Last month we offered our first peek into the beta testing currently under way with the new SmartMusic. Since then great progress has been made thanks to the hundreds of music educators who’ve provided us with input.

Here are just some of the accomplishments we’ve made together in the last few weeks:

13 Bugs Identified & Fixed

Again, these were primarily small bugs, mostly related to the assignment and grading loop, but we’re grateful to put them behind us.

30 Features Added

New features added this month include:

• An improved way to copy/paste instructions across parts in the assignment loop
• The ability to create multi-level rubrics on the fly, aided by the use of color for categorization
• The control of assignment constraints (location, tempo, cursor) in the student’s view. This control simplifies the student’s experience and ensures that student submissions match requirements.
• Tempo is now expressed in BPM in addition to percentage.

More Improvements Coming in May

In the coming weeks we’ll begin releasing content to the beta team, including solos, ensemble titles, and method books. What’s more, we’ll make the first version of the content search engine available so they will be able to find this repertoire. They’ll also see major graphic/interface design improvements in the assignment loop and gradebook.

We’re very thankful for the expertise these educators lend us in helping us define our road map and re-prioritize our features, and we’re very excited about the progress we’re making together. In sharing the results publicly, it’s our intent to keep all SmartMusic users posted on our development, and hopefully to share some of the excitement. You can learn more about the new SmartMusic at smartmusic.com/new.

Have questions? Please let us know on Facebook or Twitter.