Kamis, 07 Juni 2018
A card with lots of storage allows you to add tons of mp3 or PDF files to your phone. You can have all your essential playbacks and jam-alongs as well as important reference materials with you all the time. No more, “I have the perfect piece for you to demonstrate this concept. Don’t overlook these standard apps just because they come pre-installed. Even though the Calendar and Contacts functionality don’t have that sexy, exotic app feel to them, they are extremely useful. It’s so convenient to have all the relevant information at your fingertips when e.g. some student has to cancel or re-schedule a lesson last minute. With all the relevant information right at your fingertips you can get things settled and re-arranged immediately even when you are on the go and away from your desktop PC. Watch all the great performances, tutorials (and those funny cat videos) wherever you are. For teaching, the YouTube app is great, too.
Check out songs a student wants to learn that you don’t know. Watch them, compare different versions and analyze them together. Guide your students to the good stuff that’s available. Also, don’t underestimate the motivation factor. Especially with younger students it’s great to show them inspiring performances so that they get exposed to new music and see what’s possible. I love Evernote. Most likely I will continue to rave about Evernote in future articles. Now that I have access to the full app (not just some skimmed down mobile site version like on my previous phone) it has become even more valuable to me. This semester I won’t have to physically write down the homework assignments on paper first, followed by my evening session of transferring that information into Evernote on my PC. I’ll simply type in the lesson summary/homework into the Evernote app right at the end of the lesson while my student is packing up.
1 step less in administrative overhead, no paper involved and 5-10 minutes of time saved at the end of the day. Have I already mentioned that I love Evernote, So, sign up for your free Evernote account. You’ll also get 1 month of extra premium features as a sign-up bonus. I’ve been using Dropbox for years as a kind of back-up service. Now, with the Dropbox app I (finally) make use of that extremely convenient ubiquitous easy access. With the Android app I have access to all my files in my Dropbox folder from anywhere. Not all the files I might need fit on the phone’s SD card - and now they don’t have to. You get 2 GB free. Sign up through my Dropbox link and both of us get an additional 500 Mb amount of storage for free. There are tons of task list apps out there. Remember the Milk has been around long enough already and is well established so I don’t have to fear losing my system due to some start-up company going belly up.
Create lists for your teaching tasks, recording projects, gigs, marketing, etc… and let Remember the Milk help you stay on track and move your projects forward. You can use the free system which has all the functionality except unlimited synchronization between devices. I definitely want to have the latest tasks and information available to me, so that’s why I chose to upgrade to the Pro version that allows unlimited synchronization. Another really useful project/task managing app. Why a 2nd one, Why not RTM exclusively, I’m using Trello as an enhancement to RTM, specifically for projects that are not so much date and deadline oriented but open-ended instead. The Trello concept of boards that hold your tasks lets you break down projects into stages and you can get a great overview of where you are in terms of more complex projects with nested tasks and dependencies. Best of all, Trello is completely free, so definitely try it out and see if that board-style organization makes sense to your work-flow.