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Latest News
Juilliard and FENDI Continue Partnership With the 2021 Fendi Vanguard Awards
Presented to Four Exceptional Juilliard Students in Music, Dance, and Drama—and an Entrepreneurship Symposium Featuring Members of FENDI Americas Executive Team Juilliard and FENDI have partnered to launch the Fendi Vanguard Awards, which will be presented to four exceptional Juilliard students who are poised to be innovators in their chosen discipline and across the performing […]
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Robby Steinhardt, Violinist for Kansas, Dies at 71
Robby Steinhardt, a founding member, violinist and vocalist for the 70s multi-platinum-selling rock group Kansas has passed away at 71 in Tampa, Florida, of acute pancreatitis. Kansas was among a handful of popular rock bands to emerge from the 1970s era that featured strings as a core part of the makeup of the band. From […]
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Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra blends traditional storytelling with new symphonic music in stunning children’s production
World premiere (free to view) September 10th at Konserthuset Play Merregnon: Land of Silence is a concert video production designed to introduce families and children to the wonder of the orchestral sound. Performed through narration, music and beautiful illustrations, the symphonic fairy tale follows the story of orphan Miru and builds on the tradition of timeless […]
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GripOPhone Lyres: A Horn Lyre for the 21st Century
Good old fashioned sheet music will never truly go away, but a phone can easily take the place of having to carry a book. In fact, many school music programs have completely stopped printing music instead opting to simply email the sheet music to students. The GripOPhone Lyre was designed and built by an engineer/trumpeter/entrepreneur […]
Read More
D’Addario announces Micro Violin Tuner Now Available for Viola
The D’Addario Micro Viola Tuner features an easy-to-read, full-color display in an attractive compact design. A non-marring, lever-lock clamp holds the tuner securely to the instrument while allowing easy application and removal. The precision viola tuner is not only perfect for tuning, the unique mounting system and fast pitch response allow it to be used […]
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JodyJazz Announces New HR* Clarinet ‘Once’ Model
JodyJazz has expanded its selection of HR* Series Clarinet mouthpieces with the introduction of the new HR* Clarinet ‘Once’ model. ‘Once’ is the Spanish word for 11. The new model has been developed in response to requests from the Banda Music community for an HR* Clarinet mouthpiece with an even larger tip opening than the […]
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Casio PX-S1100 Digital Piano Provides Improved Tone, New Bluetooth Capability
Casio America, Inc. announced today the release of the PX-S1100, the latest addition to the award-winning Privia PX-S series of digital pianos. The PX-S1100 replaces the PX-S1000, which has become one of the top-selling digital pianos on the market today and earned its reputation for sound and features that punch far above its price class. […]
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Sounds Effects with Percussion and Marimba
Most of my previous articles have been about intense musical topics. So, I decided to write something fun for your students for this month. We are going to explore special effects with percussion and marimba. Over the years, in an effort to be innovative in my music videos and recordings, I have used existing ideas […]
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Clarinet Repairs Tips for the Busy Band Director
It’s a perfect time of year to dig into basic repairs needed for woodwind instruments. We’ll begin with the clarinet. This month’s column is written by Don Nathan who was a band director for 39 years and is now a repair tech. You can reach out to him at NathanWoodwinds.com if you have more questions. […]
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Juilliard and FENDI Continue Partnership With the 2021 Fendi Vanguard Awards
Presented to Four Exceptional Juilliard Students in Music, Dance, and Drama—and an Entrepreneurship Symposium Featuring Members of FENDI Americas Executive Team Juilliard and FENDI have partnered to launch the Fendi Vanguard Awards, which will be presented to four exceptional Juilliard students who are poised to be innovators in their chosen discipline and across the performing […]
Read MoreRobby Steinhardt, Violinist for Kansas, Dies at 71
Robby Steinhardt, a founding member, violinist and vocalist for the 70s multi-platinum-selling rock group Kansas has passed away at 71 in Tampa, Florida, of acute pancreatitis. Kansas was among a handful of popular rock bands to emerge from the 1970s era that featured strings as a core part of the makeup of the band. From […]
Read MoreRoyal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra blends traditional storytelling with new symphonic music in stunning children’s production
World premiere (free to view) September 10th at Konserthuset Play Merregnon: Land of Silence is a concert video production designed to introduce families and children to the wonder of the orchestral sound. Performed through narration, music and beautiful illustrations, the symphonic fairy tale follows the story of orphan Miru and builds on the tradition of timeless […]
Read MoreGripOPhone Lyres: A Horn Lyre for the 21st Century
Good old fashioned sheet music will never truly go away, but a phone can easily take the place of having to carry a book. In fact, many school music programs have completely stopped printing music instead opting to simply email the sheet music to students. The GripOPhone Lyre was designed and built by an engineer/trumpeter/entrepreneur […]
Read MoreD’Addario announces Micro Violin Tuner Now Available for Viola
The D’Addario Micro Viola Tuner features an easy-to-read, full-color display in an attractive compact design. A non-marring, lever-lock clamp holds the tuner securely to the instrument while allowing easy application and removal. The precision viola tuner is not only perfect for tuning, the unique mounting system and fast pitch response allow it to be used […]
Read MoreJodyJazz Announces New HR* Clarinet ‘Once’ Model
JodyJazz has expanded its selection of HR* Series Clarinet mouthpieces with the introduction of the new HR* Clarinet ‘Once’ model. ‘Once’ is the Spanish word for 11. The new model has been developed in response to requests from the Banda Music community for an HR* Clarinet mouthpiece with an even larger tip opening than the […]
Read MoreCasio PX-S1100 Digital Piano Provides Improved Tone, New Bluetooth Capability
Casio America, Inc. announced today the release of the PX-S1100, the latest addition to the award-winning Privia PX-S series of digital pianos. The PX-S1100 replaces the PX-S1000, which has become one of the top-selling digital pianos on the market today and earned its reputation for sound and features that punch far above its price class. […]
Read More
Herbie Hancock Narrates Video to Teach Kindergarteners about Music
Herbie Hancock teamed up with animators at Atomic Kid Studios and the Young Academic Research Group (YAM) at the Touro Graduate School of Education in New York City to release the first in a series of animated videos showcasing innovative methods for teaching kindergarteners about music. Titled “Treble Leads the Class,” the video tells a […]
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Mike Lawson’s artistpro Acquires SBO, MMR, JAZZed and Choral Director Magazines
Publishing veteran Mike Lawson’s artistpro, LLC has acquired School Band & Orchestra (SBO), Musical Merchandise Review (MMR), JAZZed and Choral Director magazines from Terry Lowe of Las Vegas-based Timeless Communications. Lowe and Timeless, which acquired the four MI and educational publications from Symphony Publishing in May 2013, announced on June 23, 2021 that they will […]
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New Disney Imagination Campus to Encourage Career Exploration
Disney Parks’ new Disney Imagination Campus will be making its debut in Jan. 2022 and will be featured at both the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California. These new educational experiences for visiting student groups are designed to inspire the students’ career ambitions with workshops, performances and special events. Disney’s […]
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Realtime Music Solutions May Have Your Distance Rehearsal Solution Today
For over two decades, New York City-based Realtime Music Solutions (RMS) has been delivering solutions for rehearsing music to the musical theater market. Through software products, RMS has helped countless national, regional, and local theater productions, in addition to serving the school musical production community. And like everyone, when COVID-19 hit, their business was hit hard. No productions means no rehearsals.
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JamKazam Just May Save Ensembles in a Virtual Teaching World
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JamKazam founder David Wilson was a band kid growing up. He started on trumpet then switched to euphonium. He raised band kids. His eldest son played sax and his daughter plays trumpet in the marching band at Baylor. JamKazam is an online real-time group performance platform for Windows and Mac OS computers. It allows musicians to hear and perform with each other with extremely low latency, and even stream the sum of that performance out via video to YouTube and Facebook Live.
Dorico 3.5: Innovation in Notation
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Steinberg’s music notation program, Dorico, has a fascinating history. From the outset, there were rumors and conjectures about what to expect from this new product, followed by an initial release that was clearly incomplete, leaving many to wonder if and when we would see a fully functional program.
Reference 4: Room EQ Made Simple
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If you follow any of the online groups on music production, you know a day doesn’t go by when someone doesn’t ask about what gear they should buy for their studios. The responses predictably include everyone’s favorite mics, plug-ins, and speakers.
Steinberg’s Dorico 3
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The latest version of Dorico, Steinberg’s professional engraving program, has been released, and it includes an impressive list of new features and improvements.
Soundtrap: Musicmaking and Podcasting for the Classroom
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Those of you who are old enough might remember Moore’s Law, the idea that computing power would double every 1-2 years.
Eventide H9 Max: Big Effects in a Small Package
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Eventide has a long history of innovation and quality. In the mid-70s, they were the first to bring a digital effects device to market with the H910 Harmonizer. By the 1980s, the H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer added intelligent scalar harmonization and became standard equipment in top studios around the world.
Steinberg Does Jazz
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Jazz has always been something of an afterthought in music technology. Other than programs like Band in a Box, support for jazz notation and performance practices has been somewhat limited and often required jazz composers to resort to convoluted workarounds.
Mastering Organization in Rehearsal Using iPads
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Chances are likely that you have heard of a few iPad apps for use in the classroom. Like me, you may have heard about so many of them that you can’t even remember them all — or you have made it so far as to download them and now hundreds of little icons have been left untouched in a folder called “Music,” sitting on your home screen.
ASSR Session Files: An SBO Best Tools for Schools 2018 Award Winner
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Wandering around the NAMM show is an experience in cacophony. Between product demos, artist presentations, and the thousands of attendees trying out the latest gear, it’s hard to hear yourself think.
GripOPhone Lyres: A Horn Lyre for the 21st Century
Good old fashioned sheet music will never truly go away, but a phone can easily take the place of having to carry a book. In fact, many school music programs have completely stopped printing music instead opting to simply email the sheet music to students. The GripOPhone Lyre was designed and built by an engineer/trumpeter/entrepreneur […]
Read MoreD’Addario announces Micro Violin Tuner Now Available for Viola
The D’Addario Micro Viola Tuner features an easy-to-read, full-color display in an attractive compact design. A non-marring, lever-lock clamp holds the tuner securely to the instrument while allowing easy application and removal. The precision viola tuner is not only perfect for tuning, the unique mounting system and fast pitch response allow it to be used […]
Read MoreJodyJazz Announces New HR* Clarinet ‘Once’ Model
JodyJazz has expanded its selection of HR* Series Clarinet mouthpieces with the introduction of the new HR* Clarinet ‘Once’ model. ‘Once’ is the Spanish word for 11. The new model has been developed in response to requests from the Banda Music community for an HR* Clarinet mouthpiece with an even larger tip opening than the […]
Read MoreCasio PX-S1100 Digital Piano Provides Improved Tone, New Bluetooth Capability
Casio America, Inc. announced today the release of the PX-S1100, the latest addition to the award-winning Privia PX-S series of digital pianos. The PX-S1100 replaces the PX-S1000, which has become one of the top-selling digital pianos on the market today and earned its reputation for sound and features that punch far above its price class. […]
Read More
Hal Leonard’s Essential Elements Interactive Is Now Available to All Band & Orchestra Directors
Hal Leonard‘s Essential Elements Interactive has announced new free trial accounts for any music teacher to use the robust online platform. Previously available to only those programs that use the corresponding Essential Elements method books for band and strings, this new free trial lets any teacher, regardless of the method they’re using, to check out […]
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Peavey LN1263 Column Array
Peavey’s new LN1263 column array is designed for acoustic guitarists, live performers, and DJs searching for a powerful, compact, and highly portable speaker system. Offering a clean design in a low-profile package, this unit has no visible cables in mono operation, making it well suited for applications where speakers should be heard and not seen.
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BOSS CUBE Street II Battery-Powered Stereo Amplifier
BOSS announces CUBE Street II, a battery-powered stereo amplifier for mobile music performers and anyone who needs high-quality sound on the go. Evolved from the best-selling Roland CUBE Street, and newly rebranded with the BOSS name, the compact CUBE Street II features two input channels for mics and instruments, onboard effects, looper and harmony functions, and more.
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Alfred Music Announces Release of Finale v27
Alfred Music, a leading publisher in music education since 1922, in partnership with MakeMusic, Inc., announces the release of Finale v27 and Finale v27 Academic. These newly released versions, available as download only, are the first paid upgrade since the release of Finale v26 in 2019. New features include interactive sharing functionality, Standard Music Font Layout (SMuFL) support, an improved instrument database, MusicXML 4.0 support and bug fixes.
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SD9 24” Handpan Drum from Amahi
Building on the success of the steel tongue drum line, Amahi has added a new handpan drum to their percussion line. The SD9 24” handpan drum is constructed of high quality nitrogen steel material and is tuned in D minor with 9 notes. With a unique and meditative sound, the handpan drum can be played with the hands and fingers to produce soft and warm tones. A backpack-style carrying bag is included. MAP: $999.
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New Jazz Ensemble Music Released by Excelcia Music Publishing for 2021-22
Excelcia Music Publishing released their second Jazz Ensemble music catalog with new and inspiring tunes from well-known composers as well as talented new voices. The 2021-22 music embraces the rich tradition of big band music and forges new ground in music for contemporary jazz ensembles.
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