the content. Apple can engineer great tech features into their products to give them an edge, but fitness content is also very dependent on the engagement of the instructor.

• Apple One seems like a great way to save money if you subscribe to a bunch of Apple's services. It's kind of like their version of Amazon Prime. It's looking like I will be able to keep paying what I already pay for Apple Music, iCloud Drive, and Apple Arcade, and get the Fitness+ and News+ services bundled in for a similar cost.

• New iPad Air: this is a really nice update. If I didn't depend on the larger size iPad for reading sheet music, I would strongly consider this device over the iPad Pro now that they share the same design, Apple Pencil, and Magic Keyboard Case.

Here are some links to great posts about the event:

Click the headline to read more.

Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE - The MacsStories Overview

The New iPad Air and 8th Generation iPad - The MacStories Overview

Apple One The Long-Awaited Services Bundle Is Coming Soon in Three Tiers

Brief Thoughts and Observations on Today's 'Time Flies' Apple Event | Daring Fireball.net

What was new at the Apple Sept. 15 event | Sixcolors.com

Making Just Intonation Play-alongs with Trap Beats for Band Rehearsal (Using the Yamaha Harmony Director and Logic Pro)

My band classes meet online using Google Meet once a day for 45 minutes. I am trying to keep them playing as much of this time as possible while slowly introducing the tech tools we will be using to submit work this semester.

Using the Yamaha Harmony Director, plugged in through Logic (along with some trap beats and 808 bass lines I recorded in with software instruments), I have started to make some play-along tracks to route through the Google Meet via Loopback.

This is kind of like a hardwired version of my Tonal Energy/Garageband workflow I have written about here before, only the keyboard hardware and pro editing software allow for much more precision.

They sound like this:

See below for the Logic Pro setup. I am using a drummer track for the trap beat, an 808 bass instrument as a software instrument to record the bass line, and the Harmony Director is being recorded live as an audio track. The HD is plugged directly into my audio interface to do this.

I decided to keep the bass part droning in the key area of the scale because that software instrument plays in equal temperament by default. It also sounds more like an authentic trap beat this way, where the bass line functions similar to a bass drum.

I already used this method in my first period class this morning and the band loved it. This is just the beginning. I whipped this together in a hot minute and anticipate making a variety of scale patterns in different musical styles.

Optimize Your Zoom Settings for Music Teaching and Performing!

Zoom came out with a recent update that allows users to optimize the sound quality of calls for music, amongst other features specifically geared towards music performers and teachers.

Here is a roundup of some great resources for making the most of these new audio options. Click each headline to read more.

Zoom: online rehearsals (instrumental) | Making Music:

This resource covers how to use the online meeting platform Zoom for online instrumental rehearsals. To find out more about Zoom and how to set it up, read our Zoom: how it works resource.

Complete Guide to Zoom Audio Settings for Music Teachers | Midnight Music:

When using Zoom to run music classes, there are a few settings you can adjust to enhance the experience for you and your students.

Here is a summary of the settings you should consider.

Better Music Experiences Come to Zoom with High Fidelity Audio | Scoring Notes:

A recent release of Zoom has brought, among other things, “High Fidelity Audio Mode” (High fidelity music mode in the application settings) to the Windows and Mac clients. The feature was announced in August and rolled out publicly on September 1, 2020 with the 5.2.2 update.

Is Apple Making Touchscreen Macs?

Speaking of forScore coming to the Mac, I continue to hear chatter in the technology community about touchscreen Macs. The design of Apple's forthcoming macOS update, Big Sur, has larger, more spread apart, user interface elements, indicating that it might be getting prepared for touch input. This would align well with Apple's transition to putting their own silicone chips in their devices this year.

I have no idea if Apple is making Macs with touchscreens, but I find it hard to believe they would take their existing Mac laptop and desktop designs and simply make the current screens touchable.

At Apple's developer conference this past June, there were obvious signs that Apple wants developers to adopt design elements from macOS in their iPad apps and vice versa.

Silicone enabled Macs will run touch-first, iOS apps natively, and Apple has been working hard to make their technologies consistent across all platforms. I wouldn't be surprised if touch screen Macs came out of the box with Apple Pencil support. And if Macs have Pencil support, no one wants to awkwardly hold a pencil up in the air in front of them and draw on a horizontal screen.

Here is where I am going with this. With sheet music apps like forScore finally coming to the Mac, and Apple technologies being shared across devices, I am starting to think that I would love a Mac with a display that folded back on its keyboard. Something that I could plug into my audio interface and large screen monitor to edit audio on at home, and then flip onto my podium and read scores off of during band rehearsal. They could charge nearly anything for a 14 inch MacBook Pro in this format and I would buy it.

Who knows if it would be an optimal experience? Who knows if it's what Apple is planning? Who knows if it is anywhere near ready? Not me. It will be very curious to see what happens over the next few months as Apple has announced that some Macs will make this transition by the end of the year.