Edtech Apps that teach you to play an instrument or develop your music theory and aural skills are well suited to people who have busy lifestyles and need the freedom to do a lesson when a few minutes a day is all they have.
Some people just prefer to take lessons on their own. There are several reasons for this: they don’t have to travel somewhere at a certain time to take a lesson; they don’t have to face playing the piano in front of someone they don’t know very well if they’re not comfortable with that, or they may simply enjoy privately learning a new skill without telling anyone about it.
What does “Music Skills” mean?
The term “music skills” encompases all things relating to playing an instrument or singing. This includes music theory such as reading notes, understanding written rhythm, identifying pitch or intervals by ear. Or improving performance skills such as playing in time or accompanying another player.Why learn with an app?
Good things about using an edtech app to improve music skills:
- Freedom to take lessons whenever you want, even late at night or at the crack of dawn.
- Do a lesson a day. Two a day. One a week. Whatever works for you.
- Take the same lesson two or three times if you want to reinforce a skill.
- You’re unable to get to a teacher - for instance you live too far out in the country or don’t have a car.
- Choose which songs to learn.
- Save a lot of money!
So many schools have cut music programs in the last few decades, unless you are in quite a privileged position, your child might have little exposure to the joys of making music. In this case, a variety of edtech apps can open the world of music to children and give them a fantastic opportunity to get some skills on the instrument of their choice.
A look at some of the best apps
Whether singing, playing guitar, improving your note reading or aural training or starting to learn piano from scratch, there’s a huge selection of apps out there to help you. Here’s a selection with high ratings to check out.
Singing
Sight Singing Pro - (for iOS and android)
Download Link - (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sight-singing-pro/id1110783578 )
Practice sight singing and get immediate feedback on how well you’re doing. If you sing a wrong note, the app detects it and shows you in real-time the note you sang, highlighted in red.
Swiftscales - This app comes with a huge database of vocal exercises that are graded for beginners right through to professional singers. It uses hand gesture technology so you can wave a hand to swipe on to the next exercise without having to look at the screen. If you find a particular phrase in a song difficult, you can put it into the app and make an exercise of it, or create your own type of vocal exercise. It also reminds you of breathing.
Practice sight singing and get immediate feedback on how well you’re doing. If you sing a wrong note, the app detects it and shows you in real-time the note you sang, highlighted in red.
Swiftscales - This app comes with a huge database of vocal exercises that are graded for beginners right through to professional singers. It uses hand gesture technology so you can wave a hand to swipe on to the next exercise without having to look at the screen. If you find a particular phrase in a song difficult, you can put it into the app and make an exercise of it, or create your own type of vocal exercise. It also reminds you of breathing.
Aural training
Perfect Ear (for iOS and android)
Download Link - ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/perfect-ear-ear-trainer/id1440768353 )
This is a great app that helps you gain overall strength in aural musicianship. Practice sight singing, interval training, note reading and get better at rhythm. It’s customizable so you can develop your own exercises and scales. You can plug in your MIDI keyboard to use alongside this app. It has 4.8 reviews.
Clarinet - and other wind instruments
Tonestro - (for iOS and android)
Download Link - ( https://www.tonestro.com/ )
Although the clarinet isn’t as popular as piano, guitar or drums, it’s worth mentioning this excellent app for any aspiring clarinet players. It’s worth noting that the fingering of the clarinet is pretty much identical to the tenor saxophone, so if you learn to play the clarinet, you will be able to play the alto saxophone without much of a learning curve.
This app also has lessons on other wind instruments such as trumpet, trombone, tuba, horn, flute, and more.
One of the most difficult things for a beginner wind players is getting their instruments properly in tune. This app comes with a tuner as well as a metronome. But the main event is the large selection of songs and guided lessons aimed at different level players. There is a weekly challenge with set songs to learn so you can compare your playing with other players around the world. The app also has fingering charts which is very useful.
Music theory, rhythm and note reading
The Complete Music Reading Training App (for iOS and android)
Download Link - ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/complete-music-reading-trainer/id1550798715 )
This app is cleverly set up like a game. It will teach you to read music treble clef notes, bass clef notes as well as other clefs, (including some clefs most people will never have heard of!) and also trains you to recognize key signatures up to six sharps and six flats. There are 35 achievements you can unlock and you can see where you stand on a leaderboard with other people from around the world. You can play along with a MIDI keyboard or sing and the app will hear you.
Pro Metronome
Download Link - ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pro-metronome-tempo-beat-subdivision-polyrhythm/id477960671 )
For practice playing in time, this is really a pro metronome. Many professional musicians use this as it has advanced features, but it’s just a great for beginners and intermediates.
It shows you the beat as well as sounds it and has subdivisions and polyrhythms, The free version has 13 different sounds to choose from, including a voice option. The Pro version has options for visual, flash, vibrate and even airplay so you can see and feel the beat, especially useful if you’re playing a loud instrument such as the drums.
You can also program in one measure of music to “mute” so that you’re on your own to fill in the measure correctly - great for training.
This is a great app to use for practicing any instrument to improve playing in time or to work out tricky rhythms slowly and gradually increase your speed.
Complete Rhythm Trainer (iOS and android)
Download Link - ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/complete-rhythm-trainer/id1550799056 )
Talking of improving rhythm - Complete Rhythm Trainer improves rhythm skills with over 250 progressive exercises. Practice sight-reading and writing rhythm patterns and develop the ability to hear any mistakes as you go. This app can really up your skills through rhythm imitation, reading and dictation.
This edtech app is good for anybody who plays any instrument or studies music in any way, and could be very useful if you’re on vacation and don’t have your instrument with you but you want to keep your skills honed.
Guitar
Justin Guitar Lessons & Songs (iOS and android)
Download Link - ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/justin-guitar-lessons-songs/id1176125504 )
This is a simple but effective app to learn guitar right from the beginning. Tutored by Justin Sandercoe who has developed his teaching techniques over the past 20 years. It includes a guitar tuner and a songbook with colored chords for beginners. You can slow down the backing tracks or the chord display to a pace that you like. There are over 1,000 songs with more being added regularly with styles in pop, rock, country and more.
There is a “real band” play along with optional vocals for a truly enjoyable playing experience. You can start using this quite quickly after going through the lessons to learn the basics.
Piano
Skoove (for iOS and android)
Download Link - ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/skoove-learn-to-play-piano/id1160668178 )
Who doesn’t love a piano? Surely the most popular instrument, although possibly one of the more difficult to learn, the sound of the piano brings a great deal of happiness and emotions to everyone.
The Skoove app takes you from the very beginning notes and quickly gets you playing your favorite songs. It uses AI to “listen” as you play and gives you real-time feedback about the notes you’re playing. If you play a wrong note it will wait until you play the correct note. Skoove teaches you to read notes as it teaches you to play so that you develop a solid link between what you see and what you play. With a large selection of the most popular songs - both popular and classical - it’s easy to find songs you’d love to learn and go through the graded lessons.
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