When I was growing up, my voice teacher would have me bring cassette tapes to my voice lessons. We would record warmups, new songs, and sometimes even full lessons so that I could practice more effectively at home throughout the week.
In college, I bought a handheld voice recorder for the same purpose, thought not the modern kind that allows you to download mp3 files from it.
When I started teaching lessons, and even up until this past school year, I made CD after CD for my students — each time they learned or recorded a new song. I was going through so many CDs each month that I finally decided I needed to find an alternative.
I experimented with a few different options. I tried out Dropbox as a method of sharing mp3 files with my students, but that took up too much space in my already full account. I also tried sending mp3s as download links, but that wasn’t very convenient for either of us.
And then I had a “duh” moment. I used a USB flash drive to transfer new songs from my home computer to my work computer, so why couldn’t my voice students do the same thing? I suggested it to just a few students at first, and now almost all of them bring a flash drive to each of their lessons.
No more wasted CDs or excuses about not being able to practice. Most of my students are very good with computers and know how to use iTunes, YouTube, and so on…this is just one more excuse for them to use the computer, and I’m okay with that :) Parents are happy too, because they get to hear what we’ve been working on in our lessons.
How do you share music with your students and encourage them to practice throughout the week?
Hi Rachel,
I’m laughing at your “duh” moment:) I think I have more than my fair share of those when it comes to anything techie (and I know that’s not generally the case for you!) but what a great “green” idea.
Thank you for sharing so many great ideas.
I love how green it is, too! Between the flash drives and emailing lesson/session notes, I think I’ve saved a few trees in just the last two weeks ;)
JamHub TourBus records straight to WAV. It’s integrated to a PC or iPad sometimes. Copy and paste onto email with lesson notes. TourBus also syncd with Notion 3, great software and cheap! Free iPad app actually for guitar so would suit you I think. We can write stuff on notion 3 play it back through the TourBus, play or sing along and record straight to WAV.
Sounds awesome! Thanks for the info Dan – I will definitely check it out!
Have a look and if its something you want to follow up I can hook you up with the guys at notion or jamhub. Download that app though its great!
Awesome, thank you!