Music Minus One (1950) and Jamey Aebersold (1966) were the first to bring the magic of group performance into the practice room with analog play-along recordings and materials. Now, powerful automatic generating software applications have made play-alongs more exciting and accessible. SmartMusic by MakeMusic, with its interactive accompaniments and assessment capabilities, Band-in-a-Box by PG Music, with their extensive play-along accompaniments for more creative teaching and home practice, and StarPlay by In The Chair, with interactive on-line video, are today’s must-see automatic accompaniment generators.

Band-in-a-Box
Band-in-a-Box by PG Music (www.pgmusic.com) has been the nearest thing to “artificial intelligence” in music technology since 1987. It provides incredible opportunities to make customized play-along recordings for students to practice with in school, at home, or on the Internet. Its well-thought out menus and powerful sequencing features offer valuable shortcuts and great teaching opportunities.

Band-in-a-Box is especially good for designing contemporary music play-along accompaniments for jazz band charts. Simply input the chords and select a musical style and – voila! – the software instantly creates an authentic sounding rhythm section accompaniment in any key and tempo for extended play-along practice. This can then be saved as an audio file for playback on the school or band Web site, duplicated on CDs or MP3 files to be distributed to students, or posted on the Internet for students to practice with. Since the music is being Band-in-a-Box generated by the computer, there are no copyright violations for duplicating or distributing the files created.

Band-in-a-Box can also be a handy tool for assessment. Tracks can be recorded at different tempos to boost students’ technical chops. Band-in-a-Box can also generate improvised solos in the style of more than 350 different soloists, to which users (students) can listen and play-along. All the Band-in-a-Box generated parts can be viewed in music notation, listened to, or printed out for the students to analyze and practice. Here’s a dandy idea: feature a student on the school Web site soloing with accompaniments generated by Band-in-a-Box. It’s simple – just save it in MP3 file format for the Internet.

The four-part harmony display in the “Lead Sheet Notation” window is a great shortcut for changing the harmony track. For example, the first Bb note has the other harmony voices playing G (drop 2), F, and D. Now open up the Lead Sheet Options. Select “Show Harmony Voice” (Voice 2) and press OK. Only “Voice 2” of the harmony should now be displayed. Click “Play” and “Voice 2” will be heard along with the other harmonies. Return to the Lead Sheet Options and adjust the “Play Volume of Harmony Voice” to “50% Solo.” Now, “Voice 2” will be played louder than the other harmony voices. Similarly, the volume of the harmony can be turned off by selecting the “Muted” option. Seeing the harmonies like this is great practice for sight reading. Press the “Print” button to print out “Voice 2.” If needed, click on “Notation Options | Transpose Options” to visually transpose the instrument to Eb for an Alto Sax chart.

The chord break shortcut is great for trading fours. Program the settings manually by selecting a number of bars and Band-in-a-Box will play for that length and then rest all instruments for the next 4 bars. During the silence, the user keeps playing (comping, drums, melody, et cetera), trying to stay in tempo. Drummers can mute the drum part and play along. When the band comes back in after the four bars, the user will get instant feedback on how well the tempo was maintained. Once set, this feature works automatically with all songs until it is turned off and is another handy assessment tool. Another option is to go to the jazz style picker, select “jazz style,” and then pick JAZFOURA, JAZFOURB, JAZFOURC or JAZFOURS for trading-four pre-sets that require no programming.

Band-in-a-Box 2007 will allow users to utilize digital audio files for play-along practice because it can automatically analyze the chords found in any audio file (MP3, WAV, or WMA) and display them in Band-in-a-Box. In addition, it can also figure out the tempo of the file, the bar lines throughout the song, the key of the song, and it can stretch the file to different tempos while preserving the pitch. This is a great time saver for more creative practicing with digital audio files and it is so simple to use. Just open an audio file in the Audio Chord Wizard and click on its toolbar or use the File menu command to Open Audio w/Chords. When the file opens, a series of progress messages will appear on the screen. The Audio Chord Wizard is then launched and more progress messages will flash on screen as the file is analyzed and imported.  Band-in-a-Box is a program with so many unique shortcuts that there is no end to its creative applications for students.

The Creative World of SmartMusic
SmartMusic (www.smartmusic.com) by MakeMusic is pushing the next major frontier of music education. Its interactive features allow the user to practice at any tempo with an intelligent accompanist, which can follow the soloist with the give-and-take of a “real” accompanist. It also offers accurate assessment for rhythms and notes performed, and can be recorded and used to send everything to the teacher for evaluations. Accountability, a key word in the future of education, requires accurate assessment of what’s being taught.

Since the advent of Finale 2003 and later versions, teachers have created their own SmartMusic files customized to their own curriculum repertory, in addition to the 30,000 titles already included in the SmartMusic library, which includes jazz, concert band, orchestra/strings and choir/vocal music and method books. The digital tuner gives students instant feedback on their intonation.  Some directors even set up a monitor during rehearsals so students can spot intonation problems on their own as they play. SmartMusic version 10.0 offers creative jazz improvisation instruction that has no equal in any other jazz improvisation publication. Students can learn to play essential jazz patterns through chord progressions in all 12 diatonic keys, along with interactive assessment and monitoring for improved practice. This is a first in the jazz education market.

Many people are not aware that SmartMusic also has a host of keyboard shortcuts. To view them, go to: www.kuzmich.com/smartmusic.pdf or click on the “Help” button and then, under “Contents” at left, click on “Appendices” and select “Keyboard Shortcuts.”

Perhaps the ultimate shortcut in SmartMusic is their warm-up exercise wizard, which can produce complete warm-up exercises for large ensembles with unique patterns and articulations for each band part in any key or tempo.

The latest version of SmartMusic 10.0 is loaded with new features, including 34 video tutorials. Professional audio recordings of popular titles are now built right in, so students can practice their part with this accompaniment and hear how it fits in with the piece. The educator-created SmartMusic assignments help students improve quickly. Version 10.0 includes pre-authored practice assignments for all parts that help guide how and what students practice – even at home. It is also easy to create assignments with audio-quality accompaniment for any concert selection – simply upload the audio file and distribute sheet music; then students can practice their parts with accompaniment.

It is a snap to manage, grade, and document student assignments with subscriptions that now include SmartMusic Impact – the free, Web-based course management tool with time-saving automated administrative tasks. SmartMusic Impact is a Web-based grade book that simplifies the management, grading, and documentation of assignments, a service which is free with a subscription to SmartMusic. Teachers can also build a personal library of SmartMusic assignments for all repertoire.

StarPlay
There is a new competitive Web-based accompaniment application coming to the U.S. Used in Australia for several years, it is going to strongly influence how students practice at home with its video and audio recording components that can be accessed anywhere. StarPlay (www.starplaymusic.com) is a dynamic, interactive on-line video application created by a young Australian company called In The Chair. It is under contract to be released in the USA by Sibelius later this summer. The “Battle of the Titans” is now heating up beyond Sibelius and Finale.

Basically, StarPlay will expand the intelligent accompanist by using video and “live” musicians. You can visually practice along with professional musicians, bands and renowned orchestras. StarPlay’s music repertory is recorded with professional musicians, enabling students to play with realistic sound, realistic timing and musical expressions. As a “member” of the ensemble, users hear the other musicians as they play, see them on video and perfect the piece with feedback which is given in real time. With StarPlay, users practice with theur own instruments – simply plug in a microphone and start playing. StarPlay does not require additional MIDI equipment because its files are entirely audio-based. It can accommodate any instrument because StarPlay has more than 10,000 band, jazz, orchestral and beginner favorites to suit any level and style. About two-thirds of the recordings are for band and one-third are for strings/orchestra. Approximately one-third of the titles have video. Users can also download over 60,000 titles from SibeliusMusic.com directly to StarPlay. And with new pieces, lessons, and techniques being added each week, there is something for everyone.

StarPlay’s real-time assessment allows users to immediately hear and see three kinds of feedback: timing, tone, and pitch. The level of assessment can be set to easy, medium, or hard, to match on the user’s ability. Immediate assessment is its biggest time saver because it reinforces good playing and corrects mistakes when they’re made, which accelerates the learning curve.  

I particularly like how it can even import single part compositions and arrangements from Sibelius into StarPlay. Here are some of the things it can do: adjust the tempo without losing pitch; practice selected measures; zoom in on the video to get a better view of the fingering; loop sections; or watch the conductor or band as they play. Looping has never been easier – just select the measures using the mouse and get ready to practice a segment of music repeatedly. Like a magic carpet, StarPlay transports users’ practice time into a whole new world of music adventure.

StarPlay can also be used to track student progress. Scores are recorded at the end of each performance, allowing students, their teachers, and parents to compare past performances with current and future performances.