When I was studying music in college, I had spent a lot of money purchasing expensive music making tools from tuners and metronomes to play along recordings to help me improve as a musician. Modern technologies such as smartphones, ipad's and tablets allow for these powerful music making tools as well as others to be close at hand for only a few dollars. In this months post, I'm sharing some of my favorite practicing and performance apps.
Visit this page and scroll to the bottom for links to all of the apps discussed in this blog post: http://drgrennorsmusicacademy.com
1. Tonal Energy
This app is an all in one metronome and tuner. Just about everything a tuner and metronome should be able to do can be done with Tonal Energy. One feature I particularly enjoy, is the variety of metronome sounds available beyond the standard digital beeps, clicks and blips. For example, I like to use the Drum 1 metronome because the cymbal is a pleasant sound to practice with. In addition to a metronome, tonal energy moves beyond the standard capabilities of a typical tuner. The tuner includes a variety of high quality multi-sampled instrument sounds, which can be used as tool to help develop student's ear training skills.
2. Drumgenuis
This app is a great alternative for those who are tired of the usual metronome click. Drumgenuis is an app that makes practicing scales, chords, patterns and musical excerpts fun and interesting. Drumgenuis gives you access to 400 authentic drum loops. This app is a great teaching-aide, because it allows the music student to practice scales, chords and passages while addressing the challenges of learning to perform those musical elements correctly in a particular style (e.g. swing, jazz/blues shuffles, funk, afro-cuban etc).
3. Anytune Pro+
This app makes it easy and fun for musicians and music students to transcribe solos, licks and patterns, which is also an excellent method for improving musicianship. Of Anytune's Pro+ most impressive features include the ability to learn to play, transcribe, practice and perform songs by slowing down the tempo, adjusting pitch, repeating loops and setting marks (i.e. Introduction, Verse, Chorus, Coda etc) within the track.
4. iReal Pro+
This app replaces the heavy Real Books, which were written in one key and were often full of mistakes. With iReal Pro, you can edit the chord changes of tunes, change the key and have the tunes played back in a variety of styles. The app simulates a band accompaniment so students and musicians can practice in a realistic environment.