This is incredible because it exactly matches my needs. I started learning the piano 3 years ago as an adult, I love it, but my biggest difficulty is reading scores. I do want to practice but also I'm very lazy, I tried to find a tool to help but never found yours before.
Tiny question before I purchase to unlock the microphone feature (which is really what makes sense for me): does the app understands do ré mi via microphone?
The mic works on the standard 440 tuning and converts the input to its midi representation. Trying to understand your question but the mic doesn't really care about the do, re, me but rather that it's the right frequency for the displayed note on the staff. The mic feature is something I'm actively working on improving as it's decent now but not perfect. If you have an instrument with a way to connect to the phone through midi it's the best experience but if you have acoustic then the mic or just the on screen keyboard is the good.
Sight reading practice for voice is super useful, but not many of us have perfect pitch to pull a starting note out of the air! An option to get a starting note audible cue for vocal sight reading would be a great add-on (and hopefully not too difficult!)
Pro tip: You can pick any note you want as the starting pitch, and do realtive pitch from there. It doesn't matter. Pitch is an affine space, there's no 0 pitch!
Oh of course, if you just want to practice sight reading on your own, correct pitch is irrelevant, but if you want to use an app like this and have it follow along and check if you’re accurate with your sight reading, you have to agree with the app on pitch!
In music school, I was in the position of having excellent relative pitch and zero perfect pitch. In the ear training courses, I actually scored better than the peers with perfect pitch, as it seemed they had difficulty with a lot of the exercises, particularly the by-ear transcription of the four-part bach chorale snippets.
Joining a good choir can do a lot to really build your ear in this respect. Generating a note from within your body does so much more to build your ear than generating a note by hitting a key or plucking a string (wind instruments are kind of a middle ground in this respect).
You may be able to sing to it but since it's assuming the instrument to be in tune (piano) it may be slightly off and still register since it's estimating which note is most correct.
My app appears at the top of a search if you specify sight reading but if you are searching for "learn piano" or similar keywords it will be no where near the top
Apple's app-store search is a joke. Actually... it's not a joke; it's offensive to developers and users alike. You can search for the name of the publisher, spelled perfectly, and Apple will instead show you hundreds of screenfuls of apps that don't contain your search string ANYWHERE.
This despite Apple claiming that publisher name is one of the top three criteria for search.
I've only recently localized the app but only the contents of the app. I'm sure there are a lot of easy improvements on discoverability I'm missing out on.
Indeed! When I first learnd that the English equivalent of...
Do Ré Mi Fa Sol La Si Do
... is...
C D E F G A B C
... it blew my mind :D I mean, I can see the point in using letters instead of words, alright. But why in that order?
Even today I can't find the origin/reason for that -- apart from "It's a German thing" apparently.
It could be just that the "German key notation") and the "Fixed Do key notation" were each created independently centuries ago, and thus differed. And once each system spread and reached users of the other, well, hello, my Do is your C and my A is your La :)
Maybe more importantly, it is in that specific order because it is the key of C major! The A major scale is for example would be A, B, C♯, D, E, F♯, and G♯ ...
In fixed Solfège, that would become La Si Do ... but in movable Solfège, Do would be A, Re would be B ...
And I didn't know about Movable Solfège, thanks! I'll have to study that.
But, to put it in audio perspective rather than comparing words and letters, why is the note that corresponds to 440 Hz named A and not F -- implying that, going lower and lower from 440 Hz for each note, 261.63 Hz would not be named C but rather A instead.
Or, to use maybe a comparison that would work from whence those two notation systems were created/named (I figure with a keyboard nearby), why is the first note of a standard piano octave (you know, this: [1]) labelled C and not A? Since it's the first note of the octave and since the German system is using the alphabet (which, well, starts with A), wouldn't it have made sense to have that first octave piano key be labelled A too :)
I've seen this conversation several times online, and it's funny to see how participants cannot agree on what is being talked about here, and no conclusion is reached. So I'm aware that I might be asking a super dumb beginner question, but I really do wonder why Do=C and not Do=A.
Don't hesitate to slap me with a "origins of musical notation systems" link, I love to read about music and history :)
The easy answer is that the piano is not the "reference" instrument. If you look at a violin, the A major scale is generally the first scale you learn -- not C.
The piano has C natural in the middle of a full 88 keyboard, which is why it is a "natural" scale to pick (C major only uses the white keys, while A major would use three black keys).
So if you are learning another instrument, your "base" note will sometimes be entirely different.
Many "non-western" tradition also aren't tuned to 440 Hz, and even many _western_ traditions don't use 440 Hz for A, 415 Hz is also common.
[addendum]
And why Do/Ut, Re, Mi? Because of a Gregorian chant where each sound sorta fell into a vocal range of monks ... then you adopt Do to whatever "sound" the instrument is closest, many years pass and deviations and standardizations ...
[addendum]
I recommend starting out researching Guido d'Arezzo (and the Guidonian hand) a bit, that is where we get do/re/mi .. which was used as a teaching aid (which is maybe why Solfege as a term is often used in combination to sight reading or singing from sheet music). Almost no matter what language someone sings/voices Do/Re/Mi/... ... it falls naturally into a vocal range, irrespective of octave.
And then one could look into the hexachord ... and deep into a very deep well of confusion.
> The easy answer is that the piano is not the "reference" instrument.
The question make sense without ever thinking about piano. The question is: how come the notes named only by letters (without any accidentals) form a major scale, and yet the note A is not the first note (or tonic) of that scale.
The answer is probably related to the fact that those notes also form other scales (seven of them - seven diatonic modes, one of which corresponds to major scale), and it's only relatively recently that the major scale took a central role in music theory.
You will need to blame Boethius, musical notation is a quagmire of many systems that have been merged over centuries. If you venture into non-western systems, it becomes even more fascinating.
Maybe we should make one more standard .. that consolidates all of them? ;-)
Ah, right, so the question of the starting point is a good one. I don't know the exact historical answer, but it's worth noting that if your are in minor scale (or Aeolian mode) then the tonic of the scale (for A minor) is indeed A.
Quick check with Claude hints that various modes were in common use in church music prior to major scale (Ionian mode) taking more central place in (western) music theory.
The piano is a new instrument, when it was created its natural "place" was within the C major scale (all white keys); while A major requires 3 black keys.
All instruments have a "sweet" spot for where they like to make sound. The baroque flute for example, prefers the key of D -- not C. The violin is very at home in the key of A.
If you sit down at a piano, and find a place to put your fingers a somewhat natural place would where there are two white keys beside two black keys.
Huh. My instinct was that (in English), "solfège" is just the name of the collection of notes. (The same way that "alphabet" is the name of the collection of letters beginning "A B C D E ...".)
And interestingly enough, the English wikipedia page completely backs me up on that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solf%C3%A8ge ("Solfège is a form of solmization, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.")
However, the English wiktionary page gives no gloss other than "a method of sight singing". (More fully, "A method of sight singing that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the seven principal pitches of the scale".)
Merriam-Webster strongly supports the wikipedia definition, but it does note that "a method of sight-reading music" is an alternative, non-primary meaning.
In French, does solfège refer to any sight reading? A common way to sight-read vocal music is to sing the actual lyrics as opposed to the note names. And by far the most common way to sight-read piano music is to play it without saying anything at all.
Akshually... According to Wikipédia FR, the French equivalent of Sight Reading is "Lecture à vue" [1].
Notes:
- I'm French;
- I learnt to play the piano as a teenager, and I'm trying to get back to it again as at 45+;
- I too discovered the "sight reading" term online, but that was long ago (as I recall, through a video of an adult piano player doing "live sight-reading" versions of songs he didn't know beforehand, such as the Mario theme [2];
... and YET neither have I ever heard of nor used "Lecture à vue" (that I remember of). I too would use "apprendre le solfège" (EN: learn solfège) when saying that I'm learning to read the notes on sheet music while playing at the same time.
That’s awesome! I’m not a musician but just impressed by an app with great focus that stands the test of time. Makes me wonder why Apple doesn’t have an area for exactly this type of app; the opposite of Latest Apps.
Might be my pessimistic mood this morning, but I'm curious whether these "awesome x" indices are actually community-owned or whether its code for "one passionate person sifting through a bunch of garbage until they burn out"
Hi, I've been using notequest before and this really hits a string for my needs. There are some places that could be improved.
1. There is lacking logic in the notes, there should be some kind of pattern that an LLM could create that sounds better. For example for left hand usually there could be eg. walking bass/ chord progressions etc, instead of just random notes.
If you need ideas and help on that, you can contact me at (myhackernewsname_at_gmail_dot_com) I am willing to help
2. Now the game is like, press the notes as fast as you can, instead, a musician needs to practice, pressing the note at the right time, which means you can make a metronome + press the notes on time mode, which is even more useful than the present version.
Great feedback. I’m working on a new way to generate lessons. It’s better but even when it’s out it’ll mostly just be a structure I’ll be able to build on.
I agree on the metronome and it’s high on my list of TODO’s. I think it would be very helpful.
Thanks, just downloaded it to try and purchased instantly - great app! Have been “playing” Für Elise for so many years on piano, but forgot how to read sheet music years ago and didn’t quite know how to get back into it. Thought Synthesia would help but struggle at certain parts so the repetition and score based learning will help a lot.
It'll probably come back to you fast. My app is best to learn the note (letter/octave) of what's on the staff and mixed with practice on a real piano should get you back to reading
I am cursed with enough musical memory that if I learn a piece from sheet music, my sight reading literally turns off and I play from some combination of muscle memory and ear. That might sound like a humblebrag, but it's not -it's quite frustrating to "work on reading" and then realize I'm not actually getting better at reading. When I come back to the material later, the short-term musical memory has usually faded and I'm starting over.
That's what comes from playing simpler rock stuff by ear/memory for many years and then moving to large amounts of material which can't be done only by ear.
My solution is to have a large amount of unfamiliar material and just open to a random page and start working things out.
This may sound crazy but my sight reading improved a lot after I took an ear training class that required me to work in arbitrary clefs. I always knew treble and bass from playing piano, and had really memorized the note positions in each.
When I was suddenly forced to work in tenor, alto, soprano, baritone clefs, I could no longer rely on memorization of note positions. I had to pivot to “reading intervals”. A fifth looks the same in any clef, so if you know the current note, and the next note is a fifth above, you know the next note too, clef be damned.
Really? I don't think all fifths look the same even if they're all in the same clef. If you're working in C major, B to F looks like it's a fifth, but it's a tritone. Everything around this becomes a little weird; A# to E# looks like a fifth and is one, but A# to F is a fifth and doesn't look like one.
Random clefs seem like they would make that problem worse.
In my experience, accidentally memorizing what you are reading doesn't really get in the way of what most people think of as sight reading. Internalizing structures and patterns is 99% of what it means ti "learn to read."
I am a paying user! the app is really good, it helped me as an adult starting piano 2 years ago.
Main feature request would be to generate the notes from a score, focusing in the intervals, ranges and patterns the score uses. Doing random notes feels weird, it helps with quick recognition but feels very different to what my head wants to do while playing.
Great to hear you have been using it for that time! I’m actively working on this. If you would like to try out some changes you can contact me through the app (settings) and I can send you a beta
It's one of my "North Star" goals but there is a lot of work between now and then. A middle stage may be the ability to record songs on the app which can be saved for later.
Chiming in to say I downloaded this what feels like ages ago and occasionally come back to it when I’m away from my keyboard for too long, so thank you for this amazing app!
Excellent timing, as I was just looking at some apps to help get back into after 20 years away. I’ve noticed that a number of them, including yours, do include microphone input. That’s great since I only have an upright, but I wondered how well it actually works, especially with more complex drills, or if I should look at getting an affordable midi keyboard for the app-supported practice sessions?
Well it’s an area I’m working to improve. It works well for me but everyone’s acoustic instrument and device is a little different. I’d say it isn’t worth getting a new keyboard to use midi for this purpose. Acoustic pianos are awesome and using my app (or others) on the go to drill in note recognition to supplement your physical practice is a great combination.
I'm trying it and I love it! can I ask you a question? I'm not playing piano since at least 15 years, but why are you using C,D,E,etc instead of the real notes? I found an option to enable do,re,mi,etc but it's only applying on the piano notes instead of the middle screen "note" to play
TIL this, thank you! I'm italian and only knew about the do re mi fa sol la si do :D
From ChatGPT:
The choice between using letter names (C, D, E, etc.) and solfege (do, re, mi, etc.) largely comes down to tradition and purpose:
• Historical Convention: In Western music, the letter system has been the standard for centuries. It provides a clear, concise way to notate specific pitches on a staff, which is especially useful for instruments like the piano or guitar.
• Clarity in Notation: Letters denote fixed pitches, making it easier to communicate musical ideas in written form. This helps performers quickly identify which keys or notes to play without additional context.
• Educational Focus: Solfege is typically used as a tool for vocal training and ear development. It emphasizes the relationship between pitches (intervals) and is often taught using a movable system (where “do” represents the tonic of any given scale) or a fixed system (where “do” is always C). This system helps singers internalize pitch relationships and improve sight-singing.
• Different Purposes: Essentially, the letter system is more suited to the precision required in written music scores, while solfege is more about developing a musician’s internal sense of pitch and harmony.
In short, both systems have their place in music, with letters serving as the backbone of Western musical notation and solfege acting as an invaluable educational tool.
Not an answer to your question but I have 8 iPhone app on AppStore, and many more on my phone not published. Made an Android app, but it’s hard to publish to Google Play compared. Stopped almost at the end in the approval process, because I felt like this platform must really hate developers. Or is it just me?
When I see the stats on paying Android users compared to iPhone, I feel I always will start on iOS and only maybe make to Android if it’s successful somewhere else first.
Yet another HN moment for me: I use it, and as I bought/downloaded like 50 or more - I think it is the best out there.
Given that I might have you „on the feedback phoneline” I have thoughts, I’d like to share:
- It might not be true, but it seems that notes are picked at random so sometimes I feel there’s disharmony which somewhat distracts me - in age of LLMs maybe it would be plausible to ask for generation of more harmonic sounding sequences?
- I don’t practice sight reading often but when I do I usually practice longer than 1-3 minutes - clicking through lessons to get to the next one is distracting - I’d enjoy endless auto-progress (that is - keep progress structure so no free training but just auto start next one)
- I’d like to have minimalistic practice mode (I.e. follow progression but without any aids at all) - I repeat lessons but my brain flips lazy mode when it sees helpers.
I’d like to thank you for making this app accessible in terms of price though. However I have resources and want to support developers I believe in which includes you and your application. I’d suggest „coffee subscription” - I.e. completely optional no-features added but visible and I’d be glad to enable and forget about it.
In fun-fact context: I have some uncommon traits and my educational needs are different from general population (I cannot do repetitions and I have multisensory aphantasia - can’t hear sounds in my head - so can’t memorize them) and your app so far helped building passive eye-muscle link which I find fascinating on its own.
This is all really great feedback and it's great to hear you've used my app! A couple of things:
1. I'm currently testing a new way of generating practices with some patterns and elements that make it feel more musical. I'd love to have you test the beta if you're interested. You can just email me in the settings screen.
2. I updated the lessons visual aids by only showing the hint on the staff itself for what was new to that lesson. It was previously overkill to do all notes if it was just adding a couple to the range. The visual aid of notes on the keyboard may also be too far but I think it's helpful or maybe I can fade them out eventually.
3. I hear this and something I should address. Years ago I originally made extremely long lessons but I'd get feedback asking me to make lessons that had an end. I could very easily make the lesson length configurable.
4. I really appreciate the coffee subscription idea. Maybe I can consider adding that and be explicit that it doesn't provide anything other than support of me.
It's great to hear the app practice has helped with your eye. Maybe it's the repetitive back and forth of the reading?
Guitar player here. App looks great, but shame it's only for piano. I used a different app that does pretty much the same thing and really benefited from it, the improvement was noticeable after each session.
If you add guitar support it will be an immediate download for me.
I hear you on the other instruments and guitar request. I tried making a violin app years ago and it was a tiny fraction of the traffic of the piano version which I'm guessing is common theme amongst other developers. That's not an excuse but just the reason I didn't focus on other instruments in the past. Now technically I did slightly support guitar in my app in that you can offset the input of notes in settings which would mean you could use the mic as input and play the guitar as you'd expect while sight reading but the onscreen is still piano. Maybe sometime soon
Tab notation doesn't provide full time signature information, if you're picking up a piece of music which you've never heard played before
In tablature, imagine one string's line shows ---10-----7--8------11----13. How long do you hold each note? Clearly 7 to 8 is quick, but how quick? Sheet music gives you this exact information.
There are some settings where it's good for a guitar player to be able to sight read. If you're playing for random bands, or playing classical, it can be a big help.
Unsolicited advice but I think you’re too timid with the IAP! It’s a superb app and there is no shame in asking for the upgrade. I tapped the button labeled “mic (premium required)” fully expecting the paywall, and it had a prompt to ask if it was okay to show the paywall… it’s not a hard paywall, there’s a visible X icon, nobody’s going to be mad if it pops up.
If you want to go a step further, you have only 1 one-time-purchase, what if you tap the mic icon, and a popover modal has the required disclosure text and the “purchase” button right there? The Slopes app did this to significant effect I believe - reduce friction.
I completely agree I'm being too timid. With that said it was 100% free for many years and I always had in my mind that I would get it to a certain level before being more aggressive. Because I never really had as much time on this project as I would have liked I also never felt it was ready to try to ramp up monetization. Also I've really enjoyed providing a high value resource to music students and I'll always keep more of it free than is common. I've also always avoided any form of popup or banner advertisement mostly because I don't like them.
I'd say the best thing to do would be to get a keyboard you enjoyed and make sure it was compatible with iOS. The quality of instrument will hopefully keep you interested for all of the learning/playing.
I tried the app and I honestly am pretty disappointed. I know the app is for note training but the rhythms are completely broken. In Ode to Joy and Minuet, there are notes that should be dotted but are not. And in Practice modes there is also no consistency; some measures have 4 beats, others 6. I'd consider removing the measure bars entirely and/or making all notes have the same duration if note pitch is the only goal.
Yeah these are things I'm working on. The lack of dotted notes and rests are a weakness in doing any real songs which is why that section is a little lacking. I'm testing a new way to build lessons altogether which will be a big improvement over random. Anyway thanks for the feedback. I know there is a lot to go
Honestly I've always felt it wasn't done enough. It still isn't done enough against what I'd want but obviously I was years late on when I should have shown it haha
The original version only took a few days but it was really basic. I don’t really know how to measure how long this took because it was such a slow process over the years. It’s gotta be many hundreds of hours or even more at this point. I’ve refactored major systems a couple of times over the years. If I lost my code and had to rewrite the same app it would take a couple months I assume.
I know what sight reading factory is but I haven't personally used it. In the app you can isolate the Treble staff for practice/lessons so it would work for practice with what you read on trumpet (I believe)
Sight reading is equal parts being quick to parse the score and being quick to understand the piece harmonically/rythmically. This is why random exercises or simple songs don't really cut it.
Also, it's all about compromise. When sight reading a serious piece you will almost never be expected or be capable of playing every note. You have to understand what's important and what's feasible, and to do that on the fly you need tons of musical experience.
Yes, sight reading is a misnomer because at some level it is almost impossible to sight read a complex piece. It is not like reading a book where you will be able to read the words correctly as long as you're literate. What you can say is that you're familiar with simple/medium complexity rhythms so you can play them as you read.
Not sure i agree with that. I can sight read through just about any piece, albeit not at full speed. If I make a mistake, I keep going. Jazz is definitely the hardest, due to rhythm and complex chords.
As a piano player that primarily sight reads, I end playing a lot of music, so maybe it is partly memorizing patterns.
Jazz is...different. The Real Book is full of mistakes by some Berklee students in the 1970s. Standards as played on the bandstand are very different than what is on the records. The records are all different from each other. The melody is simplified or shortened or embellished, and the chords? Forget it, you'll find out that the piano player likes to play a dominant instead of minor only when you're actually playing the tune. Ask a pro how to think about the harmony of a standard, and they'll explain how they think about the harmony of the variant they prefer.
I can understand this sentiment in other contexts, but here? I'm not sure. They're exfiltrating how bad I can play sheet music? I'm not really sure if I see the problem?
It's also just app usage data NOT linked to identity, per their App Store page. Suggesting the developer is lying about this is a serious accusation, so I'd hope the parent commenter has some proof they'd like to share. Otherwise this is just another casualty in the headfirst slide into negativity on HN lately.
It is immaterial whether or not such surveillance is linked to identity or not. Would you be okay with a video of you showering being published without your consent if your face were blurred out?
Tiny question before I purchase to unlock the microphone feature (which is really what makes sense for me): does the app understands do ré mi via microphone?
Thanks for your work.
Pro tip: You can pick any note you want as the starting pitch, and do realtive pitch from there. It doesn't matter. Pitch is an affine space, there's no 0 pitch!
I learned that as you get older, if you don't use it, you lose it.
This despite Apple claiming that publisher name is one of the top three criteria for search.
Do Ré Mi Fa Sol La Si Do
... is...
C D E F G A B C
... it blew my mind :D I mean, I can see the point in using letters instead of words, alright. But why in that order?
Even today I can't find the origin/reason for that -- apart from "It's a German thing" apparently.
It could be just that the "German key notation") and the "Fixed Do key notation" were each created independently centuries ago, and thus differed. And once each system spread and reached users of the other, well, hello, my Do is your C and my A is your La :)
Well, it's in the alphabetical order.
In fixed Solfège, that would become La Si Do ... but in movable Solfège, Do would be A, Re would be B ...
And I didn't know about Movable Solfège, thanks! I'll have to study that.
But, to put it in audio perspective rather than comparing words and letters, why is the note that corresponds to 440 Hz named A and not F -- implying that, going lower and lower from 440 Hz for each note, 261.63 Hz would not be named C but rather A instead.
Or, to use maybe a comparison that would work from whence those two notation systems were created/named (I figure with a keyboard nearby), why is the first note of a standard piano octave (you know, this: [1]) labelled C and not A? Since it's the first note of the octave and since the German system is using the alphabet (which, well, starts with A), wouldn't it have made sense to have that first octave piano key be labelled A too :)
[1]: https://www.hellosimply.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/...
I've seen this conversation several times online, and it's funny to see how participants cannot agree on what is being talked about here, and no conclusion is reached. So I'm aware that I might be asking a super dumb beginner question, but I really do wonder why Do=C and not Do=A.
Don't hesitate to slap me with a "origins of musical notation systems" link, I love to read about music and history :)
The piano has C natural in the middle of a full 88 keyboard, which is why it is a "natural" scale to pick (C major only uses the white keys, while A major would use three black keys).
So if you are learning another instrument, your "base" note will sometimes be entirely different.
Many "non-western" tradition also aren't tuned to 440 Hz, and even many _western_ traditions don't use 440 Hz for A, 415 Hz is also common.
[addendum] And why Do/Ut, Re, Mi? Because of a Gregorian chant where each sound sorta fell into a vocal range of monks ... then you adopt Do to whatever "sound" the instrument is closest, many years pass and deviations and standardizations ...
[addendum] I recommend starting out researching Guido d'Arezzo (and the Guidonian hand) a bit, that is where we get do/re/mi .. which was used as a teaching aid (which is maybe why Solfege as a term is often used in combination to sight reading or singing from sheet music). Almost no matter what language someone sings/voices Do/Re/Mi/... ... it falls naturally into a vocal range, irrespective of octave.
And then one could look into the hexachord ... and deep into a very deep well of confusion.
The question make sense without ever thinking about piano. The question is: how come the notes named only by letters (without any accidentals) form a major scale, and yet the note A is not the first note (or tonic) of that scale.
The answer is probably related to the fact that those notes also form other scales (seven of them - seven diatonic modes, one of which corresponds to major scale), and it's only relatively recently that the major scale took a central role in music theory.
Maybe we should make one more standard .. that consolidates all of them? ;-)
Quick check with Claude hints that various modes were in common use in church music prior to major scale (Ionian mode) taking more central place in (western) music theory.
All instruments have a "sweet" spot for where they like to make sound. The baroque flute for example, prefers the key of D -- not C. The violin is very at home in the key of A.
If you sit down at a piano, and find a place to put your fingers a somewhat natural place would where there are two white keys beside two black keys.
And then press them in order.. C major scale.
And interestingly enough, the English wikipedia page completely backs me up on that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solf%C3%A8ge ("Solfège is a form of solmization, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.")
However, the English wiktionary page gives no gloss other than "a method of sight singing". (More fully, "A method of sight singing that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the seven principal pitches of the scale".)
Merriam-Webster strongly supports the wikipedia definition, but it does note that "a method of sight-reading music" is an alternative, non-primary meaning.
In French, does solfège refer to any sight reading? A common way to sight-read vocal music is to sing the actual lyrics as opposed to the note names. And by far the most common way to sight-read piano music is to play it without saying anything at all.
Notes:
... and YET neither have I ever heard of nor used "Lecture à vue" (that I remember of). I too would use "apprendre le solfège" (EN: learn solfège) when saying that I'm learning to read the notes on sheet music while playing at the same time.[1]: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecture_%C3%A0_vue (change language for confirmation)
[2]: Possibly this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9IkpUYlOx8
Though I wouldn't say that it is the same as "sight reading" -- but maybe "sight singing"?
- Nice logo
- Clear, engaging screenshots
- Solid title/subtitle with relevant keywords
- Amazing reviews and ratings
Really well done!
In theory, reputation signals from 'awesome' lists and HN threads could inform search engines, LLMs and app market analytics.
2. Now the game is like, press the notes as fast as you can, instead, a musician needs to practice, pressing the note at the right time, which means you can make a metronome + press the notes on time mode, which is even more useful than the present version.
I agree on the metronome and it’s high on my list of TODO’s. I think it would be very helpful.
That's what comes from playing simpler rock stuff by ear/memory for many years and then moving to large amounts of material which can't be done only by ear.
My solution is to have a large amount of unfamiliar material and just open to a random page and start working things out.
When I was suddenly forced to work in tenor, alto, soprano, baritone clefs, I could no longer rely on memorization of note positions. I had to pivot to “reading intervals”. A fifth looks the same in any clef, so if you know the current note, and the next note is a fifth above, you know the next note too, clef be damned.
Really? I don't think all fifths look the same even if they're all in the same clef. If you're working in C major, B to F looks like it's a fifth, but it's a tritone. Everything around this becomes a little weird; A# to E# looks like a fifth and is one, but A# to F is a fifth and doesn't look like one.
Random clefs seem like they would make that problem worse.
Main feature request would be to generate the notes from a score, focusing in the intervals, ranges and patterns the score uses. Doing random notes feels weird, it helps with quick recognition but feels very different to what my head wants to do while playing.
Noticed a typo: "Notes is your is your tool..." in the app store description.
Am I missing something?
C, D, ... are real notes? Some countries do Solfège, some don't.
From ChatGPT:
The choice between using letter names (C, D, E, etc.) and solfege (do, re, mi, etc.) largely comes down to tradition and purpose: • Historical Convention: In Western music, the letter system has been the standard for centuries. It provides a clear, concise way to notate specific pitches on a staff, which is especially useful for instruments like the piano or guitar. • Clarity in Notation: Letters denote fixed pitches, making it easier to communicate musical ideas in written form. This helps performers quickly identify which keys or notes to play without additional context. • Educational Focus: Solfege is typically used as a tool for vocal training and ear development. It emphasizes the relationship between pitches (intervals) and is often taught using a movable system (where “do” represents the tonic of any given scale) or a fixed system (where “do” is always C). This system helps singers internalize pitch relationships and improve sight-singing. • Different Purposes: Essentially, the letter system is more suited to the precision required in written music scores, while solfege is more about developing a musician’s internal sense of pitch and harmony.
In short, both systems have their place in music, with letters serving as the backbone of Western musical notation and solfege acting as an invaluable educational tool.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pranapps.n...
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/note-flash-music-sight-reading...
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/jl.musicalnotes/
https://codeberg.org/jonas-l/musical-notes-android
https://www.babeloop.com/
When I see the stats on paying Android users compared to iPhone, I feel I always will start on iOS and only maybe make to Android if it’s successful somewhere else first.
Given that I might have you „on the feedback phoneline” I have thoughts, I’d like to share:
- It might not be true, but it seems that notes are picked at random so sometimes I feel there’s disharmony which somewhat distracts me - in age of LLMs maybe it would be plausible to ask for generation of more harmonic sounding sequences?
- I don’t practice sight reading often but when I do I usually practice longer than 1-3 minutes - clicking through lessons to get to the next one is distracting - I’d enjoy endless auto-progress (that is - keep progress structure so no free training but just auto start next one)
- I’d like to have minimalistic practice mode (I.e. follow progression but without any aids at all) - I repeat lessons but my brain flips lazy mode when it sees helpers.
I’d like to thank you for making this app accessible in terms of price though. However I have resources and want to support developers I believe in which includes you and your application. I’d suggest „coffee subscription” - I.e. completely optional no-features added but visible and I’d be glad to enable and forget about it.
In fun-fact context: I have some uncommon traits and my educational needs are different from general population (I cannot do repetitions and I have multisensory aphantasia - can’t hear sounds in my head - so can’t memorize them) and your app so far helped building passive eye-muscle link which I find fascinating on its own.
1. I'm currently testing a new way of generating practices with some patterns and elements that make it feel more musical. I'd love to have you test the beta if you're interested. You can just email me in the settings screen.
2. I updated the lessons visual aids by only showing the hint on the staff itself for what was new to that lesson. It was previously overkill to do all notes if it was just adding a couple to the range. The visual aid of notes on the keyboard may also be too far but I think it's helpful or maybe I can fade them out eventually.
3. I hear this and something I should address. Years ago I originally made extremely long lessons but I'd get feedback asking me to make lessons that had an end. I could very easily make the lesson length configurable.
4. I really appreciate the coffee subscription idea. Maybe I can consider adding that and be explicit that it doesn't provide anything other than support of me.
It's great to hear the app practice has helped with your eye. Maybe it's the repetitive back and forth of the reading?
If you add guitar support it will be an immediate download for me.
In tablature, imagine one string's line shows ---10-----7--8------11----13. How long do you hold each note? Clearly 7 to 8 is quick, but how quick? Sheet music gives you this exact information.
https://paulrosen.github.io/abcjs/visual/tablature.html
I'll see if my daughter is interested, but I'd love a guitar version (hint, hint).
I'd love to add new instruments. I actually have a version which is violin only but it is pretty stale at this point.
If you want to go a step further, you have only 1 one-time-purchase, what if you tap the mic icon, and a popover modal has the required disclosure text and the “purchase” button right there? The Slopes app did this to significant effect I believe - reduce friction.
Also, it's all about compromise. When sight reading a serious piece you will almost never be expected or be capable of playing every note. You have to understand what's important and what's feasible, and to do that on the fly you need tons of musical experience.
As a piano player that primarily sight reads, I end playing a lot of music, so maybe it is partly memorizing patterns.