iOS app

Music Notes

Read the staff without thinking about it. Name the note, again and again, until reading the page stops being the slow part.

No account needed. The browser version runs without installing anything.

What it does

Just name the note

One note appears on the staff and you pick its name. That is the whole loop. Nothing to learn before you start, so the first second is already practice.

Treble and bass

Both clefs are covered, so the gap where one of them reads fine and the other doesn't gets closed. Ledger lines are included.

Speed is recorded

Time per note is kept alongside accuracy. Sight-reading is a question of speed rather than correctness, so that is the number worth watching.

Reading is a matter of repetition

When people say they can't read music, usually they can. They are just slow. The answer is reachable by counting, but the piece has moved on by the time they get there.

Counting

Working up from a landmark line, space by space. You arrive at the right answer, and it costs a few seconds per note.

Recognising

The common notes start arriving without being counted, and the speed of reading a page changes visibly.

Not thinking

The name is simply there when you see the note. At this point reading stops interfering with playing.

Getting between those stages takes repetitions rather than explanation, which is why a session is built to be over in a couple of minutes.

Who it's for

You can play, but reading a new piece is slow

Bass clef falls apart when treble is fine

Ledger lines still get counted every time

You practise alone and want something concrete to drill

Try one minute of it

Whether it suits you is faster to find out by playing one round than by reading about it. The browser version needs no install.