Tip: YouTube Integration in Auralia & Musition

I have been using Auralia and Musition from Rising Software since 2004. In my opinion, they are hands-down the best ear training and music theory software titles on the market. The reason that I admire them so much is that they have always had a beautiful user interface, easy-to-use, extremely comprehensive, and do a marvelous job of tracking student progress. It has been a honor to work with them closely since I joined the corporate world back in 2008. Peter Lee, Tim Wilson and Hamish Moffatt are amazing musicians and developers - very responsive to their customers.

One of the most recent and exciting features that they brought to both Auralia and Musition is YouTube Integration.

So why do I love this so much? I have heard my music theory students say the following phrase so many times in my teaching career, as I am sure that many of you have too: When am I ever going to use this???

Recently, I have used the example of this amazing music theory professor shutting down the very same question with this performance of “Love Yourself” by the almighty Justin Bieber:

Well maybe Peter Lee & Tim Wilson saw this same video when they added the amazing new YouTube Integration feature. Simply put, a teacher can bring in ANY video from YouTube to help illustrate an ear training or music theory concept, or they can choose from the THOUSANDS of pre-made examples. They can also use YouTube videos in questions and quizzes. This feature opens up unlimited opportunities to tie in modern popular music with music theory concepts - potentially eliminating the “boring” part of music theory.

Instead of illustrating a deceptive cadence with a MIDI piano playing a couple of chords, bring in your favorite pop song that uses one. Instead of trying to discern the mode being played on a synthesized scale, bring in a guitar solo. I absolutely LOVE this new feature and think that all music theory teachers should take these programs for a test drive if they don’t already use them. YouTube Integration is both unique to these programs, and invaluable from a pedagogical standard.

Check out Auralia and Musition for 30 days and see for yourself.

*Please note that YouTube Integration is only available in the Full Cloud version 7 of these titles. It is not available in previous versions or in the First versions sold through MusicFirst.