Using Practica Musica in Academic Settings

Colleges and Universities

For institutions in which students purchase their own class materials, we suggest the Student Edition ($45 for CD alone, $55 with printed form of the Exploring Theory textbook). The Student Edition includes all Practica Musica activities but lacks the "instructor options" used to alter or create new activities, make class reports, etc. Each Student Edition supports one non-transferable user, and each includes the cost of our WebStudents ™ online service for storage of student progress reports and assignments. If your class has been assigned the student edition, you need only request a desk copy for yourself and can also have the use of a WebStudents account to keep track of the students' work. WebStudents allows you to use any web browser to check student progress, upload special activities for your students to open, download any music they've posted for you, send them messages, etc.

High Schools (and some Community Colleges)

If your school is one in which the students do not normally purchase their own class materials, then a site license is the best option. A site-licensed Practica Musica can be placed on a central server and run remotely by workstations, or it can be placed on each workstation with just the student files stored on the server. If you have no central server or cannot gain access to it, you also have the option of using WebStudents to provide central storage of student progress reports, at a yearly access fee of $90 per account. Site licenses begin at 30 users, and can be expanded to any number at a cost of $60 for each 10 additional students. The license is permanent and reinstallable, and includes any major upgrades released in the year following purchase. Future upgrades are also offered at a significant discount from the initial price.

Private studios

Small studios typically use the Standard Edition, which is a single-computer edition but can support multiple students. The Standard Edition comes with 4 student files and one instructor file (for access to the special options for the instructor) and can be expanded for additional students at a rate of $60 for each 10 additional students. Sometimes a private studio will make use of the Student Edition, but this requires that either the students have access to a bookstore that offers it, or that the instructor can act as an agent to sell the materials to the student.

Setting up for WebStudents

If you are using the WebStudents service with Student Editions, each student just needs to know the name of your account. Typically this will be the name of the school plus a course number, but it can be anything you like as long as it is unique within our system. Students can enter the WebStudents account name either when they first create their personal file, or at any time by using the "Enter or Change WebStudents Account Name" command in the student menu. They need do this only once - once the name is entered the program will automatically maintain two copies of the progress report: one on the local computer and one at WebStudents. Students do not have any reason to visit the WebStudents page at ars-nova.com - that's just for use by instructors.

Going to a new computer with WebStudents

If a student has created a personal file and entered the account name, so that the student file is now stored at WebStudents, the student can access that file from any computer running Practica Musica - even if it's one that the student has never visited before. The student using a Student Edition can even do this while running the program directly from the CD. When starting the program the student will be asked "Choose your student file or click Cancel for more options." If the student file is not present on that computer, the student can click Cancel and will see several more options, one of which is "Find my file at WebStudents."

Using the activity menu

Practica Musica is organized around activities, which are stored as independent files in the Activities folder and can be launched using the activity menu. Activities are customizable by the instructor - and you can also create entirely new activities - but we offer a great variety of them ready for use. Practica Musica currently includes well over 200 activities on various topics. We've organized these in several series that can be used for particular courses, and you can also build your own preferred courses by dragging specific activity files into folders of your own choosing. Whatever folders you have in the Activities folder will appear in the program's activities menu as a topic. The contents of the folder will appear as menu items or additional subtopics. This allows you to design your own activities menu that includes just the items you want to see, organized as you would like them organized.

The first item in the Activities menu allows a student to choose an activity from some other folder outside the default activities folder.

The second item is "Choose a class activity at WebStudents." If an instructor has posted some activities, perhaps customized ones, for use by the class, this command will allow a student to run a chosen activity directly from WebStudents without downloading it. This is a great convenience if you have modified some activities and want the students to use your modified activities.

Course 1 is a brief beginner course that provides a general overview of music theory and ear training. It consists of 10 linked activities that must be completed in order. When the student completes the 10th activity you can know that all the previous 9 were successfully passed as well. Course 1 uses by default the "big notes" option and is designed for absolute beginners. Course 1 is currently the only course that uses "prerequisites." If you would rather use these activities independently you can turn off the prerequisite option using the Create or Edit Activity instructor option.

The Exploring Theory course is built around the chapters of the Exploring Theory textbook. The textbook is available in printed form and is also now included in digital form with every copy of the program, accessible from its own menu. Each chapter includes music examples that play as QuickTime movies, and each chapter also suggests particular activities that will illustrate the topic of the chapter and provide practice.

The AP* Prep Course is designed as practice for the AP Music Theory exam. Each activity follows the numbering of the questions in the 2003 released exam, and provides learning activities intended to mimick the sort of questions found on the exam. This course requires that one already have familiarity with the material; the Exploring Theory course would be good preparation.

Activities by Topic allows you to choose activities "A la carte," according to what you want to study. It references many activities found in the organized courses, plus some additional ones.

Write your own Music is a collection of activities that provide notation tools. These differ only in the type of tools provided. The Orchestra Writing activity, for example, provides a tool for setting the transposition of a staff used for a transposing instrument. All Ars Nova products use the same file format, so anything you write in Practica Musica can be read by Songworks™ or Counterpointer®. All Ars Nova products also can export a MIDI file suitable for import into a sequencer or other music program that accepts MIDI files.

Support

E-mail support is quick and efficient (replies typically sent within 24 hours), and is often available during off-hours and holidays. You also can call 800-445-4866 Monday to Friday from 9:00-4:30 Pacific Time.

Academic pricing

Purchase orders can be faxed to 425-869-0817, or call 800-445-4866 during business hours Pacific Time.

Student Edition Bundle $55 (academic sales only, minimum purchase 3 copies)

• Supports one user in a permanent, non-transferable license

• Includes Webstudents access (course instructors must first request a Webstudents account)

• Includes Exploring Theory textbook in both printed and digital form.

• Does not include instructor options for modifying activities, etc.

Student Edition CD only $45 (academic sales only, minimum purchase 3 copies)

• Supports one user in a permanent, non-transferable license.

• Includes Webstudents access (instructor assigning the student edition should request an account name for the class)

• Does not include Exploring Theory textbook (digital edition is included).

• Does not include instructor options for modifying activities, etc.

Desk Copy

Instructors whose classes are using the Student Edition can request a desk copy with instructor options enabled. Contact Ars Nova to request a desk copy.

Site License $850 for 30 students; Add $60 for each additional 10 users.

• Can be placed on a server or on multiple workstations.

• Scorekeeping can be done on the server in either case.

• Includes instructor options.

• Includes downloadable updates when available. Does not include future major upgrades (currently $300 per site).

• Includes printable worksheets from the textbook (worksheets in pdf format).

• With an additional yearly charge of $90 can be used in conjunction with WebStudents.

Standard Edition $100 downloadable, or $125 for CD and print copy of Exploring Theory

• Supports 5 users on a personal computer, one of which has "instructor privileges" to modify learning activities, create reports, etc. Includes digital form of Exploring Theory (and print copy if it's the boxed unit).

• Includes by download periodic updates, when available, until the time of a major upgrade (usually several years).

• Includes all current activities, including the new advanced placement prep course, plus any additional free activities posted to the web site.

*"AP" is a trademark of the College Board, which did not participate in the creation of, and does not endorse, this product.