Solfege

1. CITATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION • Solfege • Tom Cato Amundsen • www.solfege.org • 1999-2008 • Windows • Keyboard, Microphone • All ages • This could be used for a General Music or Music Theory class.

2. TEACHER SUPPORT • There is a user manual available to offer help if needed. • This program offers practice exercises in many areas of music theory. • There are no lesson plan templates available within the program, but this program could be used as an in class activity.

3. INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT • There are several areas in which a student can use this program: • The National Standards covered by this software are: Intervals, Rhythm, Scales, Chords and Theory, as well as a miscellaneous category.  5. Reading and notating music. 6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

4. INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND PEDAGOGICAL SOUNDNESS

• The exercises are straightforward and use common practices to review the material. • This is a very basic program in its layout, and follows logical setup methods. It was easy to navigate, and easy to get back to the beginning screen if I was getting lost. • The language was simple and clear, so students should understand it. • The graphics were basic, very function based, and not much to motivate students. It is visually very plain. • The user controls the basic speed of the program, with the option to repeat audio samples as much as they want, pass a question, or move away from the screen before finishing an exercise. • Program Structure: o Drill and Practice

o Discovery
 * High degree of control over presentation rate (unless the method is timed review)
 * Appropriate feedback for correct answers (none, if timed; not elaborate or time consuming)
 * Feedback is more reinforcing for correct than for incorrect responses

• Sequence of Materials Good • Pace of Instruction Excellent • Quality of Interaction Good • Motivation for Students Fair

6. OVERALL EVALUATION • I feel that this program is easy to use, and provides good material for students to review musical knowledge. It is a very simple program, using basic techniques and visuals, but as a review tool, it could be very effective. In motivating students, there doesn't seem to be a lot of rewards or visuals t keep students interested. I would say that this software is a good program, especially for more self motivated students, and for a free program, it is a useful tool and very accessible to anyone who wished to use it. • Rating -- * * * of * * * *

Grace Elliott, 11/01/10