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Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by S&E on 11/19/2025, 1:08 pm

I would love some help on this topic and how to go about using smart music for the first time. I don't see a lot of songs on the list that are available? And what other options do we have besides using a live accompanist.
Thoughts or ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by Nick on 12/3/2025, 10:28 am, in reply to "Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

If you are within range of the DFW area, talk to Trekorda about accompanying your students. They have a large database of music and recordings for many Texas UIL Solos. This can take care of everything in one stop.

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by Keith Dye on 11/22/2025, 6:29 am, in reply to "Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

There are some really incredible new tools to obtain excellent accompaniment recordings. If you're serious about obtaining an accompaniment for almost anything you have a satisfactory recording of, check this out: https://www.musictechhelper.com/blog/moises-now-available-in-the-musicfirst-classroom

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by DumbMusic on 11/21/2025, 1:07 pm, in reply to "Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

They should have renamed the program when it went browser only. I taught in a community that finding an accompanist was near impossible, and "SmartMusic" got worse every year.

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by SmartMusic on 11/20/2025, 11:29 am, in reply to "Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

It's definitely not the same as it used to be. Honestly? I wouldn't bother with student accounts. If the aim is Solo and Ensemble just make one account and have a school username and password for all the kids to use.

You can find Rubank, Kendor, and Festival Solos on there. There are some class one solos there, but I wouldn't recommend it with how difficult it can be to stop and start it just right with cadenzas.

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by Yes on 11/21/2025, 1:36 pm, in reply to "Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

Thats what we do:
Teacher accounts only, and I mark everything in our library that is already in "Makemusic Cloud." Everyone in here will agree that once it went cloud based, it went downhill in many ways. I used to be able to record accompaniment with the clicks and email them to students to practice, and that doesnt even work anymore.
I know you may not have the time, but easy solos that are not in there, I will input them into notation (I use Flat) and export them as audio files. I may even do this with some harder solos if it's worth my time.
There have been a few class ones that I have asked our choir teacher to record for me. She plays them on her digital keyboard as midi files and can mess with tempo a little bit. That's not the greatest option, but its okay.
I don't do this, but I know some people will find accompaniment videos on a certain website that plays videos, and they will use other websites to take that certain video and strip the audio from it and then save the audio file. I am sure you could search that if you need more info.

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by Me on 11/20/2025, 8:38 am, in reply to "Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

Just use a recording. SmartMusic has gotten 300% more expensive and 300% less usable in the past ten years.

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by Warhawk on 12/2/2025, 12:24 pm, in reply to "Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

That is the truth.

Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS

Posted by ForeverN00B on 11/22/2025, 5:37 am, in reply to "Re: Smart Music/Make Music and UIL SOLOS"

That's what we do. I put it in Dorico, and make a recording from that at various tempos with and without the instrument playback for practice.

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