During this time of school closures, SmartMusic, an online interactive music education software program, has offered FREE access to it's platform for students through June 30, 2020! To benefit our students, I have taken advantage of this offer for our school, and would like to encourage your child to do the same (although it is not required.) I have used SmartMusic before while teaching at other DCSD schools, and my students LOVED it! 

SmartMusic allows students see which notes and rhythms they played correctly or incorrectly, receive immediate performance evaluation, and hear a recording of their performance. This means it also allows me as their teacher to hear their performance and provide feedback for improvement. This is an EXCELLENT resource for our students as they adjust to at-home learning, an environment that as we know is not well-suited for classroom music learning.

IMPORTANT NOTE: SmartMusic requires that students have a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer with a built-in microphone (most all have one). If you are using a tablet computer that does not have a microphone, you might need to purchase a separate one. Ironically, SmartMusic will not work well from a smart phone☺️ 

 

(SmartMusic may suggest that you purchase a special microphone from them, but my experience has been it is not necessary, so long as your computer has a built-in microphone that is working properly, or so long as you at least have an external microphone of some type.)

To take advantage of SmartMusic during this free period, please complete these steps for your school:

 

FERNBANK Students:

1. Follow this link to join the Fernbank Elementary 5th Grade Band SmartMusic class

2. Enter Class Code: CN674-KGMV7 and then click "Find you Class" 

3. Follow the directions to create your student account within our Fernbank class.

 

MONTCLAIR Students:

1. Follow this link to join the Montclair Elementary 4th & 5th Grade Band SmartMusic class

2. Enter Class Code: U4J3L-MCJQC and then click "Find you Class"

3. Follow the directions to create your student account within our Montclair class.

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From there your child will find access to every exercise in our method book, Essential Elements for Band Book 1, plus tons of other resources to help your child practice -- and have fun while they're at it! Your child will be able to see the music on screen as they play along with the track, and the program will provide immediate feedback on their performance once they finish. As with any new software program, it will take some time and patience, so please help where you can and encourage them to be patient and have fun! And do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. I understand there will be a learning curve, and I am here to help! Please contact me at Timothy_Mason@DekalbSchoolsGA.org if you need assistance.