"Micro Maestro means the end of solitary music practice",
proclaims Mupados's publicity blurb. Well, I wouldn't go that
far, but it does offer young musicians a way of practising
while also making use of their micros.
The aim of the program is to get children to play tunes to
accompaniments recorded on an audio cassette supplied with the
package.
For years musicians have been able to buy pre-recorded
backing tapes for practising solos in concert style without
having to hire a symphony orchestra, but as far as I know
only Mupados have combined this idea with computer-aided
learning.
The melody lines of six tunes, including the themes from
Chariots of Fire and Superman, are displayed on screen in
standard notation a few bars at a time, to be practised with or
without the notes being sounded by the micro's internal speaker.
Sections can be repeated, the tempo can be changed to suit
different levels of skill, and a bouncing ball can be made to
skip lightly across the score indicatingthe note to be played.
There is also a visual pulse counter to show the relationship
between note groupings and the regular beats of a bar.
All this is done competently, with good graphics and an
effective method of providing continuity in reading the score.
The pack is supplied in separate configurations for
concert pitch instruments, transposing instruments and
keyboards. The concert pitch version gives a
choice of treble, bass and alto clefs, and the transposing version
can be used for instruments pitched in B flat, E flat and F.
The keyboard version displays suggested fingerings as the notes
are sounded.
Despite all these features, the package is rather limited in its
potential, mostly because you're stuck with the six tunes supplied.
If music teachers could enter their own melodies and record
an accompaniment the program would stand a better chance in
schools.
Furthermore, it has been designed to run on both the BBC
Micro and the Electron, so only one sound channel is used. This
means that in the keyboard version the player is confined to
one right-hand line - not exactly what a keyboard was designed
for!
The program comes on cassette only, and each pack costs
£14.99. Given its limitations, this is a little high in my view,
despite the original approach and the high quality of the
backing tracks.
1st May 1986
