GARAGE BAND - Apple’s digital recording software is at the heart of many of our lessons. There are a few different possibilities for the teacher and student. A vocal student can load a backing track into garage band and then sing their song with it. They can be recorded, have vocal effects added to their voice and then analyzed. They can then take a copy of this recording home on their USB thumb drive to be used during the week between lessons. Piano students can do the same with piano pieces. Guitar students can also use it in this manner. More advanced students can use Garageband to work on original pieces with their teacher. Students can take home working versions of their songs and work on them during the week and bring them back each week to continue working on them. Being able to record yourself, listen to it while you are not playing and having backing tracks to play along with make the challenging process of learning way more fun. Garageband is a perfect solution for us as it is fast and most importantly easy to operate making it possible to utilize without slowing the lesson down.

JAM VOX - Vox is a British guitar amplifier company that has taken their decades of experience and applied them to a really great computer/interface product. Jam Vox is two things, a speaker/USB audio interface and a software package. The speaker simply connects to the computer and allows the guitarist to plug into the computer through the speaker box. The speaker itself is used for playback. The software is the really cool part. Users can emulate dozens of different amplifiers and effect pedals trying them in endless combinations. This in itself is fairly educational for young guitarists. However, the really great part of the software is that it can import any MP3 and eliminate the guitar part, slow the song down and even change the key. Then it allows the user to actually record their own version of the guitar part with the rest of the original recording. This lets students record with their actual favorite bands. Like Garageband, a practice version can be taken home on a USB drive for practice at home. Jam Vox is one of the greatest educational products to ever be invented for guitarist.