classical music
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Apple is building a classical music streaming app after buying Primephonic
The classical-only service will shut down on September 7th.
Notezilla for iPad syncs sheet music to high-quality audio
Notezilla for iPad is a library of beautifully laid out, classical sheet music which syncs to accompanying, high-quality audio recordings. From Beethoven's Fur Elise to Handel's Messiah, Notezilla comes preloaded with the well-known classical favorites as well as an ever-expanding library of Roman-era, Baroque, classical era and contemporary classical pieces, available for a one-off US$4.99 in-app purchase. The app is perfect for those wanting to develop their sight reading while practicing their instrument. Notezilla's clear and detailed sheet music allows users to create and repeat sections of the score, change the speed of audio playback as well as revealing letter notes in the actual note heads of the music. App developer Christopher Dickson has promised to add at least one new piece of music to the app per week, and encourages users to suggest pieces to be added. If you're a classical enthusiast, this free app is certainly worth checking out. With a great selection of free pieces to sample -- and numerous more for a one-off purchase -- Notezilla provides an exciting and encouraging environment to learn and hone your classical music-playing skills.
Weezic for iPad, an augmented sheet music app for classical musicians
Weezic, an iPad app for classical musicians, is a relatively new sheet music app. In essence, Weezic displays sheet music, but with some interesting pedagogic features to help you learn and grow in your music reading and playing. As is customary with most apps that display sheet music, Weezic utilizes MIDI to illustrate the different instruments in the music with a complete virtual orchestra. A cursor moves through the score as it plays, too, making it easy to follow the music. Instruments can be soloed or muted and volume levels are adjustable. Tempo and pitch are customizable, too. Even the pages will turn automatically for you! One of Weezic's best features is its Evaluation Mode. When playing through a score, Weezic will "listen" to what you're playing using the iPad's built-in mic. In real time, Weezic will analyze your performance and indicate which notes you got wrong or were out of time -- helping you focus on areas to practice -- giving you a final score at the end of the piece. It's actually quite fun. Weezic comes with 14 free demonstration pieces, but their full catalog will be updated to the app in the coming weeks. Weezic is available now for free on the iOS App Store.
Daily iPad App: iClassics
Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics, both part of the Universal Music Group, rolled out iClassics last week, a classical music discovery app that spotlights their catalog. If you love the genre, it's definitely an app to check out. The core of iClassics is a drag-and-drop tagging feature that lets you select among criteria such as instrument, genre, mood, period, composer and more to provide recommendations. When a tag is selected, recommendations appear beneath the tag box. Choosing an album brings up previews of each track akin to iTunes. If you want to buy, the app redirects you to iTunes for the purchase. You can share albums with Facebook and Twitter and add them to your favorites. iClassics also streams music from the Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics catalog, and I've actually left the app running on my iPad while I do other tasks because I enjoy the music. However, it is on a loop and eventually repeats itself after a couple of hours. There's an interactive timeline showing composers and giving brief biographies around them. iClassics is an attractive app with nice extras, and it's a good way to try some new music without having to navigate the bowels of iTunes. If I'm in the mood to try some new classical pieces, I'll most likely turn to iClassics for suggestions first. But, it's disappointing that the previews are limited to 30 seconds. Not all the albums have every track available for preview like the iTunes version does, so if you're interested in an album, I suggest hopping to iTunes and listening to the longer previews there. I'd love to see an app like this as the front-end for NPR Music (which is currently available for the iPhone) or the Library of Congress' National Jukebox, which launched a few months ago with more than 10,000 recordings from between 1901 and 1925 from the Victor Talking Machine Company. iClassics is a free download from the App Store.
World of WarCrafts: School's out, crafting's in
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. School's out! Busy hands are happy hands, so get those crafts started now. We want to share what you're making: artwork, knitting, music, crafts, fan fic ... Let us know what sparks your imagination! First up this week: The Horde scarf shown above is no ordinary Horde scarf. This Horde scarf was created to be equipped during rare-spawn, cold weather action in Costa Rica. "It all started when there was a cold wave a few months back in my country (Costa Rica; such cold waves are actually very rare), and my only scarf was actually a keffiyeh I'd wrap around my neck," writes Cambalache of Ragnaros (US-H). "So, since my wife's hobby is knitting on various styles ... she offered to knit me a scarf of my choosing, and as a true Horde player, I went for the symbol." A tauren after our own heart! Join us after he break for an update to the WoW tattoo gallery, plus a small collection of music by and for WoW fans.
All-classical music concert HD channel in the works
Poised to take advantage of the dearth of classical music television stations in the U.S., Unitel Classica is planning a worldwide classical channel formatted for HDTV. The German production company already supplies HD concerts via satellite in Europe on SES Astra, and the Classica standard definition opera and classical channel in several countries. The new channel will launch in Germany first in the fourth quarter, before potentially making the jump over here. With that much experience behind them, and the enthusiastic response to opera and classical broadcasts already available, Unitel should be ready to give the classical fans what they've been waiting for sometime in 2009.
Symphonic Orchestra sounds like a nice game for music lovers
Kando Games is developing a title called Symphonic Orchestra for the Wii, DS, and PC. We're currently most excited about the Wii version, though, because the use of motion controls will turn the Wiimote into an excellent conductor's baton. Details on the game are sparse, but we do know that it will allow you to "play and learn" classical music. Tracks include pieces from Bizet's Carmen and Beethoven's 9th Symphony, to name a few. It may not be Wii Music, but Symphonic Orchestra might be the next best thing. As per usual, though, we'll just have to wait and see what develops.
Import impressions: Nodame Cantabile
Hey, you guys like rhythm games, right? Maybe just a little? They seem to be kinda popular. Just a guess. Game|Life's Chris Kohler got his hands on the latest non-Ouendan rhythm game to hit Japan, Nodame Cantabile, and served up some melodic stylings on the manga-based title. Unfortunately, it seems Nodame's classical music studies can't quite compare to some of the other rhythm games, but there's some good news to balance the bad. Nodame Cantabile seems somewhat import-friendly -- from the sound of it, you can skip a lot of the dialogue and just run around and hit the performance spots instead. Better still? The price is dropping like a rock, so it may be cheaper to import when compared to certain other hot Japanese titles. The interface changes up some of what we've learned to expect with Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents as well; rather than hitting fixed points, the input circles move, which adds a little more challenge to the mix, but not enough to make it a stand-out. Still, with the possibility of budget prices, this one may be a nice choice for fans of the manga or the rhythm game explosion.
BlizzCon will get back to the classics
Blizzard fans can expect to get an earful at their visits to the World Wide Invitational and BlizzCon this year. The classical orchestra Video Games Live will be performing at both live events in and Anaheim, at no additional cost to attendees. I guess we can call that more bang for your $100 bucks of BlizzCon admission. As nifty a backdrop as this will be, particularly for the WWI and for what I am betting will be a great new Starcraft announcement, I can't help but feel disappointed. I was hoping to be able to hair metal out with my friends to another rendition of "I am Murloc." Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftan, I miss you. I guess I will have to watch my TBC behind the scenes DVD and be satisfied with that. [via Joystiq]
Maestro Classical Music Player for audiophiles
If you're going to take the time to listen to classical music, you might as well do it right, and there doesn't seem to be much of a better way than with Fortuna's new Maestro Classical Music Player. The unit is basically a Hush fanless PC running an iTunes-like interface which can be displayed on your TV or computer monitor via DVI, VGA or Component outputs. The interface is specially designed to sort through your collection by composer, conductor, artist, ensemble, genre and period, and also has jazz and pop modes for when you're not feeling in a classical mood. The system can rip your CDs into lossless WMA or lossy MP3 files onto its 400GB HDD, and syncs to Fortuna servers for digital booklets and other album information as long as you pay $10 a month for the privilege. Of course, it all comes down to the audio output, and the Maestro doesn't disappoint with analog, S/PDIF coax and S/PDIF optical outs. Sadly, none of this comes cheap, this glorified CD player goes for a whopping $5000, but at least that includes professional preloading of your music collection, and the peace of mind in knowing that yes, you are an audio snob.[Thanks, Ross]
