Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog » technology

iPad/iPhone app for developing string crossings

Jason — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:00:16 +0000

I got a chance to chat for a bit with Ohio State University bass professor Paul Robinson at the ASTA conference earlier this months, and he told me about an app that he had developed for the iPad and iPhone (universal app-works in a good format on both) that generates random string crossing exercises according to the parameters that you specify. It’s a cool app that works well–kind of like being able to create random Fred Zimmermann exercises whenever you want. You can print them out (or just take a screenshot if you prefer). Very useful–check it out!

Bowing Fun for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

My class tech projects

Jason — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:00:00 +0000

I’m wrapping up teaching a music technology course for music education students at DePaul, and I’ve been looking back at what worked well and what didn’t in terms of projects.

One of the ones that seemed to be a hit in the class was the following project–in GarageBand, they were to design their own soundtrack for the following clip:

Good clip, huh?

The students then needed to move the project into iMovie and add some subtitles for what was going on, some effects, and the like, then upload them to YouTube. We’ll see what kind of fun stuff emerges from this.

New iPhone WordPress app allows video

Jason — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 11:00:11 +0000

If you needed any more reasons to try WordPress, here’s another good one for you: the WordPress iPhone app now supports recording and uploading video directly to your blog. I’ll test it now and see how it works…

Your browser does not support the video tag

iPad Orchestra

Jason — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I’m a massive iPad fan, using it every day for probably an hour or two at the minimum. I read my daily paper on it, do most of my surfing on it, plan classes while on the train, and also use a ton of music apps for my teaching. One app that I haven’t checked out yet (but plan on investigating after seeing this video) is Seline HD. Here’s a video of four iPads performing a composition titles Sweet Dream:

More info and videos available at http://ipad-orchestra.com.

Teaching music technology to education students at DePaul

Jason — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This week is the first week of the fall quarter at DePaul University, and I’m doing a fair amount of teaching there this quarter: bass lessons, string pedagogy, and the technology class for music education students.

As I set up for this class, I can’t help but recall a post I wrote a few years ago when I was a student in the very class that I’ll be teaching. This post documents some of the kooky problems we were having with getting Finale running in the lab–a bit of a problem for a music technology class! I was wondering about open source alternatives, and this post ended up getting a lot of responses with some good suggestions.

redesigned Illinois ASTA site

Jason — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0000

My first task as the new Technology Chair for the Illinois chapter of the American String Teachers Association has been to redesign the IL-ASTA website, and I am pretty happy with how it’s looking. Take a look, and if you’re an Illinois ASTA member, send me any upcoming events or news and I’ll put them up on the site:

http://ilasta.org

I’ll be doing a couple of clinics for this fall’s IL-ASTA Teacher Enrichment Workshop, which takes place on October 23rd at York High School in Elmhurst, IL. One session covers techniques for directors to get good bass tone out of students, and the other covers some simple steps to set up a quick and easy music ensemble/organization website. I’ll post more details (and probably the Keynote for the clinics) here on the blog as I continue to hammer away at them.

Orchestra Hero?

Jason — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Will there ever be an Orchestra Hero (aka Guitar Hero/Rock Band)? Would that be cool? Lame? Food for thought from the Michael Gordon of The New York Times:

What is the hottest thing in music right now? A pair of video games ? Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Anyone can play. The games allow you to become a member of the band. Each game offers a range of pop music hits on game controllers that look and feel like guitars and drums. What makes these video games so much more impressive than “air guitar” is that through the use of something called the instrument game controller the player actually experiences the visceral feeling of performing music. You can even improve if you practice.

So, why not Orchestra Hero? What if I could “play” the horn solo in “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” on a “controller horn” or the bassoon solo at the opening of “The Rite of Spring” on a “controller bassoon”? What if I could bang out the timpani part in the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or the clarinet solo at the beginning of “Rhapsody in Blue”? What if I could stand in front of the entire orchestra and conduct Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, or sit in the brass section for a rendition of Janá?ek’s “Sinfonietta”? The possibilities are astounding.

Read the complete post here.

The Evolution of Apple Ads | Webdesigner Depot

Jason — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Mac nerds (I know you’re out there!), rejoice: Webdesigner Depot recently put out a wonderful retrospective of Apple ads over the ages. Think that Apple ads were always clean and simple? Just check out all the text-heavy ads from the 80s and early 90s. It wasn’t until the return of Steve Jobs in the mid-90s that Apple ads took on the sleek look that they’re known for today. Some of the 80s material is staggeringly ugly in hindsight (though not any different than what most computer companies were putting out at the time):

The Evolution of Apple Ads | Webdesigner Depot

CBC 144: advice from James Knabe

Jason — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000

This week’s podcast features an interview with James Knabe, a trumpet performer and teacher who also runs a web consulting service for musicians. Learn more about what musicians can do to effectively market themselves by listening to this short interview, and check out musicianadvice.com for more information about the services James provides. Enjoy!

New iPhone-friendly format for DoubleBassBlog.org

Jason — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:11:07 +0000

I’ve toyed with mobile versions for my site before but have always walked away disappointed. Today, however, I was poking around online for a good iPhone-friendly formatting plugin for another project I do, and I happened upon the very cool WPtouch plugin, which renders my site beautifully for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android phones (sorry Blackberry… the regular site still works for you, though).

You have the option to drill down into all the site features, browse by category, email links to posts, leave comments, and much more, all in a fast-loading interface. If you want to look at the full site on your phone, you can drag a slider at the bottom of the mobile site and poof yourself back into the standard desktop mode. Long overdue, I know, but this is head and shoulders above the older mobile formats, which makes me happy.