Chad Loughrige's List: iPads in Music Education

• So… Instead of spending $1918 for the 5 software purchases I blogged about before, the cost is a single purchase of $47.95.  If the cost of software licensing has ever been an obstacle for technology in your classroom, the iTunes App Store is the solution!

• Those of you familiar with my previous writings on this topic know that I still don’t believe they are ready for wide spread adoption in schools yet – mostly due to the limitations of the apps and the lack of control over content.

• The Kanex ATV Pro continues to work wonderfully, converting the Apple TV HDMI output to VGA. In my opinion, it is a highly recommended accessory if you need to project an Apple TV to a non-HDMI projector
• Kanex ATV Pro
• • The Kanex ATV Pro continues to work wonderfully, converting the Apple TV HDMI output to VGA. In my opinion, it is a highly recommended accessory if you need to project an Apple TV to a non-HDMI projector.
   
  • Last week I had the privilege to attend a planning meeting for music technology offerings for a summer

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• Some of the more popular apps include SmartMusic, Band-In-A-Box, Garage Band, Scorch, and Practica Musica. In addition, there are many other music apps that are just fun to play with, like Virtual Piano, Air Guitar, Congas, iBone, and Soundrop.
• iPad’s batteries can last up to 10 hours on a single charge – a full day at school!

• ForScore
  One of the first things on my mind after Steve Jobs' keynote announcing the iPad was how it could work as a virtual music library. Several sheet music apps popped up within the first few weeks of the iPad's release, and so far ForScore is by far the best. It's actually a PDF reader, optimized for musicians. ForScore comes with quite a few pieces of piano music, but unlike many of the other apps, you can import an unlimited number of your own PDF music files. You can write directly on your music with a selection of virtual pens and highlighters, quickly skip to any page in the score, and utilize a basic built-in metronome as you practice. You can also organize your music into setlists, though the file organization capabilities still leave something to be desired. I've imported hundreds of PDFs of piano and flute music from my CD Sheet Music library, without a single hiccup. Now I have music for any occasion, on the go, no hefty bag of music books necessary!