MUSIC THEORY FOR ALL STUDENTS
by John Kuzmich Jr.

The statement "music is for all" is not a far-fetched, idealistic concept. All of our students — average, gifted and talented or remedial — need to have positive experiences with music. Students from a vast background will come to you with their hearts and eyes open for your instruction. And the accountability of national and local teaching standards places a serious responsibility on us to reach out to students of all backgrounds and abilities with music instruction. Music technology is a remarkably quick and easy way to get your students learning about how we read, think and create music.

PRIMER LEVEL MUSIC THEORY INSTRUCTION
At the elementary and middle school levels, and many times at the high school level, students may have a remedial need to learn note-reading, key signatures, clefs, rhythms, or simple ear-training focus. Specialty music theory programs cut through the maze of music comprehension and focus on specific skills. A practical advantage of these specialty programs is they are often one-screen operations so students usually won’t need to change screens. Students are less likely to get lost and need supervision. Even with one computer, much can be accomplished if we think beyond the "box." Make it available during lunch time, study periods, and before and after school, as well as during class time.

The beauty of these single-skill music theory programs is that you’ll only have one monitor screen to contend with, making it possible to smoothly rotate up to five students on a computer per 50-minute class period. All your music students will want some "hands-on" computer experience. A good suggestion might be to have a technology-oriented student keeping an eye on the computers. All workstations should have headphones. Please note that students at the high school level can benefit immeasurably from music theory, even those designed primarily for younger students. High school students can certainly benefit from some V.I.P. instruction addressing deficiencies like accidentals, key signatures, or scales/chords. You will find a wealth of software that can address these immediate needs.

Perhaps the best thing about music theory software is your students receive immediate feedback. This is a big plus. Two publishers that offer a lot of different music specialty programs are Electronic Courseware Systems and Maestro Music. There are also many general music software programs that are not reviewed in this article but do provide prerequisite attention to music theory concepts, such as MiDisaurus, in 12 CD-ROM volumes from Town4Kids.

Some theory programs offer optional MIDI input from typewriter computer keyboards. For younger students, this can be a distraction, but for older students, MIDI input can be very productive. Remember, you always have the choice of using (or not using) MIDI in a music theory program. For those who definitely want MIDI options, be sure to check the manufacturers’ Web sites to be sure that MIDI options are offered.

THE NEXT STEP
For students who have confidently progressed beyond the basics, comprehensive music theory programs are a must because they offer a lot more instruction and go into more technical applications of scales, chords, part-writing, and more advanced ear-training. These comprehensive music theory programs can keep students occupied with instruction for longer periods of time. Some of these products even allow you to program your own instructional units. Ear-training instruction can be very motivating, especially when students can generate the aural drills and practice materials as needed. Excellent examples of this kind of instruction are Musition 2 and Auralia by Rising Software for tests, Musica Analytica by ER Technologies, MUSIC LESSONS I & II by MiBAC Music Software and Musica Practicum by ARS Nova. Most comprehensive music programs allow students’ work to be recorded and even printed out for assessment. Some of the comprehensive music theory programs offer tutorial instruction in addition to the drill and practice mode. This puts students in the driver’s seat for their learning. It’s always best for the teacher to present theory instruction before expecting a tutorial software presentation to be that effective.

CREATIVE COST-EFFECTIVENESS
The cost of specialty software is generally under $80 for single-station editions. Comprehensive music theory programs can be up to $165 for single-user educator editions. But, consider the number of students who will be using each software application and the number of hours of potential instruction. The many hours of instruction and students using it make a comprehensive music theory program a best buy regardless of cost. Some comprehensive music theory products even have special student editions for use at home by students, which are as low as $24 per single user. Student record-keeping is important since students need to be accountable for time spent on a computer. Some programs keep only the highest score for each level or test while others can keep progressive records for each student and print out the records. Some software can keep track of 50 to 100 students, while others have a capacity far beyond that. There are even networking versions by HarmonicVision that can record detailed grades for every student in your school or in the entire school district.

SPECIALTY TOPIC MUSIC THEORY SOFTWARE
Electronic Courseware Systems and Maestro Music provide many quality primer level and specialty music software products to jump-start your students. Each program listed here has a particular focus so you can identify which products will meet your students’ needs.

The most popular ECS software applications include:

• Aural Skills Trainer. Teaches ear-training skills by identifying intervals, basic chords and seventh chords.

• Clef Notes. Great for learning the notes like treble, alto, tenor and bass clefs. Full record-keeping available.

• Elements of Music. Timed or un-timed practice naming both major and minor key signatures and naming notes from a musical staff or from a keyboard. I like the simplicity of this product for classroom use along with the progress reports available for each learner. Apple and PC DOS versions do not have the option of MIDI, while the Windows and Mac versions do.

• Functional Harmony. Not a primer level product. It facilitates harmonic analysis. Section 1 allows the user to practice analyzing basic chords in major or minor keys in both root position and inversions. Section 2 presents diatonic seventh chords. Section 3 presents secondary dominants. Section 4 completes the set with practice on borrowed and altered chords. The MIDI option is particularly good for aural analysis.

• Harmonic Progressions. An in-depth program for improving skills in functional harmonic analysis. Content covers root position chords and inverted chords, dominant chords, embellishing six chords, diatonic 7ths and cadence patterns.

• Keyboard Chords. Contains a tutorial on major, minor, diminished and augmented chords, plus chord-spelling drills, keyboard drills and a test. A great way to incorporate chords with keyboard interaction.

• Keyboard Intervals. Designed to help music students learn to play major, minor, diminished and augmented intervals. Students should already know how to read music to use the program.

• Keyboard Jazz Harmonies. Great introduction to jazz chord studies covering chord symbols, seventh chord recognition both aurally and visually, and chord spelling. Includes a tutorial, four drills, four quizzes and a final quiz.

• Keyboard Extended Jazz Harmonies. Sequel to Keyboard Jazz Harmonies designed to teach students to identify and build ninth, 11th and 13th chords.

• Music Flash Cards. A great drill and practice for names of notes, rhythm values and equivalents. Section 2 covers major scales, minor scales, modal scales and key signatures. Section 3 completes the set with lessons on intervals and basic chords.

• Musical Stairs. An aural drill and practice game teaching intervallic relationships for young students in treble and bass clef.

Maestro Music also offers a lot of special topics of music theory software for Windows, Macintosh and Apple II computers without MIDI options. For PC and Macintosh computers, the most popular special topic Maestro Music software applications include:

• Ear Training. It works with interval recognition, both visually and aurally, and includes a solfege section.

• Fortune Cookie. It introduces the fundamental concepts of up and down, high and low, loud and soft and fast and slow.

• Fortune 2. It progresses to the development of musical concepts like staves, note names, note values and intervals. Narration in both English and Spanish.

• Note Name Drills. It provides effective drill and practice in naming notes in treble, bass, alto and tenor clef and also includes an option of naming notes by solfege designations.

• Scales & Key Signatures. It gives a review of diatonic scales for more advanced students and the user can designate which sharps and flats to include in each drill. A printed study guide aids teacher planning and scheduling. Without some designated structure, students are prone to "surfing" the options and not achieving maximum benefit. For more detailed information, visit Maestro Music’s Web site: www.maestroscope.com.

MiDisaurus by Town4Kids is a revolutionary music learning system (12 CD-ROMs: an eight CD-ROM sequential series with four supplemental CD-ROMS for teachers) that uses an entertainment approach to teaching music. Although written for general music instruction, the MiDisaurus series can be an excellent resource for teaching music-reading prerequisites to instrumental students. MiDisaurus, the musical dinosaur, introduces children to basic music skills through colorful animation, games and tunes to play and sing along with. Optional use of a MIDI keyboard with your computer or use of the onscreen keyboard teaches basic musical and keyboard skills in the only complete multimedia music curriculum available. MiDisaurus is designed to be user-friendly and appealing to children. By using pictures in association with musical examples, the child can relate graphics or animated sequences with sound. In addition, verbal instructions are given, so young children are able to use the product with little outside help. Web info: www.town4kids.com.

MULTI-PURPOSE MUSIC THEORY SOFTWARE
As mentioned previously, multi-purpose music theory software products can provide in-depth instruction for longer periods of time. Their interesting applications teach a lot of information with a slick delivery system.

• Practica Musica by ARS Nova (PC and Macintosh). This is a remarkable music theory/ear-training tutor with a wide variety of fully customizable learning activities for beginning students on up to college. The polyphonic capabilities are amazing. For example, try two-part rhythm tapping or four-part dictation. Practica Musica 4 works with or without MIDI, but MIDI options are not required for most options. A textbook is now included with the software with 37 pages of tear-out exercises coordinated with the program. There is a new writing tool which lets students create their own music on single or multiple staves and hear it, save it and print it.

Some of the options included are: pitch-matching, pitch-reading, rhythm-matching and reading, intervals, chords, pitch and rhythm dictation, melody-writing, transposition, composition tools, and playable textbook examples. There are also many additional activities that can be downloaded from ARS Nova’s Web site: www.ars-nova.com.

• Music Ace I and 2 by HarmonicVision. If ever there was a software program that grabs your attention with animated graphic instruction, it is Music Ace. For beginning theory instruction at the elementary and middle school levels, Music Ace is a one-of-a-kind software product. Maestro Max and his choir of Singing Notes will hold your students’ attention. The software offers 24 comprehensive lessons covering fundamental music skills and concepts dealing with staff and keyboard relationships, note-reading, sharps, flats, and key signatures, major scales and octaves, pitch identification, listening skills, keyboard basics and treble, bass and grand staff. An interactive game follows each lesson, designed to reinforce new material. Music Ace also includes an innovative Music Doodle Pad to facilitate easy composing. Students can create their own tunes using six different instrument sounds. These compositions can be saved and played back for family, friends and teachers. Users can also take a break from composing to listen to a variety of popular and classical music selections from the Jukebox section of the Music Doodle Pad.

What makes Music Ace and Music Ace II particularly useful for educators is an 80-page Music Ace Teacher’s Guide included in the school edition that gives suggestions for classroom instruction, detailed matrices of concepts explored in each lesson and game, 20 suggested activities for more creative uses of Music Ace and Music Ace II, 40 reproducible black line masters, lesson progress sheets, award certificates, spelling games with note names, various staff activities, and several other tools to enhance the student’s music education process.

Music Ace 2 contains 24 engaging, self-paced lessons that accelerate development of fundamental music skills and music theory. Lessons cover standard notation, tempo comparing rhythms, rhythmic dictation, echoing, counting, quarter notes, eighth notes, rests, measures, all key signatures, hearing melodies, melodic contour, syncopation, half notes and ties, dotted quarter notes, 16th notes, rhythmic composition, time signature, major and minor scales, intro to intervals, three sounds per beat, 6/8 time, intro to harmony, ear-training, composing melodies, and distinguishing melodies and harmonies.

School editions can track the progress of 10 students; a non-networked site license version can track 300 students (30 CD-ROMs of 10 users each). The network version will track 3,600 students in five, 10 and 15 computer lab packs that track 50, 100 and 150 students, respectively. Other combinations are also available. A free demonstration copy of Music Ace or Music Ace 2 can be downloaded from this Web site: www.harmonicvision.com.

• Auralia by Rising Software (PC and Macintosh). With 26 topics, Auralia is the most comprehensive ear-training application on the market. It is equally suitable for both classical and contemporary musicians from middle school to professional musician. I like how different exercises are divided into four topic areas: intervals and scales, rhythm, pitch and melody, and chords. In addition, the exercises for each topic are graded. You may sing or play answers using your microphone or MIDI keyboard. All results are recorded and Auralia is so powerful you can create customized tests for your students with the "Professor." The record-keeping reports can be shared with its sister program, Musition 2, which does music theory, so both aural training and music theory records can be filed together providing teachers and students with unusually well detailed reports. Auralia is produced by an Australian company and has a toll-free phone number from the U.S.A.: 1-888-667-7839. The company’s Web site is www.risingsoftware.com/auralia.

• Musition 2 by Rising Software (PC). Musition 2 is a comprehensive music theory and fundamentals package for music students of all ages and abilities. Musition’s interactive teaching makes learning music theory fun and easy. The main screen of both Auralia and Musition 2 open up with four large buttons, each signifying a group of topics. Individual topics are accessed using the slightly smaller buttons underneath. Click on a button to enter a topic, select the level of practice and click the "Start" button. The structured drills and instant feedback create a stimulating learning environment, enabling students to achieve their maximum potential. Its 25 topics and sophisticated record-keeping features are all organized within four areas of instruction: note reading, key centers, terms and symbols and instruments. Musition 2 has the same record-keeping capabilities and customized tests capabilities as Auralia. web info: www.risingsoftware.com/musition.

• MUSIC LESSONS I and MUSIC LESSONS II by MiBAC Music Software. Both products have an open-ended design in which you can work on topics in any order with hundreds of drills possible. MUSIC LESSONS I is a very efficient product with 11 interactive drill and practice applications to help read and understand music for middle and senior high school level students. The drills include note names, circle of fifths, key signatures, major/minor scales, modes, jazz scales, scale degrees, intervals, note durations, intervals ear-training and scales ear-training. Each drill has multiple skill levels and can be done in treble, bass or alto clefs. They contain detailed records of student scores, which can be saved, displayed and printed. It can be used with or without MIDI.

MUSIC LESSONS II may be the most comprehensive chord and harmony software available. This software has six areas of study: chord elements, triads, triads ear-training, seventh chords, seventh chords ear-training and Roman numeral chord identification. The Roman numerical identification is great for Advanced Placement Music Theory exams preparation. For each area, there are three study activities: naming, writing and playing. Each area of study has three to four sub-drills, and each sub-drill has multiple settings. The easier settings work well at the middle school level and the advanced settings are suitable for college study. I like the custom option (including ear-training) that can easily create drills for five clefs available: treble, bass, alto, tenor, grand or any combination of these. Web info: www.mibac.com.

• Listen, Version 2.5 by Imaja (Macintosh). This is a solid music ear-training program. Exercises include single notes, melody, intervals, triads, seventh, ninth, random atonal chords, interval identification, chord type identification, and inversion identification. Most exercises in Listen are matching. The user is presented with a melody, interval or chord and must match it by playing on the piano, guitar, or MIDI keyboard. Users can change the level of difficulty by changing the key, scale or mode, melody or interval range, chord sets and pace. There are five preset levels of difficulty, and users can also customize Listen with their own settings. Recommended for middle school to college. It features some very good drill and practice opportunities. Web info: www.imaja.com.

• Essentials of Music Theory by Alfred Publishing (PC and Macintosh) in three volumes. This is a unique music theory program because it does not require any prior musical experience. The software is based on the popular book series of the same name. There are three books of 40 pages each, and each book contains six units. A unit consists of four or five pages of instruction, including written exercises, an ear-training page and a review page. The ear-training module features acoustic instruments such as piano, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin and cello. In addition to listening examples, the ear-training also includes rhythmic, melodic and harmonic dictation. Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory features narration, musical examples and animation that help to promote learning. Scored reviews help you track student progress. The record-keeping module tracks basic student information such as a name, address, e-mail address, and phone numbers.

Together, the three volumes have 75 lessons, which represent a rather comprehensive amount of music theory instruction that progresses in small increments. The educator version has all the features of the student version for up to 200 users with printable custom tests and complete record-keeping capabilities. One of the strong points of this product is that it reinforces new concepts with colorful games and exercises. It also maintains students’ overall and individual scores for each unit of instruction. All exercises and ear-training screens can be replayed for further reinforcement before the student moves on to more challenging material. In the review section at the end of each unit, students get immediate feedback indicating which answers are correct or incorrect but they may not go back and change an answer once it has been entered. Visit www.alfredpub.com for more information.

• Musica Analytica by ER Technologies (PC and Macintosh). Musica Analytica is an advanced music theory software application that customizes your individual theory instruction from tutorials and publications to assignments, tests and multimedia lessons. The templates include customization for music notation, text, question and answer, graphic, movie and sound frames. Position the frame objects where you want them when designing your own instruction. Another powerful feature is the ability to analyze the music from elementary to advanced levels of music theory. You can generate documents from note and interval identification to elaborate documents dealing with chords, scales, chord progression, and part-writing. The record-keeping section is interesting in that it records the student’s help usage along with a history of the problems encountered.

I particularly like the voice-leading and part-writing treatment and analysis for parallel checking, voice-spacing checks and leading tone resolution checks. Teachers will welcome the sample library of assignments and tests that is included with the product. Students can get immediate feedback on their part-writing after working on it. I wish I had such a software application when I was taking college music theory 40 years ago. Web info: www.ertechsoft.com.

• Music Theory I and Music Theory II by Maestro Music (PC and Macintosh), on a hybrid Windows/Macintosh CD-ROM. Both of these products are comprehensive music theory programs each featuring 18 tutorial lessons along with some drill and practice options within each lesson. Both programs are literally "bomb" proof. Just give them to your students and let the learning begin. Ear-training is integrated into both programs and has record-keeping with participation by hundreds of students possible. The strength here is the extensive tutorial instruction rather than just drill and practice. Music Theory I teaches music literacy with emphasis on note names, note values and fundamental terminology, presented both aurally and visually. Level of instruction is ideal for first-year band, orchestra or choral students in fifth or sixth grade. Elementary students can also use Music Theory I. Music Theory II works extensively with dynamics, meter, tempo and interval. Also developed are the concepts of whole and half step and sharp and flat, preparatory to introducing scale and key signatures. Level of emphasis is for second-year students and beyond. Both of these programs are basically in a text book format, user-friendly and oriented for students to use them without any teacher input.

• Music Lab Melody and Music Lab Harmony by Town4Kids (PC). MusicLab Melody (ML Melody) will teach you to read, sight-sing and write music. The curriculum is carefully designed to provide a step-by-step learning experience paced according to your effort and capabilities. You develop complete, well-rounded musical skills with immediate feedback. Using a microphone, the software reads your singing voice and displays it visually, helping you to develop pitch-matching and sight-singing skills. MusicLab Melody also teaches rhythm, ear-training, writing and performance skills in a completely integrated curriculum. ML Melody is structured as a spiral curriculum, where the student is constantly involved in real music activities at ever-increasing levels of musical sophistication.

MusicLab Harmony (ML Harmony) is a computer-administrated curriculum that teaches a student to recognize, read and transcribe chords and master the aural and symbolic techniques of harmonization. All learning activities are interactive with immediate feedback for all student operations. The first five levels of the course deal with competence in discerning, reading, performing, writing, and analyzing music intervals. The next eight focus on the construction, symbolization, performance, use and recognition of individual chords. The remaining 16 levels are a progressive study of harmony covering a wide range of musical applications and situations. Each of the 29 levels consists of eight relatively independent, yet interdependent game-like tutorial modules. At each level, all modules concentrate on the same subject matter but deal with a different type of musical involvement and expertise.

• MLS Harmony by Town4Kids includes an extensive help program that offers procedural directions, musical explanations, theory principles and facts with examples at the click of a button. These detailed descriptions are programmed side by side with every step of every module in the curriculum to assure that the right information is at the right place at the right time. In many cases, basic student insecurities have been anticipated, and guidance is available for music fundamentals that, in a strict sense, are antecedent to this curriculum. All of this instruction and information is immediately available to the student while the computer is on and MLS Harmony is running.

The assessment program provides the results of individual work on any module at any level. It also provides a comparative record of the achievement of all students in a class. The basis for this accountability is the MLS Harmony quiz mode, which the student may elect to do at any time for each level of any module. In this mode, the musical problems are exactly the same as in practice mode, but all "Help" is shut down and all student work is scored and retained by the computer. This gives the teacher a precise account of each individual’s progress. While a default score is provided for the teacher as a point of reference, the individual teacher is the one who decides the score that is to be considered "passing." It is the teacher who has the ultimate control over what is studied and how much skill is expected.

CLOSING COMMENTS
Most publishers have free demonstration copies that can either be downloaded from their Web site or can be mailed on floppy or CD-ROM. Never purchase a software product without trying it with your students first. Your students are the best barometer in assessing software because teachers will not always share the same tastes, especially in pacing and user-friendliness. The students need to use the software, not you.

No question about it, the music theory software market is abundant and waiting to benefit your students. There isn’t a single music student who can’t benefit from any of these music theory software applications.

Dr. John Kuzmich Jr.’s technology column is a regular feature of SBO magazine.

Dr. Kuzmich is a nationally known music educator with more than 30 years of teaching experience. His academic background includes a Ph.D. degree in comprehensive musicianship. As a freelance author, Dr. Kuzmich has 250 articles and five textbooks published. As a clinician he frequently participates in workshops throughout the United States and several foreign countries. For more information about Dr. Kuzmich check out his home page at: www.kuzmich.com.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR MUSIC SOFTWARE

• The minimum hardware requirements for Electronic Courseware (ECS) are: Windows 3.1/95/98, 4 MB RAM, VGA/SVGA display, sound card, Windows compatible MIDI interface and optional MIDI keyboard, if listed. Macintosh: 2 MB RAM, System 6.0.7 to System 9.x, and optional MIDI compatible interface and keyboard.. PC DOS requirements are 640K RAM, 5.25" or 3.5" floppy diskette, CGA display and DOS 3.2 or higher. Minimum requires for Apple II+, IIe is 64K RAM, IIGS is 512K RAM and IIc is 128K RAM. Networking versions are available for all products. Most products have recording-keeping capability. To learn more about ESC products, please check out their web site at: www.ecsmedia.com.

• Maestro Music’s site license price generally ranges from three to four-and-a-half times the cost of a single user copy. The license is a simple one-page document committing the school to using the software only at the site designated.

• PC requirements for Maestro Music’s Fortune 2: 486 CPU, Windows 95/98/NT, 4X CD-ROM and sound card. Macintosh requirements: System 7.6 or above, 6 MB RAM, and 4X CD-ROM.

• PC requirements for MiDisaurus by Town4Kids: Pentium CPU, Windows 95 or newer, 16MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, SoundBlaster compatible Sound Card, SVGA Monitor, Optional MIDI Keyboard and Connector. Macintosh prerequisites: PowerMac, System 7.1 or newer, 16MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, and Optional MIDI. Keyboard and Connector. MiDisaurus (Hybrid CD-ROM) works on both Windows and Mac computers.

• System requirements for Practica Musica by ARS Nova (PC and Macintosh).Windows prerequisites: Windows 95/98, Pentium CPU, sound card, 32 MB RAM, 16 MB hard disk free space and CD-ROM. Macintosh prerequisites: System 7.6 to OS9, QuickTime 3 or 4, 680040 or PowerPC, 32 MB RAM, 16 MB hard disk free space, CD-ROM and MIDI options.

• Music Ace I and 2 by HarmonicVision system requirements: Windows 3.1: 386 CPU or faster with 4 MB RAM, 640x480 256-color Super VGA monitor, 12 MB free hard disk space, 3.5-inch disk drive and an MPC-compatible sound card or general MIDI required (but MIDI keyboard is optional). Additional requirements for Windows 95 or Windows 98: 486 DX-33 MHz or better 8 MB of RAM. The Macintosh 68030 needs 25 MHz or higher 5 MB RAM, 256-color VGA monitor, 11 MB free hard disk space System 7.0.1 or better, a 3.5-inch disk drive and MIDI options. A hybrid CD-ROM is available for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. Music Ace can even work on 386 computers with Windows 3.1 and up.

• System requirements for Auralia by Rising Software (PC and Macintosh). Windows prerequisites: Pentium 7 Processor or higher hard disk with 10MB of free disk space, Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT, and soundcard. Macintosh prerequisites: PowerMac or Mac with 68040 processor recommended, System 7.5 or higher, 8-16MB RAM Minimum (depending on processor) hard disk with 8MB of free disk space, CD-ROM drive for installation and MIDI options.

• System requirements for Musition 2 by Rising Software (PC). Windows prerequisites: Pentium7 Processor or higher, hard disk with 40MB of free disk space, Windows 957, Windows 987 or Windows NT7, soundcard and MIDI options.

• Windows prerequisites for MUSIC LESSONS I and MUSIC LESSONS II by MiBAC Music Software: Windows 95/98/NT4/2000 SoundBlaster and MIDI compatible. Macintosh prerequisites: Mac 68K or PowerMac, MacOS 7.1.1 or newer, MacOS 8 or MacOs9 and optional MIDI.

• Listen, Version 2.5 by Imaja (Macintosh) prerequisites: any Macintosh model from the Mac Classic and later, System 6, System 7, OS 8, OS 9 or later, Power Macintosh and 68K compatible, Apple MIDI Manager or OMS (Open Music System) supported, CD-ROM drive or floppy disk drive, 500K RAM and 800K Disk space and optional MIDI.

• Essentials of Music Theory by Alfred Publishing (PC and Macintosh). Macintosh system requirements: Macintosh 68040 processor or higher Mac OS 7.1 or higher, 16 MB RAM, 18 MB of hard disk space for student version and 22 MB for educator version, 640 X 480, 256-color display and 4X CD-ROM drive. PC system requirements: 486-DX2 66 MHz or higher CPU, Windows 3.1 or higher, 16 MB RAM, 18 MB of hard disk space for student version and 22 MB for educator version, Windows-compatible sound card, 640 X 480 pixel 256-color display and 4X CD-ROM drive. Does not have MIDI options.

This theory course is available in either three separate 40-page books with two audio CDs, or on a CD-ROM. The ability to use this theory class with and without a computer CD-ROM is unique, especially if you don’t have enough computer workstations. Students can take the books home and do the theory assignments outside of class. Or they can purchase the low-priced student version CD-ROM, which doesn’t use MIDI, and record their score at home, and then e-mail it to the teacher or bring it in on a floppy disk for the teacher to import into the educator version. A teacher’s answer key book is also available and includes the answers to all exercises and review pages as well as written ear-training examples.Use the piano for the ear-training examples. The strength of the teacher’s activity kit is to provide additional fun activities to reinforce the material taught in the books and software. Some of the interesting activities in the kit include a crossword puzzle, word search game, note-naming game and a dynamics reinforcement game. More reinforcement means more retention of the material taught.

• System requirements for Musica Analytica by ER Technologies (PC and Macintosh). PC requirements: Pentium CPU, 16 MB RAM, Windows 95/98, 10 MB of free hard disk drive space, VGA monitor and Apple QuickTime for built-in MIDI playback. Macintosh system requirements: PC requirements: Pentium or higher CPU, 10 MB RAM and 13 MB of free hard disk drive space. Macintosh 68020 and higher (Power PC preferred) or PC Pentium and higher, 10 MB RAM and 13 MB of free hard disk drive space. There is a MIDI playback option.

• System requirements for Music Theory I and Music Theory II by Maestro Music (PC and Macintosh), on a hybrid Windows/Macintosh CD-ROM. Macintosh prerequisites: Mac LC and above. PC prerequisites: Windows 95 and sound card. RAM is really not an issue with any of the Maestro Music software products. If your computer runs, you already have enough RAM for all Maestro Music software applications. There is no MIDI option. Maestro Music also produces four levels of comprehensive music theory software available for Apple II computers (Level 1, Level II, Level III and Level IV) that can be used as well. They go beyond the contents of Music Theory I and Music Theory II.

• System requirements for Music Lab Melody and Music Lab Harmony by Town4Kids (PC). PC requirements: Windows 3.1 or higher, 386 CPU or higher, 8 MB RAM, 6 MB of free hard disk drive space, SoundBlaster compatible sound card, microphone and VGA monitor.