Sight Reading Apps
As we know, one of the biggest struggles for new music students is learning to read the notes. In our prior articles we introduced mnemonic phrases and practicing with flash cards. Those techniques are simple and work fine if done correctly. However, technology has progressed a lot in the meantime. There are various available Sight Reading Apps that have the same goal, to become a better Note Spotter and Prima Vista performer. Here are some iOS and Android recommendations that will elp you to use note spotting anywhere if cell service or WIFI is available.
iOS Apps
The Note Brainer App by James Buchanan is an app that includes timed exercises to improve sight-reading speed and has advanced controls to adjust length of play, treble or bass clef, sharps and flats, and sound controls. It even has a setting where you can try to identify notes by ear, for those who want to improve their relative or absolute pitch.
The game-play feels competitive, even when you’re only playing against yourself. The only thing this app is lacking is a way to review mistakes after an exercise.
App Store Rating: Note Brainer gets 4.7 stars out of 847 ratings, has no ads, and is completely free!
Who It’s For: Note Brainer is best for piano students of any age who want to improve their note spotting and sight-reading ability.
Music Tutor (Sight-Reading) by Jsplash Apps is free, user friendly, and improves note identification one note at a time. The app includes timed exercises to help you improve your reading speed, lets you review your test results to show you what you missed, and keep track of your progress.
Learn to read sheet music and improve your sight-reading skills with Music Tutor. Develop your speed and accuracy in reading sheet music by identifying music notes in timed sessions.
The app does have occasional ads, but the ads aren’t too frequent or irritating. Music Tutor also offers an ad-free version for $1.99.
Who It’s For: Music Tutor is great for music students age 4 and up.
App Store Rating: Music Tutor has a 4.2-star rating based on 2000+ ratings on the App Store. Music Tutor is also available in a version for Android, including a multiplayer setting so you can compete with your friends.
Note Flash Music Sight Reading by Pranoy Chowdhury. Note Flash helps you improve your sight reading skills for sheet music. This is the most intuitive way of learning how to read sheet music notes as it listens via the microphone or a connected MIDI instrument to make sure you play the correct note in the correct octave.
Note Flash is the ONLY app which also has accidentals (sharp and flat notes) along with ledger lines for advanced players. Note Flash is also the ONLY app to show graphs on your progress in recognizing notes faster. This way you will know which notes you are spending more time thinking.
Please note that the app needs microphone access to listen to your piano. The app does NOT connect to the internet and your microphone data is completely safe as it never leaves your phone.
App Store Rating: Users give the app 4.0 stars out of 900+ reviews.
Who It’s For: Note Flash is best for students with acoustic pianos or keyboards and basic piano experience.
Android Apps
Music Tutor helps to read sheet music and improve your sight-reading skills with Music Tutor. Develop your speed and accuracy in reading sheet music by identifying music notes in timed sessions. Choose to practice between treble, bass and/or alto clefs for a duration of 1, 5 or 10-minute sessions. Music Tutor helps with ear training and practicing your listening (aural) skills. During the practice session, every note is displayed along with the sound of the note (this feature can also be turned off if not necessary).
After each test, you can review your mistakes and see your progress. There is also an option to set the range for practice, making this app tailor-made for each student.
Who It’s For: Music Tutor is great for music students age 4 and up.
Google Store Rating: Music Tutor has a 4.0-star rating based on 5000+ ratings on the Google Play. Music Tutor is also available in a version for iOS.
Sight Reading Trainer allows you to learn to read sheet music quickly. Using pitch-detection technology, Sight Reading Trainer allows you to train your music reading skills with your physical piano. Just place your device on your piano’s music rack and play along! Because you’re training your sight reading skills directly on a real piano, you’re directly training your muscle memory and learning the physical location of each note.
This is an app you would use at the piano. Unlike the apps above, this app can use pitch detection to see if you’ve pressed the right note, so you can practice sight reading at the piano.
The app is also suitable for ear training. There a lot of different exercises where it plays different intervals and you identify if it’s a major third, minor second, perfect fifth and other intervals.
Who It’s For: Sight Reading Trainer is great for piano students age 7 and up.
Google Store Rating: Music Tutor has a 4.2-star rating based on 5K+ ratings on the Google Play.
Note Rote: Music Reading Tutor. This app uses a unique training approach to help you learn and consistently practice music reading. Improving your music reading skills will help you learn pieces of music faster and sight read more effectively.
– Choose to practice with the Treble, Bass, Alto and Tenor clefs.
– Learn one note at a time. The app will introduce new notes when you have correctly identified previously seen notes.
– Practice previously learnt notes while learning new ones. Upon making a mistake, the app will test you more frequently on the missed notes.
Helps with note recognition quickly. It covers both, treble an bass clef and makes you a better Note Spotter in a short time.
The practice mode has been updated to use a spaced repetition algorithm. This should make the learning progress smoother and allow for small adjustments in the future.
App Store Rating: Users give the app 4.8 stars out of 260+ reviews on Google Play.
Who It’s For: This app is good for older kids or adults. It works fine for piano students.
There are many other Sight Reading Apps available that are designed to help musicians, from beginners to advanced players, improve their ability to read and perform music by providing interactive exercises. Search for Sight Reading or Note Recognition apps.