Improve Student Musicianship with the Performance Ensemble Bundle from MusicFirst
If you’re like most ensemble directors that I know, you’re constantly juggling rehearsal schedules, individual assessments, repertoire planning, and trying to find time to actually teach music. It's a lot. And let’s be honest—some of the tools that are being used for ensembles focus on only one thing - playing or singing the right note at the right time. We all know that developing young musicians is WAY more than that. That’s where the MusicFirst Performance Ensemble Bundle comes in. It’s designed specifically for band, orchestra, and choir directors who want to bring the best out of their students—without adding more to their plate. It includes five incredible software titles and a HUGE library of both curricular content as well as over 33,000 interactive pieces in our revolutionary performance assessment software (that works beautifully for voice as well as almost every instrument (including piano and guitar). At $14/seat/year - you get a complete comprehensive suite of everything you need to improve the musicianship skills of the students in your ensembles.
At the center of it all is MusicFirst Classroom, which acts like your digital headquarters. It ties everything together: lesson planning, assignments, grading, student portfolios, communication—you name it. It’s all cloud-based and built to be used on any device, which means no more clunky installs or students saying, “It doesn’t work on my device.” As long as your students can access the Chrome browser and the internet, you’re good to go.
But the real magic happens with the integrated software tools. The most popular one for ensemble directors is probably PracticeFirst powered by MatchMySound. This amazing software gives students detailed feedback on their playing or singing. Whether they’re working on scales, etudes, or concert repertoire, they get meaningful feedback that helps them improve on their own. You don’t have to be in the room for progress to happen, and you can actually trust the grading that the students receive. There are TONS fo options to differentiate assessments for students of every ability, and we know that the assessment algorithm is really accurate and provides feedback on pitch, rhythm, note duration, intonation and tempo.
Sight Reading Factory is another really popular software option that vocal and instrumental music teachers have been using for over a decade now. We all know sight reading is a tough nut to crack, especially when rehearsal time is limited. With this tool, your students can practice customized sight-reading exercises anytime, anywhere. You can even assign them by key, time signature, or instrument/voice part, so it’s always relevant to what you’re working on. With the new features that have been added recently, you can also auto-assess anything you assign your students, and even share the sight reading examples you generate directly to their devices in a rehearsal setting.
Looking to boost your students' ear training and theory chops? You’ve got AuraliaFirst and MusitionFirst—two of the best tools out there for building those essential listening and theoretical skills. They’re adaptive, fun, and easy for students to use whether they’re beginners or well on their way. We’ve created 3 different levels of content so that you can get students up and running no matter what their prior music experience is. With drill and practice exercises that focus on topics like intonation, rhythm counting, note reading, and rhythm tapping, your students will come to rehearsals with the essential skills needed to perform the repertoire you’ve programmed.
For those creative moments, Flat for Education is included too. It’s an online notation platform that lets students compose, arrange, and collaborate—all from their browsers. No need for expensive software or steep learning curves.
My personal favorite feature for ensemble directors using the Performance Ensemble Bundle is that you can export anything that you create in Flat for Education directly into PracticeFirst - saving you tons of time and vastly expanding your ability to create custom content for your ensembles.
On top of all this, the MusicFirst Library is packed with ready-to-go curriculum materials like Scott Rush’s Habits of a Successful Musician and Dale Duncan’s S-Cubed. It’s like having a team of veteran music educators on call, ready to help you with units, lessons, and assessments that actually work.
Bottom line: this isn’t just a bundle of software that happens to be the same price as what our competitor charges. It’s a solution built for ensemble directors, by people who get what we do. If you're ready to streamline your teaching, empower your students, and spend more time making music, the MusicFirst Performance Ensemble Bundle is absolutely worth a closer look. If you’d like to try out this platform with your students, just sign up for a FREE 30-day trial, or get in touch directly with your MusicFirst Education Manager today!