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SmartMusic Review

Because Chromatik is no longer available, I thought I would compare SmartMusic & MusicFirst as they are both similar softwares that utilize the cloud.

To begin my review, I wanted to look at the ultimate goals of both softwares. For easy reference, I have screen shots of both.

SmartMusic: Guided Practice









MusicFirst: K-12 Music Software Tools
As you can see, SmartMusic places its focus on practice. MusicFirst has many different aspects that can be bundled together or used separately. MusicFirst has bundles based off grade levels and content areas: Elementary, Band/Chorus/Orchestra, Music Theory, and General Music. Similar to SmartMusic, MusicFirst has what is called PracticeFirst.

So, let's compare SmartMusic and PracticeFirst.

Smart Music gives very specific feedback to the students. As you can tell from the screen shot, it highlights notes & rests for the student.


PracticeFirst is less specific than SmartMusic when it comes to identifying areas for improvement. As you can see from the screen shot, the exercise is color coded.

Additionally, PracticeFirst does not have as vast of a library as SmartMusic. However, just like SmartMusic you can upload your own examples to assign to students through MuseScore.

Price is another difference. SmartMusic offers a free version, which does not provide full access to all features. The full version is set for 3 teachers and 50 students. However, more personalized options are available by quote.


MusicFirst has a 30 day free-trial. Afterwards, you will need to purchase a license to continue utilizing the software. You have two choices: purchasing the premium content or specific content. You must go through the process of receiving a quote based on the content you wish to have access to, and how many "seats" you will need based off the number of students in each class that will be using the software.

I went through step two of the quote process with MusicFirst to see an estimated price. You should take note that I had to "add" PracticeFirst, and Soundation for Education is included in the regular subscription.

As a side note, I added Sight Reading Factory and Noteflight Learn because I would be interested in utilizing them for pedagogical and content reasons. Additionally, the subscription includes access to lessons based on the software you purchase access to.


All in all, SmartMusic and MusicFirst are both similar, but they have their differences based off their ultimate goals. Besides what I have mentioned above, you will find little difference in the offerings of SmartMusic and PracticeFirst. As an educator, I would choose SmartMusic as I could include multiple tools under one subscription rather than managing multiple subscriptions. I believe it would also fill my needs better as a K-12 music educator as well if I were to explore and add the Elementary tools.

All images are screen shots taken directly from the websites of SmartMusic and MusicFirst.

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