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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.

24 comments

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    Jon Cielinski
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    Hi Matthew. I'm sorry to hear you've been running into issues in the new SmartMusic platform. It looks like you've already submitted tickets for most of the issues you mentioned here, but I wanted to touch on a couple of the items you mentioned. 

    The Mt. Everest tempo issue in the predefined assignment looks to have been related to an error when porting the files over from classic SmartMusic. Luckily we haven't seen this as a widespread issue and I certainly wouldn't expect you to run into the issue with other titles.

    I also wanted to mention that based on the feedback we've been receiving, we are working on changing the assignment creation workflow so that students will choose their own instrument and part when opening an assignment, similar to the classic version. This should help to save some time when creating assignment since you'll no longer need to choose parts for your students.

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    James O'Rourke
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    Thanks for the response Jon.  I do think that all the other comments or requests that are submitted to be voted on should be secondary to QUICKLY fixing the issue of assessment accuracy.  That is without a doubt THEE most important fix needed.  It is the main thing turning customers (teacher and students) into disgruntled customers.  I have kids do an assessment on the new platform and then to make them feel like they haven't failed, I allow them to do it on Classic which I still have a subscription to.  I tell them New SM will eventually get there but it's been several months now with no improvement in this, the most important of all areas.

    Until the quantization of the assessments, or a "margin of error sliding scale" (or whatever you want to call it) is fixed, everything else should be tabled.  If not, it's like a car company fixing problems with the windows and wheels when the engine doesn't work to begin with.

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    JoAnn Suchy
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    I agree with James.  It is now 8 months later and I have frustrated students on my hands.  How long will it take to get visual rhythm assessment back? 

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    Raymond Castleberry
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    Upvoting James and the OP.  Please don't leave us hanging, MakeMusic.  SmartMusic is a great idea and it needs more people debugging it or you risk having your loyal customers bail on you.

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    Chad Craw
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    Agreed about selling students on the product.  I've had to jump through hoops to get the program just to work with our content filter (SecURLy).  Then when the app does work with the filter, there are a slew of other issues from the app hanging to poor design choices.

    Kids are not going to be into this much longer if its a constant hassle.  And we're only 2-3 weeks into using it.  I get that there will be hiccups getting a new tech up and running but this is beyond just setting up something new.  The concept is great!  But it's broken and difficult to use.

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    JoAnn Suchy
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    How long will it be before.....? 

    1. Rhythm assesment works like SmartMusic classic

    2. ALL devices are actually supported like you advertised. (Chrombooks and new iPads certainly aren't all devices) 

    3. Assessment is actually accurate

    4. Recordings are consistent (some sound like students are under water, others sound perfect) 

    5. It takes less than 25 clicks to assign a basic method book exercise

    6. I can edit the title of an assignment without creating a new one (now I'm at 50 clicks, but it was my mistake for thinking something could be simple) 

    7. I can determine how my grade book displays, including colors, late assignments, and the order of assignments. 

    8. I stop having to contact customer support multiple times per day. 

    9. My students quit losing their work (and their parents quit wanting my head on a platter) 

    This program obviously still needs to be in beta testing.  Was it even tested to begin with?  I know I'm whining a little bit, but I'm only describing my issues.  My students and their parents are also experiencing lots of frustration and I'm catching all of the grief for it.  

    I would really like a timeline on the issues I mentioned above.  If they can't be fixed soon I think I will be asking for a refund. 

     

     

     

  • Avatar
    Mark White
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    I like #9 that's why I'm using it at a minimum this year. It's bad.

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    Jamin Hoffman
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    I agree with everything the OP stated, and very frustrated with the lack of support and movement on these issues.  I (and that I talked into making this change with me) don't like having to pay to beta test your software!  If I had realized everything I was giving up to move to this new "better" platform, I wouldn't have done it.

    AGAIN - VERY unhappy!

  • Avatar
    Jordan Edmonson
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    I'm having these exact some problems. Some communication and updates would be helpful, but alas. 

  • Avatar
    Blake Jancius
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    me too.

    Please read and vote for my posts...I have a lot but it will help us all! 

  • Avatar
    Blake Jancius
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    since this group tends to post the most...how about a credit for next year or a discount?  Again, it is not the money but our TIME...

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    Michael C. Woods
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    Agreed - I'm sending an email out to parents today telling them about the inadequacies of the program (it is new to us this year) after first telling them how wonderful it will be. I am now grading everything myself (which is fine but I didn't take this into consideration when starting the year so I am behind in other places as a result). I have a lot of frustrated kids who are basically just using the program as a host for recordings - not what it is designed for.

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    Blake Jancius
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    the way it is now...SM works good for 8th grade, okay for 7th and a disaster for 5 & 6th grades...too much REgrading  (our time)...

    My story: I was going to assign 12 to 15 assignments every 3 to 4 weeks...I cut it to 6 (since I had to regrade) in 8 weeks.  AND I still have students yet to complete.

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    Michelle Rockwood
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    I wish I had read more of these posts before switching to the New SmartMusic.  I have used Classic for successfully for years.  My beginning band students are so frustrated with trying to get a good grade on their assessments that they are ready to give up.  I am glad it is not just me having to listen to each of their recordings to give them an accurate grade.  

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    Charles Bateman
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    When will Jon C ever get back to us on this thread?  IT WAS BEEN ONE YEAR SINCE ANY SMARTMUSIC employee has acknowledged us!

     

  • Avatar
    Lorrina Allred
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    The curser still is not in time with the accompaniment either.  My students HATE using Smartmusic.

  • Avatar
    TERESA MARINO
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    Loallred, I hear the same from my students. Some of my older students enjoyed practicing with the Classic version. None like the new one.

  • Avatar
    Mark White
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    My kids and students still feeling like a beta tester. Check this out. Nice right?

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    James O'Rourke
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    Mark... while I agree with you that it still feels a little Beta-ish, this one was all about not having "perc./hand clap" mode selected for your drummer.  My kids do that as well and they have no chance at a good score.  With it selected it does improve.

     

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    Raymond Castleberry
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    Reply to James and Mark: Same problem here, so I submitted a request to SM that "perc./hand clap" mode be the default setting for any snare drum parts.  Seems obvious to us, but some of these engineers aren't musicians, so . . . 

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    James O'Rourke
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    Great idea Jesse!!!!!

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    TERESA MARINO
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    James, even with the percussion mode selected, accuracy of assessment, though improved, is still way off base. I use SmartMusic for my school district's SLO requirements. (Student Learning Objective - a pretest at the beginning of the year and a post test at the end to determine the amount of growth a student  achieves during the school year. The nature of my ensembles makes any kind of written test - like they get in every other class - impossible.) A student plays a piece that has the elements that I want said student to be able to achieve by the end of the year. My students retake it near the end of the year (now, actually) and a percentage of the difference between the original score and a score of 100% determines my success or failure - because, you know, we can all go to every student's home and force them to practice. Anyway, EVEN WITH the percussion mode turned on AND on a PC with an external mic - a SmartMusic mic, by the way, the scores for my percussionists are horrible. I sat next to one of my students while he went through his test over and over again. He could not get a score that was anywhere near his minimum needed to show growth. I'm a percussionist and I couldn't get anything higher than a 43%, and this was after a BUNCH of attempts, with successive attempts scoring significantly lower. Now, I'm not all that great anymore, but I'm not THAT bad, either. The Classic version was so much more precise. This "failure to show growth" is a strike against my effectiveness as a teacher. All the administration looks at is data. There is no room for "Yes, but..." A score less than the minimum, no matter the reason, is a strike. Unfortunately, it's not just the percussionists. All of my students get hit with inaccuracy in assessment. At the moment, my end-of year teacher rating would put me in jeopardy. Talk about not fair!

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    James O'Rourke
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    I hear you and I agree. I use SM for my SLO as well (teaching 6/8 to my 6th grade class). Plus i use it for grading purposes in general. I find myself doing what others are doing which is regrading all the submissions after listening to them. My more subjective grades are usually 20 percentage points higher than what SM gave them. Much higher for drummers. You are correct in that percussion assessment is worse than the rest, no doubt. I find myself telling kids that if they get anything close to 70-80% then go ahead and submit since I will give them 100%.

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    TERESA MARINO
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    I tell my students that, if the assignment won't submit, to save the recording to their computer and send it to me, along with a screenshot. I do the same thing when it comes to adjusting grades. I can't do that with the SLO, though. I love that SM takes all subjectivity out of grading (pitch and rhythm, anyway), 

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