Time is precious for a music educator. Within the academic school day, rehearsals, concerts, planning, research, teaching, tours, festivals, committees, and extra duties all have to be taken care of. But the right short-cut technology can make all the difference. This article, along with the next three, will present some (hopefully) helpful technological time savers for those feeling the crunch.
When I first got into technology in the early 1980s, I quickly recognized its unlimited potential for instruction and lightening the burden of endless responsibilities that an orchestra or band director deals with on a daily basis. Here are some of my favorite music and business software applications that can make a difference.
Music Scanning Applications
Word processing and music notation software have made a big difference in how we manage our time. But scanners and their related software applications have introduced “warp” speed to the creative process. Scanning recognition for both word-oriented documents and music scores has improved over the years and can save you countless hours of inputting by hand with over 99+% accuracy. In 1992, my first scanner had a list price of $2,200. Today, scanners have significantly higher quality and retail for under $100. Music scanning software has improved with every upgrade for nearly 15 years and is now the fastest way to import a score from scratch into a notation software application for further editing, printing and audio playback. I suggest downloading demos from the manufacturer’s Web sites listed below and trying them with a school scanner before making purchases.
There are two major applications to select from: SmartScore by Musitek (www.smartscore.com) and PhotoScore by Neuratron (www.neuratron.com). Both products are available in several editions for both Mac and PC platforms. Imagine being able to scan a published music score or part and then being able to convert it to a
