ChatGPT, Mastodon, and New iPad Apps

Hello! I am pleased to say I am presenting at the Texas Music Educators Association conference next month. Will you be there? If so, I hope you will check out one of my two sessions.

Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers – Wednesday, February 8 @ 4:15 pm, Room CC 214B

Teaching Intonation with Tonal Energy – Friday, February 10 @ 11:30 am, Room CC 216

Stay tuned to the blog for complementary session notes and links.

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Top 10 Apps for Music Teachers in 2023

New YouTube video. Links to all apps below.

Watch ChatGPT Build A Working Guitar Pedal Plugin

This is one of the coolest things I have seen from ChatGPT so far.

In this video, the AI is able to write a functional VST plugin for a DAW that simulates a guitar pedal. Obviously this requires a lot of trial and error, as well as some human intervention at points. But this, to me, is why ChatGPT is compelling. You can talk to it conversationally.

There are a lot of ethical conversations about art and AI happening in my corners of the web these days, and I am not prepared to get into it here. That said, I think code is one of the examples where I have found AI to be an actual utility in my life. I have asked ChatGPT to write me short AppleScripts that automate cumbersome computer tasks, and it has done it successfully!

Eric Jimenez Joins Hal Leonard Team

Press Releases – Eric Jimenez Joins Hal Leonard Team | Hal Leonard Online:

12.16.22—Hal Leonard is excited to announce that Eric Jiminez has joined their education team as Account Manager – Education Technology. In this role, Eric will focus on serving school districts with the resources, curriculum, technology, methods, repertoire, and professional development that Hal Leonard has to offer.

Congratulations to Eric! Check out his podcast The Score.

Theory Hacks | Ableton

Had no idea that METT guest, Ethan Hein, had written this cool page for Ableton’s website. It is worth checking out.

Theory Hacks | Ableton:

Many producers struggle with music theory. In this module, we make concepts like chords and scales intuitive using the MIDI keyboard, Push, and Live’s MIDI devices.

Scale Dice by Way of Dice by PCalc – Ehler

I use the app Dice by PCalc to simulate the rolling of various dice while playing tabletop and role playing games. It is good fun, but not something I have used in the classroom. Ehler has the very cool idea of using it for assigning scales. You could use these similarly for any kind of classroom need where you have to randomize an order of something (and make it fun).

You can check out the app here and read Ehler’s post below, which includes a link to download the scale dice into the Dice app.

Scale Dice by Way of Dice by PCalc – Ehler

I’ve known many directors over time to use “scale dice” to help students practice their major scales with an element of randomness. In Iowa, this is a useful preparation for All-State auditions, but it can be a handy thing to do in sectionals and small-group lessons too. Dice by PCalc has support for custom dice, and these wind up looking great.

Currently, the app supports six distinct dice designs on screen at a time (so it would be easy and practical to have six different students at once get assigned a scale with a single roll)

You can configure these dice yourself, but I’ll save you the work by sharing my “custom dice” export here.

How Andy Bliss Uses OmniFocus

Speaking of The Omni Show, Andy Bliss (performing artist and musician’s coach), was on a recent episode.

Andy talks about the intentionality of performing, teaching, and learning, in a way that really resonates with me. I think this is partly because he uses his technology to both help him meet his varied goals, but also as a part of the reflection process which determines them in the first place.

Listen below.

How Andy Bliss Uses OmniFocus:

Today, Andy Bliss joins us to share his insights on using OmniFocus to supercharge work as a performing artist and musician’s coach. With a background in both the arts and technology, Andy knows a thing or two about the intersection between creativity and efficiency.

The 50 Best Albums Of 2022: NPR

Ever since NPR started putting these playlists on Apple Music and Spotify, I haven’t been compiling them. I guess there was some value in that process, because I almost forgot to check out the list this year!

Read more, and find music streaming links below.

The 50 Best Albums Of 2022 (50-41) : NPR

A year like this one makes hand-wringing about the death of the album seem silly (if anything we should be concerned about the single). Musicians gave us experiences in 2022. Immersive, ambitious, focused, sprawling, explosive, swerving albums expressed their power in any number of ways: Vibes to make summer stretch on into the year’s cold months. Bottomless layers of invention. History lessons that sparkled like the best party you could imagine. There were too many great albums to count, let alone narrow down to a round number. But here are 50 that made us feel awe, ache or adoration, selected and ranked by the contributors, public radio partners and staff of NPR Music. (Oh, and we also ranked the 100 Best Songs of 2022.)

Scripting SDK in Pro Tools

I do a lot of automation. I have always felt like the tools for automating basic computer productivity are more vast and varied than those for the more advanced creative professional software.

Pro Tools has a new update, and while I have not used it in many years, I took note of this particular addition, which will allow third parties to create their own scripting tools, which could improve and streamline cumbersome workflows in the DAW.

It would be very cool to see some other DAWs do something like this. I wonder, often, why Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro do not have any support for Shortcuts, Apple’s new and cross-platform system for automation. Shortcuts has eliminated countless hours of work and stress from my email, calendar, writing, and task workflows. Why should their creative pro software be any different?

What’s New in Pro Tools – Avid Technology:

Scripting SDK

The Pro Tools 2022.12 software release includes support for a new Scripting SDK (software development kit) that enables high-end facilities and application developers for scripting Pro Tools to help automate repetitive tasks and create whole new workflows. This new free Pro Tools Scripting SDK provides developers with everything they need to get up and running.