Under time pressure this note recognition game test your ability to identify notes on the staff which in turn should help you to read music faster. You can interact with it in two ways: by clicking buttons with your trackpad or mouse, or by using your computer keyboard for a smoother and more fast experience.
It divides its interface into a right hand control console where you set up your drill and a left-hand side game stage where you just need to focus on reading. This is what the game does. It shows a note on the staff and asks you to choose the right accidental (flat, sharp, or natural) from the buttons. Then, you select letter name from A, G.
How to Use the Note Recognition Game
If your selection matches the correct one then it will advance and play sound of the right piano tone for that note. If not, it will add weight to that note and it will occur more often in later practice drill.
It is directly mapped to the keyboard so response time is faster. To choose the letter name of A-G use the number keys from 1-7. The natural key is zero, the flat key is minus, and the sharp key is plus. If you press the space bar it will replay the last played pitch but won’t alter what you are doing in your score. With this map you can have your hands on the keyboard and react fast than the clock counts down.
First up: set your session in the console on the right. Here you can select your reading range (bass chromatic, grand staff mix, chromatic treble, and starter treble naturals) with the drop down menu. Then decide how fast you want to read. Adjust target response slider to create your own pace goal. This is where the game comes into play. It will record if your answer is within or outside of this time frame, which allows you to see just how fast you are reading. Finally, slide the piano volume up or down depending on what room you’re playing in.
There’s also a standard 60 second sprint. They throw out notes in a random order based off what range you’ve chosen, then keep track of your accuracy, score, and even streak. For the ledger lines people, there’s a button to do a focused, 20 second round of just those pesky upper and lower pitches called “ledger burst”. And lastly, there is an adaptive drill button that begins a thirty second round, weighting the notes towards what you’ve passed or missed in previous rounds.
When working through a round there are a number of tools available to assist you. There’s a Landmark Button that will draw a dotted line on the stave, reminding you of the key note (e.g. This shows the G4 note for the treble clef, in case you have lost your place but want to hide the note temporarily. The Sound Button lets you hear the pitch being played at any point. You can use it to check what you think you should be hearing, double-check the accidental, or just wonder. The Pass Button allows you to bypass an awkward note and then mark it down as a missed note so you’ll see it more frequent in subsequent adaptive practice drills.
There are also a few visual indicators that give feedback in real time: An accuracy percentage, current streak, correct count and remaining time appear on the top of the screen (the HUD). Your most recent 10 answers is displayed below the staff, color-coded as “hits” or “misses.” At the very bottom, the weak-letter map plots out your misfires by letter name, showing where you’re having trouble; i.e. Which letters should you be practicing?
The restart button lets you reset anytime. Any running timers stop, the sprint board resets, and all your weakness data are cleared. If you wish to begin again or are going to change up your practice goals, it’s nice not to have to bring along any errors of the past. The help panel also opens to explain in more detail how the controls work and what the notation mean.
In order to maximises its use, mix up your practice. Begin in the first mode (range) with just natural notes so that you gain confidence as you go on to the chromatic modes. For more focused development, the adaptive drill can be excellent where it challenges you specifically on the pairs of notes that you struggle with. Keep your streak going here and work on speed whilst not sacrificing accuracy. If you do lose your way then make use of the landmark option to reset yourself back in the stave.
Choose a reading range that feels right for you and pick a realistic reading pace to start with. Hit the launch button and concentrate on finding the landmark of the clef first. Count the number of diatonic steps until you reach the note. Add the accidental and repeat. Regular practice will lead to an improvement in both your accuracy and reading speed. See how quickly you can read the staff below.