All of these apps are available for Android devices. I haven’t been compensated for my reviews, I just want to share what apps are out there. See more categories under menu Android App Reviews.
Staff Wars ($.99) ✰✰✰✰✰
This is a fun way for students to learn the notes on the staff. You can chose whether you want to do treble, alto, or bass clefs. A note starts at the right hand side of the screen and moves toward the left. You must play the correct note which then blows the note up. One of the nice things about it is that you can adjust the pitch if your instrument is sharp or flat. I like this for my violin students especially as it makes them think quickly and they can see right away whether they are in tune or not.
Flashnote Derby ($2.99) ✰✰✰✰✰
A note identification app. In this app a “flashcard” with a note is shown and then the note name must be chosen. If you chose correctly your horse moves ahead, if incorrect it falls behind. All of my students that have used this app have loved it! I love that I can chose what notes I want my students to work on.
Race against the fire. Notes on a staff move from right to left across the screen. If they reach the fire then they burn and the fire moves closer to the right. You can chose if the you identify them on a keyboard, by letter name, or solfege with a fixed Do. In the paid version you have more control over which notes are used, including choosing which key signature. I like that you can control the speed that the notes move so that for students just starting they can fill accomplishment before moving it faster.
This was an ok app, but not my favorite. From the icon you’d think it was going to be fun and colorful, but it’s black and white and very basic. Basically it is like flashcards. One note is shown for you and you must choose the note name. You may choose what clefs you’d like to be shown (treble, bass, and alto) but that’s all the options you can change. My least favorite thing about this app was the number of times it did ledger lines that were more than 3 lines away from the staff. So if you need an app to practice ledger lines this is would work just fine.
Another single note identifying app. There are many options of clefs to choose from including vocal clefs. You can also choose to hear a note instead of seeing it and then identify the letter name. It does let you choose what names you want seen (CDEFGAB, CDEFGAH, or solfege). It will determine the length of time it takes you to identify 10, correct notes in a row, and high scores for both.
Basic note identifying. I really didn’t like this app because on my tablet the staff and buttons to push are extremely small. I had a hard time choosing the name of the note without bumping other letters. You can choose treble clef, bass clef, or both. Also you can choose how long you want to be quized (1, 5, or 10 min)
Very simple flashcard type app. Can choose between letters or solfege. The goal is to indentify 38 notes in 1 minute. When you get the answer right you get a green check mark covering the staffs, when wrong it’s a red X and a buzzer sound. It’s not very modern looking, but works ok.
This app is for helping practice identifying note names. You can choose which clefs you want to practice (treble, bass, alto, tenor), how you long you want the timer to go (1, 2, or 5 min), whether you want to use English or Solfege to identify the notes, and my favorite whether there is a sound when a note is correct or incorrect as well as an option for color as well. I love that last bit because it adds a few more senses into the activity. It’s so exhilarating to hear the app telling me yes every time I get a note correct (it says it more than one way) and helps me realize when I’ve gotten a note wrong by flashing red and buzzing. There is also an option to do a race so two students can play at the same time, which I haven’t seen many apps have. When you first open the app and are looking at the main screen there is “music” playing but it is random humming that really started to bother me after a while.
There are two modes in this app, practice and examination. Practice has you see the note on the staff then you must select the key on the little keyboard. If it’s wrong it will turn red and let you try again. Examination sees how many you can do in one minute. If you make a mistake you don’t know until your score at the end.
There are no options on this app, so you can’t tailor it to what you might need.
A simple treble clef note naming game. You can customize it by choosing European solfege, English letters, North European letters, bizantine, Japanese, or Indian. Other than that you can do a one minute test, or training. Nothing special about the app, but runs just fine.