Conference Morsel: Technology in Choral Music

(An excerpt from the interest session “Choral Music in the 21st Century: Integrating Technology into Choral Music,” presented by Christopher J. Russell during the 2015 ACDA National Conference.)

 

One of my goals for this presentation was to focus on strategies that can be instantly adopted in the choir rehearsal.  One of the emerging technologies for music that is both widely available and affordable is the digitization of printed music into digital notation. In the past, you had to purchase a specific scanner with a special computer program to turn printed music into digital notation.  There is now an app for iOS devices and newer Android devices called NotateMe, which has an additional in-app purchase called “PhotoScore.”  This app does the same thing as its computer program namesake (the scanning program that comes packaged with Sibelius)…it converts pictures of sheet music into digital notation that can be exported via MusicXML into any music notation program on any platform.  There will still be errors and lyrics to correct, but the $70 investment of this app results in a music scanning system that often equals (and sometimes surpasses) the previous and much more expensive route of a scanner and special software.  Once your music is in a digital format, you can do many things, such as generating your own accompaniment files (for sectionals without the need of a piano or pianist), accompaniment tracks, or even vocal assessments with programs such as SmartMusic and the soon-to-arrive features of Weezic.  It used to be a challenge to get music into a digital format—NotateMe makes that process exponentially easier.  

 

(NOTE: The full presentation and presentation notes can be found free of charge on Chris’ blog at techinmusiced.com, under the “past presentations” area.)

 

(Make plans now to attend your 2016 ACDA Divisional Conference!)