Mobile Music

One can never have too many gadgets, but it is even better to have all your gadgets incorporated into your mobile phone. Indeed, my current mobile, an HTC Touch Diamond, is a veritable swiss army knife, with dozens of functions I would never have expected of a phone just a few years ago. When it comes to the choir though, the one tool which I find really useful is the mini piano keyboard called JB Piano (the Windows Mobile smartphone/standard equivalent is Smart Piano). It is really handy when you want to pick out note for the choir to harmonize too, and has been a life-saver for those random rehearsals where a regular keyboard was not available.

One thing I will say though, is that when it comes to making music, as opposed to playing a single note, it is infinitely better to have a hardware keyboard rather than tap something on a touch screen. I am already amazed at what my Prodikeys keyboard is capable of, with its velocity-sensitive keys, but I have always longed for the same thing on my mobile phone. Well, I am pleased to report that I am not the only one, and Japan's kddi has teamed up with Yamaha to produce a range of concept mobile phones with musical instruments built in. The picture here is of the piano version, but there are other variants including a harp and drumsticks. Here's hoping they make it into production!