This application for iPhone was developed by Adam Gresham as a partial requirement for consideration of a masters degree from the American Band College of Central Washington University.
The “Wind World” application for iPhone is a quiz-based phone application designed to help improve the overall understanding of one of my personal weaknesses: woodwind pitch. Through the research of this topic needed to create the application, as well as the ability to use the application for personal use, I have used this project as a study tool to successfully improve my understanding of the pitch tendencies of the woodwind familiy of instruments.
It is my hope that this application can be used in the future by any and all students at the late middle school to early high school level as an aid in improving their understanding of their own instrument’s pitch tendencies. To keep the information as simple and consistent as possible, the pitch tendency answers were based off notes that were either “moderately sharp” or “very sharp” according to a combination of both Max McKee’s “Pitch Tendeny Sheets” document provided by the American Band College of Central Washing University and the answers produced on the “ultimatepursuit.org" website.
Once clicking past the home page of the application, the student is required to make a determination about which woodwind instrument they would like to select for a short, ten question pitch tendency quiz. I have designed this application to be geared toward the five most common woodwind instrument: flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet in Bb, and alto saxophone.
Because this application was designed for late middle school and early high school band students, I made the decision to limit the ranges to only the notes that would be expected of them if they were to audition for honor band or all-state band in my home state of Georgia. Those ranges are: Flute (C4-C7), Oboe (Bb3-D6), Bassoon (Bb1-Bb4), Clarinet (E3-G6), and Alto Saxophone (Bb3-F6).
Once a student has selected their instrument, the application will redirect them to a short, ten question quiz which randomly generates note options based on any chromatic note from the insrument ranges provided above and asks one simply question: “What is the pitch tendency of the note below?” Students have the options to choose from three answer choices: Sharp, Ok (In Tune), or Flat. If the student gets the answer correct, their answer selection will briefly flash green before moving to the next question. If they student gets the answer incorrect, their answer selection briefly flashes red while the correct selection briefly flashes green before moving to the next question.
At the end of the quiz, students are alerted of their overall percentage of correct answer choices. It also summarizes their catalogue of incorrect answer choices in a scrollable list and provides the correct answer option for them to review and their own speed.
At any time during the quiz, students can exit the quiz by selecting the “Back” button located in the top, left corner of the screen to leave the quiz and return to the “Select an Instrument” page.