MusoLink’s World’s Prep Challenge makes practicing a win-win for winning prizes

Matt Fraser hopes to make practice a win-win for pipers and drummers who want to gain an edge using his MusoLink app.

The pipe-major of Grade 1 Hawthorn of Melbourne, Australia, launched the MusoLink app last November, and now, as the World Championships and other big-time competitions approach for bands and soloists, Fraser has created the World’s Prep Challenge, where users clock 20 x 20-minute practice sessions to be eligible for a draw to win their choice of a Maverick practice chanter or a Jim Kilpatrick Pro Pad and stand.

MusoLink is a free app that tracks practice time and progress for pipers and pipe band drummers. Fraser describes the app as “a practice tracker with a social twist. Players can log sessions, and stay motivated with challenges and kudos from their mates. They can listen back to their sessions (privately) and, if they choose, share them with teachers or peers for feedback.”

He said that the uptake to the app has been solid since its debut six months ago: “MusoLink is already being used by top bands and schools, like Scotch College and Hawthorn, and we’re seeing great results in terms of engagement and performance gains.”

The latest version of the app added the Listen Back feature, which allows users to review any session.

“Listening back to my recordings regularly is the single biggest change I made that helped with the quality of my piping, so I wanted to ensure this was a key part of the app. All recordings and practice notes are now in one place, and can be easily shared outside of the app if necessary.”

To be eligible for the draw, MusoLink users log 20 x 20-minute practice sessions on pipes, snare, or bass/tenor before the World’s to go into the draw to win a prize. The app automatically tracks and updates progress.

“The challenge adds a bit of community energy around prep season,” Fraser added. “We have released a number of other improvements in addition to this, and continue to actively work on the app. Our goal is to get people playing more, and to get the most out of their sessions.”

Fraser also created the BeeFlat bagpipe tuning app. He was inspired to create MusoLink after training for and running a marathon, using a similar software application for runners.