3 top ipad apps to use on the whiteboard for music lessons

Now I have got my trusty vga cable I can run my ipad through the interactive whiteboard at school I am using my ipad much more in lessons. Obviously the truly wonderful garageband is the King of all the apps. If I were a headteacher I would buy every music dept a set of 10 simply for this app alone.I am planning to write about how I use garageband with the kids in a later post but for today I want to focus on 3 favourite apps that I really rate

  1. Morton Subotnicks pitch painter

This is truly a joy to use and has my year 3's completely entranced. Using your finger to paint a picture the picture is then represented in pitch. You can change the instrument and manipulate it in all sorts of ways. I have been challenging the kids to draw some of the simple 3 note songs we sing from Voices Foundation and they are amazed that they can get close. They have also discovered they can draw chords. The app is described as being perfect for 3 - 5 year olds but I think you can get a huge amount of work on pitch from this wonderful app. You can save your favourite compositions. Well worth £1.99! Click here for more details

  2. Learn the orchestra

This app has fitted in perfectly with this terms work on Peter and the Wolf. The children get to see the layout of the orchestra and you can ghost out whole sections so you can listen to familiar pieces of music with just one instrument at a time. So now the kids are familiar with the bassoon as Peters grandpa we listened to the bassoon playing a number of pieces. in addition you can click on an option which brings up a keyboard for the instrument of your choice so the children had a go at recreating the sound of the bird flying on the flute and the cat creeping on the clarinet. £1.49 extremely well spent. (NB - I can't remember who alerted me to this app but it was from a teacher I follow on twitter so until I rediscover who it was here is a holding thank you) Click here for details 


3. Visual metronome

I know there are lots of free metronomes but I love the look of this one!I sometimes turn the lights out and have this flashing on the IWB to really help the kids internalise the pulse. There are a million and one different games I play with every class from year 1 to year 6 to help them begin to mark a steady pulse. it is £1.49

There are hundreds and hundreds of apps for music teachers and I plan to work my way through them to see what other gems I can find.