Deckset mac1/10/2024 ![]() Shuffles a Music playlist of concert band repertoire through the speakers while students enter.Opens Tonal Energy Tuner/Metronome app, to play through the speakers.Better Touch Tool action: initiates the Deckset keyboard shortcut to run the Daily Agenda file in presentation mode so that my students can see what we are doing that day.Opens Deckset (My lesson plan is in a Markdown file called Daily Agenda that can be both read in Obsidian on iPad and presented as a slide deck on Mac).Sets the computer output to my Scarlet Solo audio interface (which outputs to the speakers in the room) and the volume of my computer to 50%.Opens Farrago (which includes warmup play-alongs).Closes apps with sensitive data so students don’t see them on screen.Next the shortcut looks to see which device it is being run from to determine which set of actions should take place.Once run, an action from the time tracking app Timery starts logging a timer I use to track teaching hours.This means that running the shortcut on one device effectively runs it on all of them simultaneously. In the Shortcuts app, under the Automation tab, I have an automation set up that will run this shortcut when a device kicks into Rehearsal Focus Mode. When one device goes into a Focus Mode, all devices linked to that same Apple ID also go into the same Focus Mode.My Rehearsal Focus Mode allows only my wife and music team to reach me, as well as time sensitive notifications like alarms. After it is run, my device goes into a Focus Mode called "Rehearsal." Rehearsal Focus Mode is a custom Do Not Disturb variant that can be set up in the Settings app under Focus. What Happens on Mac Triggering the Shortcut Note: This Shortcut is intented for reference and will not automatically work on your devices without the same hardware and software. It strings together multiple system and app actions that I do every class period into one workflow. This automation is made using the Shortcuts app on Apple platforms. My “Rehearsal Focus Automation” Shortcut automates my classroom setup on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch in one (or zero) keystrokes. Any part of this that can be automated goes a long way towards saving time and mental bandwidth. 40-70 students enter, setup in a confined space, ask questions all at once, all while I have my own equipment and procedural responsibilities. The first minutes of a middle school band rehearsal define chaos. Now that the competition is over, I thought I would write about the automation here. I thought it would be fun to submit an automation I have been working on that sets up all of my necessary tech at the beginning of band class, simply by plugging my computer in. One of my favorite sources for tech news,, held an automation contest last April called Automation April.
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