Note Reading

1. Add setting for the highest and lowest note so you can match the drill to a particular instrument you are interested in.

2. Add mike input so the program can "listen" for the correct/incorrect note

3. Add key signature to practice sharps, flats and accidentals.

4. Add time signature and note values and have the "listen" feature keep accuracy score.

5. Add scroll feature that can be either fixed to a beat or automatically adjust to your speed

6. Keep progress report for each student.

7. Record pitch variations for each note so you can map your instrument characteristics and playing tendencies.

Thanks

Hi, Gary -
Many thanks for the excellent feedback! Some of these are definitely easier (and closer on the horizon) then others; see my comments below. I reordered your requests to group my responses.

Gary Wrote:
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> 1. Add setting for the highest and lowest note so
> you can match the drill to a particular instrument
> you are interested in.

This is a good idea, and is related to other requests already on my to-do list; right now I'm waiting on some new equipment so I can record audio for further up and down the range. Once I have the audio files, I will probably create preset ranges for common instruments (to make it easier to set up).

> 3. Add key signature to practice sharps, flats
> and accidentals.

I've been holding off on this one until MIDI support is finished -- more complex keyboard-based drills will be much more effective on a real keyboard than using the tiny onscreen keyboard.

> 5. Add scroll feature that can be either fixed
> to a beat or automatically adjust to your speed

This is a sensible idea that basically cleans up the two versions of Note Reading already available -- plain Note Reading where you identify the note that appears, and you see the next one when the first disappears; and Speed Reading, where the notes slide past at a set speed (but not really a "tempo"). I'm getting close to resolving the sometimes unreliable timing that you might notice in the rhythm drills; that will make this update easier.

> 2. Add mike input so the program can "listen"
> for the correct/incorrect note
>
> 4. Add time signature and note values and have
> the "listen" feature keep accuracy score.
>
> 7. Record pitch variations for each note so you
> can map your instrument characteristics and
> playing tendencies.

These are great ideas, but definitely more challenging to implement; writing software for pitch detection is tricky -- sorting out the fundamental from the overtones, dealing with background hiss and noises, etc.. Some of these features will show up first for MIDI instruments, since of course that's simpler input to work with, and I should have MIDI input working with the current drills soon. Then it's a matter of putting together an "everything" drill that can test scrolling notes with all of the complexities of reading real music -- rhythms and time signatures, key signatures and accidentals. The basics to support this are actually mostly already programmed (well, time signatures are still pretty rough). I probably won't get into pitch detection until that's done, however, because of the involved, though I definitely understand the use for it.

> 6. Keep progress report for each student.

This is something that is available to subscribing teachers, to some degree. Each student has a page that the teacher can view listing all assignments and their progress (which assignments are done, and scores). Once we have some of the features you discuss below, of course, mapping progress could be much more interesting (and rendering a few graphs would probably come in handy...).

Regards,
Rob Whelan

[For the record: the comments above are not a guarantee of future features, because technical difficulties can always force a change in plans...]

I'd really like it if the speed-reading activity were available in the C clefs. =)

Guest Wrote:
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> I'd really like it if the speed-reading activity
> were available in the C clefs. =)

I'm working on having pretty much all of the drills available in any clef.

Thanks for the feedback!
Rob

For those truly beginning reading, I think the following would be invaluable:

1) selective note limits: some style of "check off" list or something, that allows one to choose only those notes one is currently working on. Ideally, just in those octaves one is working on, though that seems harder to implement.

2) selective intervals: choose whether things must be stepwise (all seconds) or, perhaps, which other intervals are allowed...

I think this could be really useful... Let me know if you want clarification, or if I can help in some way!

Keith