Springfield, Ohio – Wittenberg University has released a music app for iPhone and iPod touch, its second in three years.

The new app, called InTune, was approved by Apple earlier this month. InTune develops and tests users’ ability to hear very close music pitches. The app was created through collaborative effort led by Professor of Music Daniel Kazez, with Peiqian Li, class of 2013 from Changchun, China, as lead software engineer and Assistant Professor of Art Crispin Prebys as graphic designer.

The concept for InTune is based on a computer program created by Kazez and his son Ben, with assistance from Professor of Statistics and Chair of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department Doug Andrews and Professor of Psychology Mary Jo Zembar. Andrews created a mathematical algorithm for changing the distance between pitches and Zembar developed analysis of data for a study indicating that with repeated use of the program the ability to discern very close pairs of pitches improves.

InTune is the second Wittenberg collaboration that has produced a music app for iPhone and iPod touch. If history is any guide, InTune will surely be a big hit.

UPDATE: InTune has been a top-10 music app in 15 countries and a top-25 music app in more than 40 countries. Through early February, InTune had nearly 14,000 downloads.

Kazez worked with music students, alumni and fellow faculty members in 2009 to create an app called Composer of the Day, which offers concise, one-sentence biographies of classical composers – one per day, on the composer’s birthday. It was named one of the “Top Five Classical Music iPhone Apps” by New York radio station WQXR – the country’s first (and most listened to) classical music radio station.

John Chowning, Wittenberg class of 1959, is among the featured composers. Called “a pioneer in computer music” by the New York Times in 2006, Chowning creates compositions that “are among the most beautiful and sophisticated achievements in computer music,” according to the Oxford Companion to Music (2002).

Version 1.1 of Composer of the Day provides the ability to hear sound clips for each composer. The app was listed in a “Wish List of iPhone Apps That I’d Like For Droid” by Lowe Piano Studio.

Composer of the Day app is a free download, while InTune is sold for 99 cents, with all proceeds going to support Wittenberg University. Complete information and a link to the download can be found online at www.wittenberg.edu/music/app-intune.

Written By: Ryan Maurer
Photo By: Erin Pence