PracticeFirst hits MAJOR milestone: 25,000 Interactive Scores

PracticeFirst (powered by Match My Sound), available exclusively through MusicFirst, is an incredible performance assessment tool that provides the most detailed and nuanced feedback to students who are learning to sing or play an instrument. For many years the only criticism that we have faced, especially from our main competitor, is that we don’t have that much content. Well, that is no longer the case. In fact, we now have over 25,000 interactive titles, representing some of the very best content available from a broad coalition of music publishers who specialize in music for schools. And that number is growing every single day.

Here is a list of the amazing publishers who now have content in the PracticeFirst library: Neil A. Kjos, GIA Music, Excelcia, Hal Leonard, CL Barnhouse, Sueta Publications, Randall Standridge, Claude T Smith, Dapper Page, Piquant Press, EC Schirmer, G. Schirmer, Robert King, Chester, Novello, Grand Mesa, Lang & Sheldon, Tempo Press, Bandworks Publications, YourScore, John Mackey, Heritage, Lorenz, Pink Zebra, John McAllister, Kendor, Wingert-Jones, Alphonse LeDuc, Print Music Source, Steven Bryant, RBC, PDF Band Music, Omar Thomas, Jennifer Jolley, James Stephenson, Leap Year, Queenwood, S-Cubed, Durig Music, RWS, TEX, You Won’t Miss A Beat, Bornoff, Musical Mastery, Wayne Oquin, Morningstar, Galaxy, and MANY MORE TO COME.

While other solutions focus on a small stable of publishers, we believe in offering the broadest collection of content to our music teachers and firmly believe that teachers need access to as much content as possible.

If you’re not familiar with PracticeFirst, it is (IMHO) the BEST performance assessment algorithm and solution for students - bar none. The feedback is SO detailed - providing students with WAY more information than just telling the students whether or not they played the right note at the right time. When a student performs using their voice or an instrument, they receive an overall score that is broken down into three individual scores for length, pitch, and rhythm. Students can see detailed annotations by hovering over the feedback line. The assessment rigor is adjustable from "easy" to "hard," or "simplified" or "full" feedback to accommodate all levels. PracticeFirst provides feedback on rhythm, pitch, intonation, and duration.

When students submit their assessments, teachers can get a much clearer understanding of their students progress by using the built-in audio and video recording features. Once the student's work is submitted, review the audio and video recording alongside the automated assessment to gain insights on technique.

In addition to the assessment portion of PracticeFirst, the MusicFirst Classroom provides teachers with a HUGE collection of content, including full courses with PracticeFirst built in. For example, the Habits of a Successful Beginning Band Musician includes hundreds of videos of each example in the method book, performed by professional musicians.

Perhaps the most IMPORTANT feature of PracticeFirst, is that students can use the app ON THEIR PHONES - which, as we all know, is BY FAR the most common way that students interact with technology.

Whether you have used PracticeFirst in the past and were underwhelmed by the included content library, or if you’re just exhausted using another (more expensive) solution that is a better accompanist than an assessment product, you can sign up for a FREE 30-day trial. We have MANY more exciting features and content that is already in the works and should be ready for the school year.