Learn to read sheet music, one note at a time

Reading sheet music felt like tedious, messy work to me. So I built my own method: an app that quizzes you on notes, measures how you're doing and lets you raise the difficulty a little at a time.

Answer by typing, with your instrument or with a MIDI keyboard
And everything you practice gets measured

The practice: a note appears and you answer as fast as you can

I never went to music school.

I'm an amateur. For years I felt like I was missing out on a musical party because I couldn't read those little dots, which are actually very simple. The methods I found for learning never quite worked for me, so I built my own, shaped around the way I learn. It's giving me great results, and that's why I'm sharing it. I'm still developing the app, but you can already use it.

7
ways to answer
+100
options to adjust the difficulty
8
languages

Try it now: what note is this?

Eight notes in treble clef. Tap the name of each one as fast as you can.

What note is this?
 
You can also use your keyboard: C D E F G A B

Difficulty that fits you

You start with four notes.You choose the clef, key and range. You add the rest when you feel comfortable.
You practice what's hardest for you.You can make slow or missed notes come up more often, and retire the ones you've already mastered so they stop coming up.
You answer however you like.By typing, playing the guitar, singing, on clarinet, on violin or with a MIDI keyboard.
You see how you're improving.Correct answers and time for every note, every key and every day.

METRICS

What you can't measure, you can't improve. The app saves every note you answer: whether you got it right and how long it took you.

A heat map of the staff

In green, the notes you've got down. In red, the ones you haven't yet. You can view it by hits in a row, by speed and by total hits, for each clef.

Slow but sure, fast but shaky

Some notes I always get right, but I read them slowly. Others I answer fast, but not always correctly. You practice them differently, and here you see them apart, one by one.

Your range, growing

You start with a few notes and open up the range when you feel comfortable. Here you can see how it grew and how your response time came down.

Consistency, day by day

How many notes you answered each day. Keeping up the habit is easier when you can see it.

OPTIONS

Absolutely everything can be adjusted. Each option is a way to raise the difficulty one step, not the whole staircase.

Key and key signatureOne, several, or have it move on by itself around the circle of fifths.
Clef and rangeTreble, bass or both, with the range you choose.
Which notes come up moreMore C, D, E and F, less B. You add the rest little by little.
Lines or spacesOnly the notes on the lines, or only the ones in the spaces.
Pedal noteA note that keeps coming back, alternating or at random.
Triads and chordsArpeggiated, one note at a time. You choose which ones: for example, only Dm and F.
Drone noteThe tonic sounds in the background, so you link each place on the staff with a sound.
Loose accidentalsSharps, flats, naturals and double accidentals, outside the key signature.

Every change goes on a list

Everything you modify shows up under “Changes”. From there you can remove it or switch it off for a while, without losing what you set up.

You decide which notes come up more

Each clef has its own range and its own distribution: even, or weighted toward the notes you want to work on.

Choose how to answer

Typing

On your computer keyboard or from your phone. With letter names (C, D, E) or solfège (Do, Re, Mi).

With your instrument

Turn on the microphone and play the note: guitar, clarinet, violin or your voice, singing or whistling. You can also say the name of the note out loud. It comes with a tuner.

MIDI keyboard

Plug in any MIDI keyboard and answer by playing.

MIDI file

Upload a melody, from Reaper, Sibelius or whatever you use, and the app quizzes you on its notes in order.

Especially for guitarists

You choose exactly which frets you want to work on and the app only asks you the notes in that part of the neck. Metrics are kept separately for each answer method.

Not sure where to start?

There are work templates sorted by difficulty. You pick one and the app sets up the score on its own.

01

Four notes

C, D, E and F, rotating through the circle of fifths. After 50 correct answers in a row it moves on to the next key.

02

Expanding range

You start with C alone. Every 10 correct answers in a row, one note is added above.

03

Little stairway

The notes of the range you chose, one at a time, going up and down, and then back to the start.

And awards when you outdo yourself

Your best time on a note, your first time in a new key, a streak of correct answers. And when you reach 20 notes in a row, the app tells you: it's time to add difficulty.

The app comes with the coffee

If you buy me a coffee once a month, I give you access to Sheet Reading: Pitch and all the material for subscribers. It's the only way I found to make this real.

☕ A coffee a month

  • ✓ The full version of Sheet Reading: Pitch, with your metrics saved
  • ✓ The other apps for subscribers
  • ✓ Videos explaining chapters of the books, and backing tracks
  • ✓ Everything new I keep adding
Monthly
per month
Recommended
Semi-annual 
every 6 months
Annual 
per year
You choose the plan in the next step. Secure payment, cancel anytime.
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Reading sheet music is simpler than it looks. The hard part is practicing in an organized way, and the app takes care of that.