Set Yourself Up for Fall Success Now!

By Nick Likos| May 16, 2026 | Arc: Beam, UDBapp, Geo & StrideTV

As directors, we are always looking for ways to make our rehearsals more efficient, and our student engagement more meaningful. Beam, and Arc’s other products, are a game-changer for for both, but the first hurdle is often the most technical: getting the software approved and added to your district’s official software center.

I’m here to share how I navigated this process within Katy ISD. While every district has its own set of administrative hoops, but the general premise is remarkably similar across districts. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you bring Beam, UDBapp, StrideTV and Geo to your students.

Step 1: Locate Your Request Portal

The journey begins in your teacher portal. Look for a button or link labeled Software/Online Subscription Purchase or New Software Request. This is the formal starting point for getting any digital tool cleared for classroom use.

Step 2: Provide the Vendor Essentials

When you fill out the request form, you’ll need specific vendor details to ensure the IT department can verify the product. Having these ready will save you a lot of back-and-forth:

  • Vendor Name: Ultimate Drill Book
  • Vendor Website:
    • Beam: ultimatedrillbook.com/beam
    • Geo: ultimatedrillbook.com/geo
    • UDBapp: ultimatedrillbook.com/udbapp
    • StrideTV: stridetv.com 
  • Vendor Phone Number: (844) 368-2665

Step 3: Define the “Why” (Instructional Purpose)

Districts want to know exactly how a product benefits students and justifies the investment. When I submitted my request, I focused on these high-impact points for Beam:

  • Sustainability: Students use their district-issued Chromebooks to read music, which dramatically reduces paper waste and printing costs.
  • Real-Time Collaboration: Beam allows students to see every marking the teacher creates in the score instantly.
  • Instructional Efficiency: Teacher annotations automatically populate on the student side, ensuring everyone is literally on the same page.

For UDBapp, the same benefits apply:

  • Sustainability: Students use their district-issued Chromebooks or approved devices like tablets and mobile phones to view and learn their drill, which dramatically reduces paper waste and printing costs for physical dot and drill books.
  • Real-Time Collaboration: UDBapp allows students to see every marking the instructor creates on the drill page instantly, as well as links to choreography, and integrations to Beam to see their sheet music. 
  • Instructional Efficiency: Annotations automatically populate on the student side, ensuring everyone is in sync, even when changes are made. Drill can be re-uploaded in seconds and students are able to see changes instantly. 
  • Accessibility: UDBapp offers animations, written crossing counts and coordinates, and detailed instructions all within the app, offering students with different learning styles the oppotunity to choose what is best for them. 

Geo is a transformational way to make calendar and attendance easier for teachers and students: 

  • Shared calendars: Calendars are shared across organizations, subjects, groups and sub-groups allowing customized access for the relevant students, staff and community members. Shared calendars keep everyone who needs to be – in the loop. 
  • Real-Time Attendance: Geo allows instructors to set check-in reminders ahead of time, or run a live check-in with push notifications to a student’s device, saving the instructor precious class time which is no longer wasted on taking attendance.  
  • Multi-location Check-in: With multi-location check-in, events that happen simultaneously – but in separate locations – can share the same attendance record. Directors can set both the Choir Room and the Bus Loop as a location for checking in to an off-site performance day, giving them a real-time view of who has arrived, and who hasn’t.  
  • Save Admin Time with Excuse Requests: Geo manages excuse requests all in one place, with a filterable export to review later. Students submit their excuse request and directors may approve, deny, or ask form more information, instantly updating the attendance record for that event. 

StrideTV is the home of acclaimed educational and arts enterntaiment series, including the UDB Virtual Curriculum: 

  • UDB Virtual Curriculum: For marchers, the UDB Virtual Curriculum offers high-quality educational videos from renowned educators. The Virtual Curriculum is akin to having master teachers run a clinic for students of all levels. The series includes warm-ups and workouts section leaders can run at the beginning of rehearsal – offering more leadership opportunites to students, as well as in-depth breakdowns of the fundamentals of marching, movement and color guard that can be assigned outside of school time, speeding up instruction during band camps and rehearsals. 
  • Continuing Education: StrideTV also offers clinics and presentations for Directors including best practices for Marching Instruction, Movement, Design, Collaborating with Color Guard, and more.  

Step 4: Address Student Privacy and Account Creation

Most software centers will ask about account management. It is important to be clear about how Arc products function:

  • Individual Access: Accounts are created for every student to allow for secure logins.
  • Director Control: Teachers are granted “Director” access, which allows them to assign specific parts and manage the music, drill or events students see.
  • Security & Privacy: Student security and privacy are of the upmost importance to Arc, and the team can provide documentation of the certifications already held by Arc that are required by most districts around the country.

Step 5: The Technical “Must-Have”

If your form has a section for “Technical Requirements” or “Notes,” there is one critical piece of information to include. To ensure the app runs perfectly on your school’s network, Arc strongly suggests that your IT department “white list” the apps you’ll be requesting at:

We’re Here to Help!

While this workflow reflects my experience in Katy ISD, the core requirements—security, instructional value, and vendor transparency—are universal. If you run into any roadblocks or need specific documentation to satisfy your district’s requirements, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Questions? Contact the team at support@joinarc.com – Let’s get your ensemble set up for the future of arts education!