Interactive+Musician

General Information:

 * Title: Alfred's Interactive Musician
 * Publisher: [|Alfred Publishing]
 * Copyright: 2004
 * Platform: Wintel, Mac
 * Peripherals: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, MIDI instrument is supported but not required
 * Grade/Age: Early Childhood through High School
 * Type of Class: General music, Music Theory, Band/Orchestra/Choir

Teacher Support:

 * No specific lesson plans are provided to teachers as the program is designed to allow students to work at their own pace. Teachers are able to design specific tests within the program and administer these tests to the students.

Instructional content:

 * Specific Musical Content: this program is designed to cover pitch training, rhythm, and sight- reading. Pitch training is presented in categories beginning with single note recognition and progression to intervals, melodies, scales, and chords. Rhythm studies cover reading, dictation, and two- hand coordination.
 * National Standards Addressed:
 * Standard 5: Reading and Notating Music
 * Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music

Instructional Design and Pedagogical Soundness:
This program uses a drill and practice exercise design. Students are presented with a task, such as naming intervals, and the computer randomly generates questions, automatically assessing students as they progress. Students and teachers can adjust the level of difficulty from 1 (elementary level) to 60 (high school and post high school level), as well as the presentation rate (tempo). There is no specific "sequence of learning" as this program is a training program allowing the students to focus on one particular aspect of their musicianship. Motivation is provided through the ability to generate a variety of MIDI instrument sounds, colorful graphics, amusing animations, and appropriate awards for correct answers.
 * Sequence of Materials: N/A (again, no specific "learning sequence")
 * Pace of Instruction: Excellent
 * Quality of Instruction: Excellent
 * Motivation for Students: Excellent

Record Keeping:
Students' cumulative scores are available to both the student and the teacher in both the program and other programs. For example, scores can be exported as a list and opened in other programs such as MS Excel or imported into the program.

Overall Evaluation:
Overall, this is an excellent program. While there is no specific course of learning that the student participates in, drill programs similar to this have proven useful in developing musical skills such as ear training. This software excels in being appropriate for any age due to the flexibility in difficulty level and presentation speed. It could easily be integrated into any music course, including performance ensembles, and could increase the musicianship of students who use it.

Rating: ****

Michael Pavlik (4/4/2007) Updated by Cindy Braun (6/16/2010)