I find myself using technology all the time with my students and also in my own playing (and of course out in my workshop as well).
In my teaching, I find my iPad and Bluetooth speaker indispensable - thanks for the speaker Rice family! With the iPad, I have all the music I need to teach five year olds up through the most advanced young adults, right at my fingertips. There’s no downtime, no searching for CDs, etc. I also have powerful apps that are very useful tools for both myself and my students. I’d like to outline some of those below for those who aren’t using them yet...
ANYTUNE
This is a fantastic free app that allows us to do two things: change the speed of music without changing the pitch and alter the pitch up/down if desired. For younger students, this is especially useful since the Suzuki CD tempos are notoriously FAST! By slowing things down 15-30% students are instantly much more successful at playing along with the recordings. Many parents tell me their child prefers to play without the CD. 97% of the time this will be remedied by slowing the speed down a bit...
Here’s a quick tutorial on using Anytune on the iPad. I haven’t used the PRO version - I’d recommend starting with the free version and going from there. I highly recommend this App!
ITUNES
If you have never added music - via CD - to a phone, tablet, etc it can be a bit confusing. The good news is it’s a very simple two step process. You’ll be a pro in no time! This is an older video, but the basic idea is the same. Using iTunes makes things pretty user friendly with prompts.
GARAGEBAND
This is another App that is incredibly powerful and depending on the age of your device, might be completely free! Use it to create any type of music - an original composition, background music or a custom accompaniment for the solo currently being worked on. How cool is that?! There are a ton of tutorials on YouTube, but here’s one I found useful…
The above should serve as a way to get started using technology in at home practices to improve the student’s overall experience. I look forward to hearing how things go and what other great Apps and programs you discover!