Oh how wonderful this time of easy to access technology. My first metronome was one like above, it was not exactly accurate. I remembering having to save up for my first electronic metronome, which I could not even hear when I was playing. My first tuner was my big Christmas present one year.
Now we have Apps. Both of these crucial devices can be downloaded for free or for under $5. In the past we could rarely hope that our beginners and young band students would have access to these tools, but now they are simple search and click away!
Here are my favorites:
Free apps:
Metronomes
Android/Google: Mobile Metronome-easy to use does everything you would want in a metronome
IOS (Iphone/Ipad): Pro Metronome-my favorite metronome app above all. I use it almost everyday. There is a pay version which allows for more extensive beat subdivision, but young students would not need it.
Tuners
Android/Google: gStrings-easy to use, only tunes concert pitch, but does play a concert A.
IOS (Iphone/Ipad): Pano Tuner-I have not personally used this one but it is highly rated.
Pay apps:
All the best metronomes are free, the upgrade to full Pro Metronome app is $2.99
Tuners
You get a lot more when you pay for tuners. There are two in particular that shine above the rest.
Tonal Energy-IOS only. My favorite tuner app. This app does a ridiculous amount, but what kids will love is that it smiles at you when you play in tune. :) It also transposes to all instruments, plays pitches and sustains them (so amazing when working with brass students, especially french horn). Extremely accurate and has some crazy advanced features like frequency and overtone analyzers. It also has a built in metronome. It is simply fantastic, and completely worth the $3.99 price tag.
Cleartune-available on IOS and Android/Google. Very easy to use, accurate, pitches can be transposed for various instruments (excellent for working with beginning brass). Costs $3.99
Other helpful music apps
Voice Record Pro-great versatile recording app which allows you to record at various quality levels, convert to mp3, share in multiple ways (e-mail, Google drive, Sound Cloud, Dropbox, Facebook, etc.) It's free!
Chromatik-a place where your students can find the pop tunes and other various tunes to play on their instruments. The music does tend to be more advanced though, so it has limited use for young students. It is free!
GarageBand-if you are unaware of this one, you have really been ignoring music tech. Great for creating backing tracks for anything you want and a wonderful way to include the "Creating" element into your classroom. Costs $4.99
Do you have any other apps you love?
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