Are you familiar with Sound Innovations? It’s a new method for band and string orchestra with a unique twist: It can be customized to fit your program.

Specifically, Sound Innovations is available in both a Standard and a Director’s Choice edition. The latter allows teachers to customize the method’s pedagogy, music, and other materials based on their personal experience and preferences.

Late last year, Sound Innovations for Concert Band, Book 1, and Sound Innovations for String Orchestra, Book 1, were added to the SmartMusic repertoire, including all music in both the Standard and Director’s Choice editions. Both books also include a code allowing people without a SmartMusic subscription to access the first 100 lines of music in each book using SmartMusic.

Today we’re excited to announce we’ve just released the Standard edition of Sound Innovations for String Orchestra, Book 2.  Every piece in this book includes two audio accompaniments: one with just the accompaniment, and another with the accompaniment plus the recorded solo line played on one of the four string instruments. This gives students the opportunity to hear a good performance of the solo line.

What else is on the horizon? We plan to release book 2 for band later this summer, and anticipate that Sound Innovation’s publisher, Alfred, will release Director’s Choice editions for book 2 of both the concert band and string orchestra methods in 2012.

Have you seen Sound Innovations? Are you using it with your students? Please share your impressions by clicking on “Comments” below.