Mobile apps can optimise your learning process

We would be surprised of how much we can progress during the time we are not home with your instrument. Our knowledge in musical notation and aural skills, so necessary to develop the instrumental training, can be boosted with some useful apps with just 10 to 15 minutes a day.

During that "dead-time" in the tube or bus, practice time can be used to enhance our learning experience and maximise our skills.

AURAL TRAINING APP

AURAL BOOK

On the top of our list, we can definitively put "Aural book" This app is designed specially to cover all ABRSM syllabus. There are levels for each grade, so just download the one you need for the Grade you are currently preparing, for example, just type "Aural book grade 1" if you need to prepare for that grade. It is very easy to use!

This app will allow you to review all the topics you need in the time you can. Please bear in mind that aural training demands as much time as the practice of your instrument.

NOTATION APP

TENUTO

Wonderful app, the only drawback....is just for Iphone, ipad and iphone touch, not for Android user...the good news are that you can use it online here:

http://www.musictheory.net/exercises

Has exercises for mostly everything: Note, Chord, Interval, key signature and scale identification.

There are two exercises with which you do if you are just starting piano and you need extra help in practising the note location, Note identification and Keyboard reverse identification, the last one, is the closest thing to actually "sight-read"

The first thing you should do is to go the upper part, on the right side of the window. If you click there, several options will appear such as: clefs (always select the Grand Staff), Range (you can start simple within the range of the staff without ledger lines), key signatures (we can start with just 1, no sharp or flats key signatures), note names (for the British names, click on "Letters", and the A-B-C-D-E-F-G notes will be your selection, if you prefer the Do-Re-Mi note names, select "Solfege Do-Si"), and our last option, "Accidentals" which will include sharp and flat notes.

You can customise ALL exercises, and there is a whole section on Aural training with exercises such as the note, interval, chord and scale ear identification.

For Android users, you can download "Perfect ear" and for Notation exercises "music tutor (sight-reading) " is quite handy.

Good luck!