Was it something that I said?

It seems my last blog post has gotten the writer of the "Technology in Music Education" a little peeved, so much so that in my opinion he's attempting to distort what was said or better yet misinterpret what was actually written. I wish he had commented to the original post...In any event I'll quote some of the points made and respond to them here:

2) During 2010, the developer of iGigBook contacted me and offered a promo code for review of his app. I appreciated that gesture, but in researching the app, I saw that it was geared for “Fake Books,” and not for single sheets of music. In addition, it lacked annotation. I politely declined the offer, stating these reasons. I believe the app developer contacted me back and let me know that annotation was not a component they were planning on implementing. I’ve never told anyone not to buy iGigBook, actually, I’ve done quite the opposite: “What about the other readers? If you choose to buy them, go for it. GigBook offers great ways to organize music, and iGigBook offers some great features with indexes.”

I offered the author a promo code because the author expressed a desire to have a promo code for iGigbook in this post

And if you know the developers of iGigBook, and they would be willing to share a promo code, I’d always be happy to review the app!

I also think the author should consult his own blog to fact check what was said because here is my post from his blog:

iGigBook isn’t going to be all things to all people as it’s geared towards the gigging jazz musician in the same way that a product like iRealBook is. We don’t do annotation, or hot spots on the page, but if and when we do, expect the same innovate approach we have taken to things like set list management, wireless page turning, bookmarking and book indexing.

The assertion by the author that these items weren't going to be added to iGigBook is a product of his own imagination. We didn't implement hot spots, we actually created a feature we think is superior to hot spots for jumping to different pages in a music score that unlike UnrealBook and Forscore, also works if you're using a wireless page turner. I also reiterate that if and when we do annotation expect to see the same innovative approach we've taken to every other feature you see in iGigBook.

3) I still maintain that musicians need to mark their music. Clearly, in education, we have additional needs, such as writing in fingerings. But I know that “professional” musicians need to write in bowings, cuts, notes, and correct errors. To say that annotation is only a part of the “narrow confines of the world [a music educator] is working in” is patently false and insulting to the profession. There’s an easy way to solve this problem: put annotation into the app, I can then compare it with UnrealBook and ForScore. Please, explain to me why annotation is such a horrible thing to put into your app.

The author creates a false argument here as no one has said that musicians don't need to mark their music. I'm making the point that in my experience as a working musician and from speaking with other working musicians that actually use iGigBook, this is not a feature that's a must have on this device for the types of gig scenarios it is used in. Additionally the buying public for these apps is not focused on annotation in the way that the author is, not by a long shot, if one looked at what people are buying that fact would become readily apparent.

5) Shouldn’t your app be for children, too? Or more specifically, for young adults (I teach students who are 14-18 years old)? Isn’t 21st Century education about putting real tools into the hands of children so they are prepared for the world? Doesn’t that apply to music as well? Additionally, iPads are exploding on the educational front in 1-to-1 initiatives all across the world. As an app developer, don’t you want to benefit from app sales to those iPads? Or is iGigBook going to become an R-rated app? (I’m being a little silly here, but so was the statement about the app not being for children.)

The audience for iGigBook is the working professional musician which tend not to be children but it also doesn't include the author of the piece, since they don't have a need for many of the features that make this app attractive to working musicians. Without a doubt there's a market for apps for children and teens and we may create one for that market one day, iGigBook isn't one of those apps.

6) I’m fully aware that the core of this response is centered in the fact that I cannot recommend iGigBook without the added feature of annotation–something I’ve communicated all along. It’s okay to not like that–or to not like the opinions of this blog–blogs are notorious for providing contrary and sometimes even offensive opinions. But please…don’t insult music education nor the abilities of teachers and children alike to make great music–which they can do with or without iPad apps.

I think the author wants to find insult where none is intended. Moreover we don't require the author's endorsement or validation of iGigBook as a legitimate product when hundreds of working musicians who the application is targeted to already have endorsed and validated it by purchasing and gigging with it.

Lastly, the author of "Technology in Music Education" should check his own blog to refresh his memory as to what was actually said otherwise one could get the impression that the misstatements aren't by accident but a result of a particular agenda by the author.

What's coming up and other musings...

My latest big band rehearsal sessions has reminded me of a feature that I needed while doing a theater gig with iGigBook this summer. The composer, Joseph Vernon Banks, usually uses a segment of the last song as the music that we vamp out on and that segment is usually a couple of pages back. Apps like ForScore and UnRealbook allow you create "jump" points that you press to take you to a particular page in a score. ForScore has a neat little thing where it jumps to the page you need to go to and then flashes an amber circle where you need to bring your eye to. This jump feature works pretty good in these apps but if you're using a wireless page turner and turning pages hands free, you still need to tap your little jump mark to jump. This got me to thinking about how I would implement this particular feature, I mean, really thinking about what would cover situations where you had repeats spanning multiple pages, D.C., D.C. al Coda, D.S, D.S. al Coda. Wouldn't it be great if, as you were viewing the score page by page, indicate which page these items are located and then have the navigation do the jumping for you during the normal course of advancing the page? Take a big band chart like "Nica's Dream" as an example. The D.S. al Coda is on page 4 and so is the Coda. The Sign is on page 1 and so is the to Coda. Which means you begin playing on page 1, advance to page 2, then to page 3 and then to page 4 and then jump to page 1 and then jump back to page 4. In order to get this right, you have to essentially do what notation software like Finale and Sibelius do when playing back a score and that's exactly what I've done. The next version of iGigBook will do all the jumping for you during and allow you to interactively indicate where all of your D.C., D.S., Coda and Signs are.

Okay, now on to some musings...

There's an article here where the blogger and beta tester for UnRealBook is making the point yet again about how being able to annotate a score is a must have feature for him and the work that he does in music education. You can read his piece "Sheet Music Readers for the iPad - Thoughts in February 2011" here

I think it's perfectly valid for this fellow to feel that annotation is a must have feature for the line of work he does and for interacting with and teach music to children. It's also valid for him to believe that an app like iGigBook is missing a vital component, i.e. annotation. When we shift our attention from the narrow confines of the world this author is working in and expand it to the realm of the working musician who may be playing piano at the hotel lobby bar and taking requests from the audience for tips or the person heading up the weekly jam session, we encounter a different set of needs from an application. This app isn't called iGigBook(i Gig Book) for nothing. The feature set you see in iGigBook reflects what the working musician typically encounters on the gig, set lists, set list management, and the biggest one of all, having immediate access to as much sheet music resources that you can. Just having your books on the device and being able to open them, check the index and then go to the page is better than not having the resource at all but having the ability to search through multiple books in seconds to find a tune is using the iPad to it's fullest potential.

iGigBook isn't an app for children, it's a tool for the working musician playing the bar gig, the restaurant gig, the hotel lobby gig, the community theater gig, the corporate party gig, the jam session and the open mic...it's the Go-To Gig Tool!