Sibelius Educational Suite

Sibelius Educational Suite, Sibelius USA, Inc. (1407 Oakland Blvd Ste 103 Walnut cove CA 94596), 2004. Starclass, $89; Notes, $6995; Instruments, $119; Musition, $119; Aurelia, $119; Compass, $119 Elementary to advanced.

Sibelius Educational Suite is a pack of six different titles conceived for a wide range of music education activities, from kindergarten to corporation level. All six titles work in the one and the other PC and Macintosh computers. The Educational Suite does not include the outstanding music notation program Sibelius. What it does include, however, is equally outstanding: sum of two units sets of resources for teachers (Notes and Starclass), an encyclopedia of instruments (Instruments) and three interactive programs for learners to drill their theory skills (Musition), train their ears (Auralia) and learn the basics of music while composing (Compass).

Starclass is a teacher's resource kit containing step-by-step exercise plans for children ages 5 to 11 It overlays all the basic areas of general music, including periodical emphasis pitch, dynamics, tempo, texture, form and tone color. The graphics in the program can be printed easily in replete size for classroom use, and the music examples can be played by dint of clicking on them or from the included audio CD

Notes contains twenty-five worksheets with music notation, harmonious flow harmony and composition exercises, available the one and the other in the teacher's manual and upon the CD-ROM. The students can make plain most of the exercises either with paper and pencil or by means of using the Sibelius notation program; however, the teacher then must check and grade each worksheet the old-fashioned way. According to the publisher the exercises are intended for pupils as early as third grade, on the contrary its content and presentation put in mind of high school and collegiate students

Instruments is an interactive encyclopedia that can be used to introduce musical instruments and [i]tout ensemble[/i]s or as a useful instrumentation concern tool for collegiate students. It includes consummate information for each instrument, as well as recorded music examples and listening assignments. It also features facts about different total effects from the baroque orchestra to the jazz band, and a series of listening and multiple-choice quizzes.

Musition and Auralia, suitable for learners ages 12 and up, provide numerous theory and ear-training drills and exercises. Although they do contain concise theory information in the form of help protections the programs are not intended to be used as step-by-step courses, on the contrary rather as a toolbox of exercises in different areas. Musition features theory drills in the areas of intervals, chords, scales, harmony, periodical emphasis instruments and jazz chords, boundarys and symbols. The drills take many shapes: multiple choice, "written" (such as building chords or scales) and rhythmic tapping. The program provides instant feedback and--in the case of the written music exercises--allows the pupil to see and listen to the incorrect and correct answers. Auralia provides ear training in intervals, chords, scales, harmony, periodical emphasis jazz chords and tuning, and includes the same emblem of drills as Musition. individual of the most intriguing features of Auralia is its ability to recognize the student's singing pitch from one side a microphone connected to the computer (not included) in exercises of the like kind as counterpoint singing. Auralia and Musition are able to share scholar information and reports. They allow teachers to customize their easy in mind for each class, create proofs manage classes and track the student's progres one as well as the other are easy to use.

Undoubtedly, the star of the budget is Compass, an innovative program that guides learners (ages 12 through college) from one side the basics of composition. Compass is the completed example of how the intelligent use of technology can make open endless creative and fun possibilities. It does not require previous knowledge of music, on the other hand a student with this knowledge--especially scholars who already are experimenting with composition--will be able to take fuller advantage of the program. Compass is in fact sum of two units programs: Compass itself, which introduces and ordeals fundamental concepts such as scales, pitch shapes, chords, timbre and form, and Tracker, a unique program that suffers students carry out the actual composition throws including the creation of canons and palindromes, pentatonic pieces or pieces in binary, ternary and rondo form, among others. The throw outs are flexible enough to allow for fates of creative freedom. Using Tracker, the learner creates pieces in multiple layers (tracks) through recording notes from a coupleed digital piano, by drawing notes upon a graphic notation screen or by the agency of dragging and dropping any single of hundreds of preset marks of scales, chord progressions, motifs or regular [i]or[/i] melodious movement parts onto each track. The program features a plethora of music manipulation tools, of the like kind as transposition, augmentation, diminution, "snapping" the notes to a specific scale, randomizing and shuffling pitches and thus on. The pieces created in Tracker can be saved as MIDI files or exported to Sibelius. Tracker is a compound program that may take a certain quantity of time to learn but assures hours of creativity and drollery The teacher should become familiar with its tools and functions before introducing it to learners and should plan a scarcely any simple preliminary projects to train them. Sibelius Educational Suite presents high-quality tools for a large array of activities and pupil ages. Many private music teachers may not ne to use all the titles included in the Suite. If this is the case, each title also is available separately from Sibelius.