The Practice Assistant for Windows - More Information

Why would I want the computer to play along while I practice?

During your lesson, your teacher will usually play along the first time you read a new etude or performance piece. This is a valuable experience, because it gives you instant feedback. You hear exactly how the piece is supposed to sound, and you can instantly make corrections in your own playing. Imagine if your teacher could be there to play along every time you practiced a new piece! You would be playing the notes correctly in no time at all.

With the Practice Assistant you can "bring your teacher home". You can now play along with a "correct" performance of the piece, at any tempo you choose. The Practice Assistant will give you the instant feedback you need to correct intonation and rhythm errors immediately, before they can become habits.

Intonation and rhythm, maybe, but does it really sound like a violin, viola or cello?

The sound quality depends entirely on your equipment. If you have a sound card with a wavetable synthesizer and amplified speakers, it may sound fairly convincing. However, the Practice Assistant isn't intended to demonstrate what a violin should sound like (sorry, you still need to take lessons from a good teacher). The purpose of the Practice Assistant is to give you an accurate reference performance to help you hear and correct intonation and rhythm errors early. You're used to practicing with a metronome? Well, the metronome doesn't sound at all like a violin, does it? It is simply a practice tool that helps you establish correct rhythm. You can think of the Practice Assistant as an extension of the metronome. It gives you an authoritative reference for both rhythm and pitch.

So why not play along with a recording? My teacher sometimes makes an audio tape for me to practice with. Why do I need a computer?

The Practice Assistant offers several advantages over a recording:

• You have complete control over the tempo. On the first day you can start out with a separate bow for each note, at a very slow tempo. By the end of the week you can be up to "performance tempo". You can't do that with a tape.
• The "segmented playback" feature lets you repeat any passage any number of times before moving on to the next passage. You don't have to fuss with rewinding a tape to the correct position for each repetition.
• Once you have set up your segments just the way you want to practice them, they will automatically be played back the same way each day.

What does "segmented playback" mean?

Segmented playback is unique to the Practice Assistant. This feature lets you play the piece as a series of segments. You define the segments. Each segment can be as short as one measure or as long as the entire piece. You can create as many segments as you like. For each segment, you specify the tempo and the number of repetitions. The Practice Assistant will play back the selected segments in order

If there is a particularly difficult passage, simply set up a segment to play that passage at a slower tempo, and repeat it several times before moving on to the next segment. The next segment could continue the piece, or it could be the same difficult passage, played at a slightly faster tempo.

Your segment definitions are automatically stored, so the Practice Assistant will play exactly the same practice session every day (until you change it).

More information about the MIDI files used by the Practice Assistant:

The Practice Assistant is intended for use in the early stages of studying any piece or etude. It is used as a guide for intonation and rhythm. When you begin to study any new piece, your first concern is to get the right notes, Dynamics, ornamentation, and note length considerations can come later. The first task is to learn to play the correct notes, with the correct rhythm.

On Dynamics:

The Practice Assistant does not implement dynamic contrasts. That is, all notes are played with the same MIDI "velocity". A configuration option is available for you to set this velocity value (between 1 and 127). This should not be used as a "volume control". Adjust the volume by using the volume control on your amplifier or the software mixer that came with your sound card. The velocity setting is provided so you can adjust the balance between the music playback and the metronome, which also has its own velocity control. The settings required to achieve a good balance will depend on your sound card, the voice you choose for music playback, and the instrument you choose for the metronome.

On Note Length:

The Practice Assistant will play all notes "full value", even if the notation indicates a short, staccato note. The primary purpose of the Practice Assistant is to give you immediate feedback on intonation. Do not take the Practice Assistant's performances as a guide to style or interpretation.

On Ornamentation:

Many of the pieces in the Practice Assitant library contain trills, grace notes, and other ornaments. When you begin to practice such a piece, you will usually want to play the piece without the ornaments. Thay can be added later, after the correct notes are securely in your hands. The primary selection button for each piece will play a version that is virtually free of ornaments. If a piece contains many such ornaments, there will be a second version of the piece available (indicated by an "a" after the study number), that includes the ornaments. In most cases, you will not want to try to play along with the ornamented versions. One problem is that the speed of many ornaments is somewhat independent of the tempo at which you're playing the piece. If you have to slow down the tempo to make sure you're getting all the notes, you don't necessarily want to slow down the grace notes and trills by the same amount. The ornamented versions are included primarily for your listening pleasure. They are intended to sound OK at the default tempos, but don't try to match them exactly when you practice. They may sound strange, or be impossible, at your tempo.

Other Practice Assistant pages:

Other Virtual Virtuoso pages: