I'm getting on the other side of my first big assessment using the new SmartMusic. At this point, I regret switching from Classic for various reasons, of which these are a few:
- The note and rhythm assessment is poor at best and has my students questioning their ear AND why we even use this program.
- The piece that we are playing that I selected ("Mt. Everest" by Rossano Galante) for the assessment had an inherent flaw in the pre-made Assignment 1 that caused all the tempos to be incorrect and prevented students from submitting the assignment using the default settings. Tech support told me this was an isolated incident, but how can I be sure without trying each piece? Will any of the pre-made assignments work correctly?
- The "Assigner" is SO cumbersome to use. Classic had a logical way to apply a rubric in which you could also tag state standards. Students could select their part for assessment, but the new version requires so much more work on our end, and the process is less than intuitive.
In spite of these issues, I still try to "sell" my students on SmartMusic, its effectiveness, and value to our program. Classic had real educational value, so much so that even our administrators were aware of how powerful it was to our learning process. However, when almost every rehearsal starts with students bringing SmartMusic-related issues to me, I know that they aren't buying it any more.
It's my own fault for being an early adopter of the New SmartMusic, but my district's new 1:1 Chromebook policy made it too tempting. Now my district is paying full price for a stripped-down version of a program that is hardly being used by students because they question its value, and I can't say I blame them. If you're wondering whether or not to switch over from Classic, I hope this helps.