Click here to view all of this month’s new Interactive solos and ensemble pieces as a PDF, shareable Playlist of ensemble titles, or shareable Playlist of solo titles.

New Repertoire

Here’s what’s new:

• 43 new solo titles
  
• 22 new concert band titles
  
• 14 new titles for string orchestra
  
• 3 new choir titles
  
• 2 new titles for jazz ensemble
  
• 1 new title for full orchestra
  

Chart-Topping Solos

43 new Interactive solos were added last month! Check out tunes from Taylor Swift, The Legend of Zelda, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, The Wizard of Oz, Mamma Mia!, and more.

Too Good to Keep to Yourself—Playlist Sharing!

Playlists in SmartMusic can now be shared! Why would you want to share a playlist? Here are just a few ideas:

• Share a list of practice material with your students
  
• Have students share their favorite pop, movie/TV, or video game titles
  
• Send a custom Sight Reading Builder outline
  
• Start programming the next concert with your fellow teachers
  
• Create a warm-up routine playlist for each ensemble
  
• Embed a link in your LMS for easy access
  
• Design a listening assignment using SmartMusic content
  
• Recommend successful pieces to colleagues
  

Now let us share with you—check out these playlists created to highlight popular composers, styles, and themes. Clicking on any playlist link will add it to your Shared with Me tab in My Library to access any time. Want to share these with your students? Simply send them the link!

April SmartPick

SmartPicks are recommendations from SmartMusic users and MakeMusic team members. This month, Jason Wick, Director, Product Development at MakeMusic, has selected:

‘Round Midnight By Cootie Williams & Thelonious Monk / arr. Dave Wolpe
Ensemble type: Jazz Ensemble
Difficulty: Grade 4

Click here to the read more.

The post SmartMusic April 2022 Repertoire Update appeared first on SmartMusic.

Click here to view all of this month’s new Interactive solos and ensemble pieces as a PDF or shareable Playlist.

New Ensemble Repertoire

New repertoire this month includes:

• 17 new concert band titles
  
• 16 new solo titles
  
• 9  new titles for string orchestra
  
• 3 new titles for small ensemble
  
• 2 new titles for jazz ensemble
  
• 2 new titles for full orchestra
  

Chart-Topping Solos

16 new Interactive solos were added last month! Check out tunes from Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, The Batman, Super Mario World, and more.

Too Good to Keep to Yourself—Playlist Sharing!

Playlists in SmartMusic can now be shared! Why would you want to share a playlist? Here are just a few ideas:

• Share a list of practice material with your students
  
• Have students share their favorite pop, movie/TV, or video game titles
  
• Send a custom Sight Reading Builder outline
  
• Start programming the next concert with your fellow teachers
  
• Create a warm-up routine playlist for each ensemble
  
• Embed a link in your LMS for easy access
  
• Design a listening assignment using SmartMusic content
  
• Recommend successful pieces to colleagues
  

Now let us share with you—check out these playlists created to highlight popular composers, styles, and themes. Clicking on any playlist link will add it to your Shared with Me tab in My Library to access any time. Want to share these with your students? Simply send them the link! 

March SmartPick

SmartPicks are recommendations from SmartMusic users and MakeMusic team members. This month, Giovanna Cruz, Director, Customer Services at MakeMusic, has selected:

Perseus by Soon Hee Newbold
Ensemble type: String Orchestra
Difficulty: Grade 5

Read More

The post SmartMusic March 2022 Repertoire Update appeared first on SmartMusic.

View the full list of new Interactive solos and ensemble pieces.

New Ensemble Repertoire

New repertoire this month includes:

• 5  new titles for string orchestra
• 3 new concert band titles
• 1 new title for jazz ensemble
• 2 new titles for marching band
• 15 new solo titles
  

Chart-Topping Solos

15 new interactive solos were added last month! Check out tunes from Taylor Swift, 8-Bit Christmas, The Spinners, Thelma Houston, and more.

What’s on Your Playlist?

The popularity of Playlists in SmartMusic has been resounding! Users are creating custom lists of repertoire for everything from scale exercises to favorite pop songs to music for upcoming performances. We are excited to see teachers and students organizing and saving titles that are important to them for easy access.  Playlist sharing is coming soon!

So have you created a playlist yet? Here’s more information on how to get started, including a video tutorial. Each playlist gets a name and description, plus you can upload a cover image. 

With an ever-expanding library of tens of thousands of titles, Playlists are a great way to save and access your music!

In Case You Missed It…

Did you know all current titles in the Digital Sheet Music Library are available to print for any user with a Print add-on? The library includes over 13,000 titles from a wide range of composers and publishers, with options for every ensemble, and over 6,000 full scores.

Check out our list of printable titles here!

The post SmartMusic December 2021 Repertoire Update appeared first on SmartMusic.

For all new Interactive solos and ensemble pieces, view the full list here.

New Ensemble Repertoire

New ensemble repertoire this month includes:

• 11  new titles for string orchestra
  
• 7 new concert band titles
  
• 1 new small ensemble title
  

Chart-Topping Solos

A total of 18 new Interactive solos were added to SmartMusic this month! Check out the hits by Olivia Rodrigo, 24kGoldn ft. Lil Wayne, The Kid LAROI, Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, BTS, The Weeknd, and Marshmello x Jonas Brothers—plus music from Ted Lasso and Batman v. Superman. 

Now You Can Create Playlists in SmartMusic

With a repertoire library that boasts tens of thousands of titles (and counting!), we understand the growing need for the ability to curate custom lists of content for easy access and personal organization. To fulfill this need, we are excited to launch Playlists in SmartMusic! Playlists are the latest way that SmartMusic can help you save, organize, and access titles from our Interactive and Digital Sheet Music libraries. Just like creating a playlist in your favorite streaming app or listening service, SmartMusic Playlists allow you to curate music any way you want, for any occasion. Learn more about Playlists here.

In Case You Missed It…

Did you know all current titles in the Digital Sheet Music Library are available to print for any user with a Print add-on? The library includes over 13,000 titles from a wide range of composers and publishers, with options for every ensemble, and over 6,000 full scores.

Check out our list of printable titles here!

The post SmartMusic October 2021 Repertoire Update appeared first on SmartMusic.

For all new interactive solos and ensemble pieces, view the full list here.

New Ensemble Repertoire

New ensemble repertoire this month includes:

• 17 new concert band titles
  
• 6 new titles for full and string orchestra
  
• 5 new small ensemble titles
  
• 2 new jazz ensemble titles
  
• 1 new title for marching band
  

Flex Rep

Two new flexible instrumentation titles were added last month, check them out!

Measures of Success Gets an Update

Measures of Success for Concert Band, Book 1, is a comprehensive band method that was created to ignite musical curiosity, unite conceptual knowledge with performance skills, foster understanding of the many ways that people share and interact with music, and to assess each student’s continued musical growth.

The book has undergone serious improvements in SmartMusic. Click here to read more.

In Case You Missed It…

Did you know all current titles in the Digital Sheet Music Library are available to print for any user with a Print add-on? The library includes over 13,000 titles from a wide range of composers and publishers, with options for every ensemble, and over 6,000 full scores.

Check out our list of printable titles here!

The post SmartMusic September 2021 Repertoire Update appeared first on SmartMusic.

1. Tell us a little bit about GIA Publications! How did GIA get started? What sets you apart from other publishers?

GIA is a family-owned music publishing business with four divisions: music education, sacred music, choral music via our Walton division, and distribution. Founded in 1941 and in Chicago since 1967, we strive to innovate in everything we publish. GIA started as a correspondence course teaching church choir directors how to sing Gregorian Chant. Our name at the time was the Gregorian Institute of America. When Ed Harris purchased the company in 1967, he significantly broadened the mission of the company and changed the name to the acronym GIA.

2. What major catalogs or brands do you produce or distribute?

We publish the Habits series for instrumental music, including strings. The books in our Teaching Music through Performance series for band, orchestra, choir, and jazz have been best sellers for 20 years. We publish choral music for schools and community choirs under the Walton Music name (Walton joined GIA about seven years ago), including works by composers Ola Gjeilo,  Eric Whitacre, and Susan LaBarr. In additon, we publish liturgical music from Marty Haugen, the Taizé Community, the Iona Community, and Michael Joncas. And we publish hymnals such as Gather, Worship, Oramos Cantando, and the African American Heritage Hymnal as well as subscription-based resources for Catholic churches, including the Seasonal Missalette, We Celebrate, and Celebremos. GIA also co-owns a church music licensing service, ONE LICENSE. In 2020, Meredith Music became part of the GIA family, with its wonderful publications for percussionists and beyond. 

3. What do you look for in the works that you publish?

Of course, the answer really depends on the division but we always seek the highest quality publications we can find, beautifully scored, with great texts (if appropriate). We seek unique compositional voices as we look at the world we are in and the trends we are seeing, and try to respond proactively with our publications.

4. How can composers become a part of GIA?

It’s easy to submit a score or music education resource for consideration.  Visit: giamusic.com/submissions or waltonmusic.com for our submissions guidelines. We do encourage composers to become familiar with our publications via our website before they submit in order to determine for themselves if what they have written is a good fit for us. 

5. What are some of the challenges in music education that GIA hopes to help educators overcome?

Of course, the biggest challenge has been the pandemic. With music teaching and learning, as well as with worship, we are all coping with distance learning techniques, virtual concerts, and keeping our kids engaged. As we emerge from the pandemic, I can only hope that kids will flood back into traditional school music programs—yet, I believe we have created online and digital resources that will prove relevant and useful beyond pandemic restrictions. We want to help teachers help their students understand what it is to be musical both in the classroom and at home. But even more, we are convinced that addressing both leadership development and social emotional learning is essential in the 21st Century classroom, and we are actively creating resources in these areas as well, specifically for music teachers.

6. GIA publishes the incredibly popular Habits series, which SmartMusic is excited to have as part of our catalog. How many books are currently a part of the series? Who is this series for? What can performers and educators hope to gain from this series?

The Habits series is singularly devoted to all aspects of student music-making, musicianship, collaboration, and teacher education, at all levels.

There are three student method books for band and two for strings—all proudly part of SmartMusic: Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician (brand new!), Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician, and Habits of a Successful Musician (for high school students). 

There are two method books for strings: Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician, and Habits of a Successful String Musician. Our choral book is, of course, Habits of a Successful Choral Musician.

Another resource in the Habits series is on student leadership for band, choir, and orchestra titled, Pathway to Success by Tim Lautzenheiser and Scott Rush. This sequential resource is geared toward creating a culture of excellence and is designed to connect teachers and students in a significant way through music, love, passion, vision, and purpose.

There are also seven pedagogical books for music educators in the series, which include:  Habits of a Successful Band Director, The Evolution of a Successful Band Director, Habits of a Significant Band Director, Habits of a Successful Middle School Band Director, Quality of Life Habits of a Successful Band Director, Habits of a Successful Choir Director, and Habits of a Successful Orchestra Director.

7. What does the future look like for GIA? Any big initiatives or projects coming up that you’d like to share?

We are always working on projects! In our sacred music division, we will publish a hymnal, Gather, Fourth Edition, in the fall of 2021 that has been more than two years in the making.  In our music education division, we are working on a beginning string book in the Habits series. Never a dull moment, for sure!

8. What is it like being a print publisher in an ever-evolving, digital world? What tools and outlets have you utilized to stay current?

Our world has changed dramatically, as you might imagine. We don’t see ourselves as exclusively a print publisher anymore. Everything we create needs a digital component, and the digital piece needs to be conceived of from the outset. What is most important is the underlying content. We can share it out both physically and digitally, in whatever way works best for the folks who wish to use it.

9. In addition to Habits, what types of titles are available from GIA in SmartMusic and what do you hope to see added in the future?

We’ve contributed recordings in our Teaching Music through Performance series for Band and Orchestra and we continue to explore ways to share our choral repertoire. SmartMusic is a technology thousands of teachers and students have come to rely on. As we publish new music, there is no doubt we need to keep SmartMusic in mind. 

See music from GIA Publications in SmartMusic

The post Featured Publisher: GIA Publications appeared first on SmartMusic.

For all new interactive solos and ensemble pieces, view the full list here.

New Method Books

We’re excited to be adding two new method books to our library!

Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician is a field-tested, vital, and—most important—musical collection of 225 sequenced exercises for the beginning band student from GIA Publications. It includes initial exercises for each instrument on the mouthpiece, mouthpiece and barrel, reed, bocal and reed, or headjoint prior to playing the first notes in the book as well as a comprehensive breakdown of rhythm vocabulary and instrument-specific issues such as going over the break on a clarinet or the “F dilemma” on oboe.

Superior Bands in Sixteen Weeks, from FJH Music, can be used in several settings including large and chamber ensembles, and group and private instruction. Following the sixteen-week calendar in Superior Bands in Sixteen Weeks will help you or your students to develop greater skills in tone production, intonation, balance (blend), and technique.

New Solos

Solo repertoire added this month includes popular hits such as “Butter” by BTS and “Ride” by Twenty One Pilots. Also included are songs from movies and shows such as Friends and Space Jam: A New Legacy.  

New Ensemble Repertoire

New ensemble repertoire this month includes:

• 40 new concert band titles
  
• 27 new titles for full and string orchestra
  
• Seven new jazz ensemble titles
  
• Three new choral titles
  
• Two new titles for marching band
  

In Case You Missed It…

Did you know all current titles in the Digital Sheet Music Library are available to print for any user with a Print add-on? The library includes over 13,000 titles from a wide range of composers and publishers, with options for every ensemble, and over 6,000 full scores.

Check out our list of printable titles here!

The post SmartMusic August 2021 Repertoire Update appeared first on SmartMusic.

We had an opportunity to talk with Jocelyn and Timothy to discuss some of the things that make Graphite standout.

1. Tell us about Graphite Publishing and what sets you apart from other publishers.

I think what really separates Graphite from other publishers is the fact that we are completely online and only license PDF scores from our website. We’ll print scores for advertising purposes at conventions and reading sessions, etc. But we’ve been completely online since 2006. We are also run and owned by composers, so we have a unique ear and eye when it comes to choosing which composers to represent.

2. How can composers become a part of Graphite Publishing?

We look at new composers 1-2 times per year, and try to keep a small roster. Click here to learn more about submitting works to Graphite Publishing.

3. What do you look for in the works that you publish?

We are always on the lookout for quality vocal music that is unique yet emotional, challenging yet appealing, innovative and enjoyable. One of our favorite phrases that we like to use is “where excellence and accessibility meet.” Many times new music can push boundaries just for the sake of doing something new, and the emotional effect does not resonate with the singer or audience. If we publish difficult pieces we look for music that has a strong voice and has a payoff that is equal to the amount of work put in.

4. What is “Bent But Not Broken” and what are ways to get involved?

“Bent But Not Broken” is a four-day conference that amplifies the musical contributions of Black choral musicians and scholars across time and across genres. We are so proud to be involved in this event by issuing and providing support for a Call for Scores for self-identifying Black composers.

5. As a solely digital publisher, what are some of the unique benefits your customers and composers gain?

Because we don’t have to print our scores, we don’t really have as much overhead as the traditional publishing houses. This means we can sell our scores at cheaper prices, passing the savings onto the customer. People can find, buy, and print their music in a matter of minutes, which is great because there is no waiting for shipping or backorders. Rehearsal on the music can start that same day!

6. Tell us more about #ComposeLikeAGirl and the inspiration behind the messaging.

The original inspiration for this came from this Always advertisement from 2014:

We wanted to find a way to showcase all of our amazing women composers and highlight their works. It was meant to be fun and playful, which is why it was such a surprise when we received some negative feedback on it. But that only strengthened our resolve to dive further into the issue and provide greater resources and opportunities for women composers.

7. How has a partnership with SmartMusic helped with Graphite’s mission of publishing “quality compositions where excellence and accessibility meet?”

SmartMusic greatly helps us with our mission of accessibility, providing teaching and practice tools for educational purposes. We are so proud to partner with SmartMusic and expose our music to bigger audiences through this subscription.

8. What types of titles are available from Graphite Publishing in SmartMusic, and what do you hope to see added in the future?

Our initial offering consisted of a variety of styles and difficulty levels – music that we thought could benefit from individualized rehearsal practice. We’ll continue adding these kinds of titles as well as pieces that feature choir with large instrumental ensembles.

9. Where can folks learn more about Graphite Publishing and “Bent But Not Broken?”

Click here to learn more about the event, or register to attend.

See music from Graphite Publishing in SmartMusic

The post Excellence and Accessibility: Vocal Music with Graphite Publishing appeared first on SmartMusic.

Users with the Print add-on are also able to print out the majority of the marching band titles. With printed titles, students can easily take their music outdoors with them for rehearsals on the field or in the stands without risk to their smart devices.

To learn more about what the Print add-on offers, click here or Get A Quote.

To find the Marching Band category in the Search app:

1. Expand Categories in the filters section on the left side of the screen
   
2. Select Band & Orchestra
3. Select Marching Band within that category

Highlights from the Marching Band Category

The marching band category features popular tunes in both the interactive and digital formats. Here are some of our top titles.

Prologue/Little Shop of Horrors, Part 1
Available in the Digital Sheet Music Library
From publisher, Alfred Music, this title is designed to be fun and accessible for performers and audience members, while still being rich in musical opportunities. It works well as both the opener to a full marching show, or as a great pep band or stand tune. 

24 K Magic: As Recorded by Bruno Mars
Available in the Digital Sheet Music Library
The title track from the GRAMMY® Award-winning album by Bruno Mars also won a GRAMMY for record of the year in 2018. Reminiscent of the 80s R&B/funk sound, Brian Scott’s hip arrangement is perfect for the stands or drill team performance.

Together As One
Available as a free interactive title
Together As One is a fully arranged, designed, and choreographed marching band performance that is available for free to any school and director exploring field show options through June 2022. SmartMusic is proud to offer this complete show from Varsity and RWS Music Company as part of our interactive collection. 

For more information about field staging and choreography, visit the Together As One Varsity page.

The post Explore Popular Marching and Pep Band Titles with the New Marching Band Category appeared first on SmartMusic.

For all new solos and ensemble pieces, view the full list here.

July Repertoire Highlights

This July, we are highlighting two new sets of repertoire as our featured additions to the catalog:

Music from In The Heights

With the recent release of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical In The Heights, the SmartMusic catalog has expanded to include vocal and instrumental solos, as well as three choral arrangements,  from the film. This includes hit songs such as “Breathe,” “When You’re Home,” and a new song for the film: “Home All Summer.” The team has also added a 2 Part, SAB, and SATB arrangements of “In The Heights (Choral Highlights)” which is a medley of three songs from the film. These upbeat titles feature Latin rhythms with hip hop and soul woven into its musical fabric to create a vibrant sound.

Suzuki Trumpet School, Vol. 1

The Suzuki Trumpet School, Vol. 1 method book is based on renowned educator Shinichi Suzuki’s view that every child is born with ability and that people are the product of their environment. This method book uses the “mother-tongue” approach which parallels the way in which children learn to speak their native language. The Suzuki methods have seen far spread international success and make a great addition to students’ repertoire lists.

Upcoming Changes to Print and the Digital Sheet Music Library 

We’re excited to announce that beginning August 1st, ALL current titles in the Digital Sheet Music Library will be available for Print! We will also be retiring free access to Print, and it will only be available to users with Print add-ons. Get a quote with Print add-ons today and ensure that there’s a practice solution in place for every educational setting and setup. 

The post SmartMusic July 2021 Repertoire Update appeared first on SmartMusic.