MakeMusic Partners with Texas and Florida to Deliver State-Wide Assessment

SmartMusic interactive software provides critical technology to assess student performance

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MakeMusic, Inc. (NASDAQ: MMUS), creators of the award-winning SmartMusic^® interactive music software for band, orchestra and voice, announced a collaboration with Texas and Florida to develop the technology solution to assess and document student performance against state-wide music curriculum standards.

“Our challenge has been to develop a system that allows us to assess and process results for more than 675,000 students who are involved in our band, orchestra, and choir programs”

“Our challenge has been to develop a system that allows us to assess and process results for more than 675,000 students who are involved in our band, orchestra, and choir programs,” said Frank Coachman, Deputy Director of the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA). “Music curriculum has always been difficult to assess. In today’s environment with all the cuts in education funding, it’s critical that music educators have a quantifiable way to prove that students have mastered curriculum.”

Texas leads the nation in establishing rigorous curriculum goals for music students from pre-K through high school and as a result it produces some of the most successful national music award winning bands, orchestras and choirs. TMEA was familiar with the robust assessment capabilities that SmartMusic’s e-learning platform already provides to many of the state’s music programs. In Spring 2012, TMEA will launch a pilot program using the SmartMusic platform for a new state-wide assessment tool.

“By leveraging and further developing our existing e-learning platform, we can provide a total solution for any state who wishes to document student achievement in a music class,” said Karen van Lith, MakeMusic’s CEO. “That includes all the states that have been awarded federal Race to the Top funding, such as Florida.”

Race to the Top is a competitive grant program designed to encourage and reward states that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform. To date, funding has been awarded to the District of Columbia and 11 states, including Florida. When Florida began looking for a technology partner to help meet its goals, teachers across Florida recommended SmartMusic as the foundation for a new state-wide assessment solution.

“Many states have programs in place to assess core academic subjects like math, science, and English, but the ability to assess student performance in other content areas like music has been a challenge,” said Beth Cummings, Senior Coordinator for Music in Polk County. “Florida has more than 200,000 music students, and SmartMusic provides the technology we need to develop our goals in time for field testing in 2013-2014.”

“These partnerships with Texas and Florida are just the first step in positioning MakeMusic to deliver software technology solutions for music assessment across the country,” stated Karen van Lith.

SmartMusic features the world’s largest accompaniment library for musicians of all ages and skill levels, including the most comprehensive catalog of repertoire required by music educators. Additional music can be easily added to SmartMusic through Finale, MakeMusic’s premiere notation software.

SmartMusic also provides the ideal practice environment for any musician. As music appears on the screen, the musician performs, and SmartMusic immediately displays the notes performed accurately in green and the notes performed inaccurately in red. For key solo titles, SmartMusic’s patented technology follows the tempo that musicians set, enabling them to express themselves through the music. At any time during their performance, musicians can access the interactive tuner and metronome and automatically record themselves.

SmartMusic’s e-learning capabilities are available to band, orchestra, choir and private educators at all levels and enables them to send a wide variety of assignments to students. The technology allows the teacher to view, listen to, and comments on students’ performance. The SmartMusic Inbox, an Android and Apple mobile application, provides additional access for teachers to complete these tasks. SmartMusic provides all the tools a music student needs to practice, learn how to improve performance, and gain greater confidence to drive successful progress in their music education.

Follow SmartMusic activities from our Community page, which offers access to the SmartMusic Blog, Forum and links to SmartMusic presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more.

About MakeMusic, Inc.
MakeMusic^®, Inc. is a world leader in music technology whose mission is to develop and market solutions that transform how music is composed, taught, learned and performed. For more than 20 years, Finale^® has been the industry standard in music notation software, enabling composers, arrangers, musicians, teachers, students and publishers to create, edit, audition, print and publish musical scores. MakeMusic is also the creator of SmartMusic^® interactive software that is transforming the way students practice. With SmartMusic, students and teachers have access to thousands of band, orchestra and vocal pieces allowing students to practice with background accompaniment and get immediate feedback on their performance. SmartMusic allows teachers to individualize instruction and document the progress of every student. Additional information about this Minnesota company can be found at www.makemusic.com.