We got musician and educator Samuel Berlie to review Furtados School of Music’s Music Buddy software, a practice tool rather than a learning platform
The musician tested the software with students. Pic/Bipin Kokate
The Music Buddy software is a great initiative, as most things have moved online—especially in the education sector. Many schools have given students an option of getting certified online, and Furtados has taken a step in the right direction.
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When you log on to the web page, which for now only opens on Android phones and devices, it gives you an option of choosing from different hits—English to Bollywood, and some classic pieces as well. Once you pick your song, it gets loaded as a separate web page, with the score. You can hear the song, and read the score at the same time, which can be confusing for a beginner who doesn’t know how to read music notation. But anyone who has a good ear for music can figure it out.
The user interface isn’t the best, it has glitches, and takes time to get used to. It’s also not very responsive, and there is a lag in the system to load the audio. Once you record it, it evaluates the recording and gives you feedback. For me, what’s missing is that it only focuses on rhythm and time, and not melody. But most people are interested in melody, and they should add a page to teach that. For example, for Bryan Adams’ forever hit, Summer of ’69, there is only a rhythm section available for the student to accompany. But it doesn’t let you play along with the melody of the song, which we all remember.
While it’s supposed to be a learning platform, it isn’t quite. It’s a practice tool that assists in learning. For example, it doesn’t teach you the fundamentals in music theory. You need to have some foundation before trying it out. Here, they jump into rhythm right away. But the good part is that they have tempo changes, so you can slow the song down to practice or record. It helps a learner, who, if a beginner, will still however need a teacher to learn music. But if they know the basics already, it’s a good place to practice. The biggest change that they need to make though is to the user interface. And as it’s a great thought, they should also integrate it with social media apps, so people can share their progress. I’d also suggest that they include a video platform, so users can record videos and share on social media, which their followers can like and share.
WHAT: Music Buddy software
WHERE: https://www.furtados music buddy.com/
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