Tag Archives: apps

5 Apps I Use to Teach Piano and Guitar Lessons

February 01, 2011   Russell Martin   2 Comments

For the past 5 or so years I have taught a handful of students guitar and piano lessons. Here are some of the iphone and ipad apps that I use on a regular basis when I teach.

1. Guitar Tool Kit- This one app contains a metronome, tuner, chord bank, chord finder, scales reference and more. I use the tuner for myself and also for my guitar students. The needle makes it easy to see whether the are flat or sharp. I use the metronome for both guitar and piano.

2. Flash Class-When I was taking piano lessons I took index cards and made flash cards to learn the notes. Flash Class allows me to drill students on learning their notes. It has various modes of testing. You can set the time limit per game, and per note. A learning mode repeats notes a student misses, to help them learn.

It comes with many standard practice decks like “Middle C Position” , “Treble Spaces” etc.. but also gives you the ability to make as many custom decks as you like. I have made one for guitar 1 string, guitar 2 strings and so on. This way I can drill students on learning their notes as the progress to the next string

3. Adobe Ideas- This drawing app is great for demonstrating anything I would use a chalkboard for. The best thing is that it allows me to use layers. I can draw a treble staff on the bottom layer, then have the students draw in notes, rests etc… using different colors on different layers.

4.Pocket Drums- This is a drumset on the ipad. It has many features like 8 kits, metronome, recorder and the ability to play with tracks in your music library. I use it mostly to help students learn things like down beats and up beats, and counting. We’ll play down beats on the bass drum, and up beats on the snare. Then maybe play 8th notes on high hat, creating more complicated patterns.

5. Evernote- No, not really a music app, but it is great for keeping track of students contact information, progress, assignments, payments etc… I create a page for each student. Since it updates iphone, ipad, and computer, I always have the information with me. I can also easily email assignments to parents.

Popularity: 9%

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Top Ten Iphone Apps I Use for Ministry

June 06, 2010   Russell Martin   10 Comments

The other day my friend who is a pastor emailed me, “Hey I just got an iphone. Got any good ministry apps?”

I sat and thought about it. Which apps do I use most in my day to day ministry?  Here is what I came up with. What would you add?

Pocket Informant- Keep personal, work, and multiple google calendars organized with this app. Also handles tasks, projects and more.

Facebook- Manage your personal facebook and church facebook page from this app. Add photos, status updates and send messages while sitting in line or waiting for your next meeting to start.

Pandora- Create your own radio station to listen to while you prepare that sermon, or play music while you wait for a service to begin.

Hootsuite- Manage multiple twitter and facebook accounts and pages. Post status updates to one or more. Create search columns to see what others are saying about your church or ministry. Track retweets and clicks on your posts and see what’s being repeated.

Planning Center Online- Manage your Planning Center orders of worship, schedule participants, send reminder emails, manage song library and more from this app. (Subscription to Planning Center Online required)

Google- Google search, voice search, plus one stop access to documents, gmail, tasks, Buzz, Calendar and other google services.

Foursquare- Let others know where you are. Check in and become the mayor of your church. Put up tips about your church including service times and upcoming events.

You Version Bible- Bible search, several different bible versions, notes and bible reading plans. Great bible resource.

Animoto- Create videos of ministry events, children’s programs, and youth nights by uploading photos and videos straight from your iphone and have them put into a great video with background music, and transitions.

Flickr- Got flickr? Access your photos, add tags, and search flickr photos

Ustream Broadcaster- Show live video on your church website from wherever you are using this cool app. Also adds video capability to your iphone 3G.

Dropbox- Use Dropbox as an online flash drive. The Iphone app gives access to all your files. Listen to music, browse documents and more. Click here to find out more and get 2.25 gig of space free!

A Few Extra Favorites-

Words with Friends- Relax, keep in contact with friends, and stretch your vocabulary with this tile based word game.

Google Reader – It’s not an app but an iphone optimized version of google reader. Great to read your RSS feeds on the go.

Popularity: 7%

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Your Favorite Blackberry and Iphone Music Apps

October 06, 2009   Russell Martin   No comments

For about a year the most searched for and viewed posts on my blog had to do with worship backgrounds. That was until I posted a list of my most useful iphone applications for musicians, along with a link to a friend’s post on iphone audio applications.

Since I wrote the apps for musicians post I know that many more applications have come out for the iphone, and you may have different favorites than me. I also know that there are a lot of you out there who use Blackberrys and use apps for them in your ministry.

So here is my question. What applications, for Blackberry and Iphone, do you use in your worship ministry and would recommend to others? List the name of the app and what platform it’s for in the comments below. If you have a link that would be great too.

Popularity: 1%

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Iphone Audio Applications

January 14, 2009   Russell Martin   3 Comments

Over the past few weeks I have shared posts highlighting some of my favorite iphone/touch applications for musicians. If you enjoyed those make sure and check out this post on churchaudio.blogspot.com for some audio apps that might be helpful as well. And if you missed them, check out iphone apps for musicians part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Popularity: 1%

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Iphone Apps for Musicians- Part 3

January 03, 2009   Russell Martin   1 Comment

This post is third in a series where I have highlighed some of the most useful apps for the iphone and ipod touch that I have found for my ministry leading worship. Here are the final 4.

Evernote-Their website says “Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.”  I have just begun using this software and haven’t started using it to it’s full potential but it looks promising. The ability to sync online and iphone is good. I could definately see it useful when purchasing equipment and making comparisons.

Twittelator- If you are a twitter user this is a great app to have. It is my primary form of interacting on twitter. I can send photos, direct messages, and replies. It also supports the location feature so everyone can know exactly where you are. It does from time to time get overwhelmed if you are following a large number of people who update very often but all in all it does well. There is a free version and then Twittelator Pro which costs a few dollars.

Pandora- I wrote about this a few months ago for the desktop version. The Pandora program for the iphone works just the same. Enter a song or artist and it will create a station based around the sound characteristics of that artist or song. The result is a play list that is similar in style that you can listen to all day long. I have used this both on the edge and 3G networks as well as Wifi. As long as you have a signal you can listen. The downside is you cannot listen to it and do anything else on your phone. Until apple lets us run two programs simultaneously.

BONUS APPLICATION FOR MUSICIANS

Gigbaby- A four track recorder with drum machine and metronome? Yeah and all for under a buck. I wouldn’t produce any records with it but great for recording song ideas. This was not in my original list but I ran across it the other day and have loved it since.

Popularity: 1%

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Iphone Apps for Musicians: Part 2

December 27, 2008   Russell Martin   No comments

Last week I sent you my first three favorite iPhone apps that I use in my music ministry. Here are three more.

You Version Bible- This bible app works well and offers a ton of bible translations. Most versions however are online so the app needs a connection of some sort either through the phone network or over wifi. They just began offering a few bible translations as downloads.

Pianist- Pianist provides a basic piano keyboard to play your favorite tunes. It allows you the ability to record your compositions and includes a metronome. I have used this more though for figuring out what key a song is that I hear on a CD or for simple things like that.

Piano chords-Ever forget a piano chord? This app makes it easy to play any piano chord. Just choose the root note from the keyboard and then one of 50 different types of chords and the chord is played and shown visually on the keyboard.

Popularity: 1%

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Iphone Apps for Musicians: Part 1

December 20, 2008   Russell Martin   2 Comments

In June Apple introduced their iPhone applications store. Since that time I have gone downloaded at least 100 applications that do different things. Here are my first three of the top 10 applications, free and paid, that I use on a regular basis in my ministry.

Guitar toolkit-  Guitar toolkit features many tools that I need on a regular basis.  It features a Chromatic Tuner, Chord Finder, Metronome, Tuning Tones and Scales,  and supports different tunings, 12 string, bass and will reverse for left handed players. I tend to use the tuner and metronome feature the most.

IDicto recorder This recorder is great for capturing song ideas on the fly. Simple to use by just pressing record and letting it run, you can also transfer the files to your computer.

Air sharing Do you have chord sheets saved as PDF or word files? Use Air Sharing to store them on your phone so you always have them with you. It connects over a shared wireless connection.

Stay tuned for my next three favorite applications coming in Part 2

What are some of your favorite applications?

Popularity: 2%

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