NoteWorks Note Reading Game
This music education app review is for: NoteWorks
only available for iPad at the time of this review.
Kid/Student Ratings: ****4/5
Teacher/Parent Ratings: *****5/5
Educational Value: Excellent +
Price: $4.99
Recommended: 5 – 11 years (and older players who want to have some fun)
Skills Developed: Note Reading, Note Reading, Note Reading ALL Clefs!!
App Tested on iPad (available for both iPhone and iPad)
Good Stuff about this music ed app: First off, might I say that one can never have enough “learn-your-notes” apps. Seriously. This is just another really, really great one.
Players begin by creating their own profile which allows them to decide if they want to play in ABC, Do Re Mi, or keyboard mode. Then (this is the most awesome part) they get to choose which clef; treble, alto, grand, tenor, bass. You have to admit that’s pretty fancy! Finally, something for the violas, saxophones and trombone (etc) learners. Way to go, developers!
Thee cutest little munchy creature bops out on the screen to get ready to swallow the notes players identify correctly as they come from the note-making factory- scrolling across the screen at a speed YOU get to designate. I am a fan of great sound-effects, and it seems as if there are a bunch of them in this app. Crunch, Munch. :)
Our Wish List: The developers contacted me and let me know that a new version with a bigger keyboard would be in the next update- which is a good thing because within about 30 seconds of playing this app, my first tester came to me and said, “They need to make these keys bigger – my fingers are too fat.” SO glad to know that these developers are right on top of their game and excited to make this app usable and fun (not to mention notably educational). Also, some other feedback I received was that the kids wished there was some sort of indication that they were moving on to a new level. They were expecting some excitement after passing each screen.
My Love: I want to spread the word to the whole wide world that a FUN app with the alto and tenor clefs is here (not to mention the other clefs). Can you hear me singing “Come-And-Get-It!” Love, Love Love.
Summary: All-in-all we feel you should throw away your flash cards… especially if you are a music teacher. Kids will try harder, last longer, and learn more playing this app. Get. It. For. Your. Teaching. Studios. Now.
Purchase NoteWorks on iTunes now for iPad for: $4.99
Have you already downloaded and used this app? Leave us a comment and let us know what you thought! Thanks – Rebecca
Read MoreMonkey Tunes Music Ed App Review
This review is for: Monkey Tunes
Kid/Student Ratings: **** 4/5
Teacher/Parent Ratings: *** 3/5
Educational Value: Excellent
Price: $0.99 (also available free in lite version)
Age Recommended: 3 and up
Skills Developed: Memory of sequence of instruments played by the monkey
App Tested on iPad
Good Stuff about this music ed app: This cute monkey lives on an island where a cargo crate full of instruments was dropped. The monkey plays each instrument and the idea is that you attempt to play back the instruments in the correct order he played them in. FUN!!
As you play, the sequences get a little bit longer, and more instruments are added. The kids I tested this with just giggled and giggled the whole time they were playing this app.
Memory skills are critical in music education, and this app fits the bill for sure! A perfect game for the waiting room of any music school.
Our Wish List: The instruments all take up one beat in the sequences but the guitar that the monkey plays uses up more than one beat, so sometimes you can’t hear the other instrument when it plays. When two guitars are played in a row, they overlap which is quite confusing to the younger students. I hope the developers see this and fix it. It’s such a great game otherwise.
My Love: I love that there are so many levels, and that it is not too complicated to pass them one at a time. The monkey plays in different places (beach, circus, etc.) after so many levels are passed. Lots of levels for these kids – they love that!
Summary: All-in-all we feel that Monkey Tunes is a fun, motivating game that stimulates memory skills while using music instrument sounds and visuals. It’s a pretty darn okay app. The kids love it! :)
Purchase Monkey Tunes in iTunes for iPad for: $0.99
Purchase Monkey Tunes in iTunes for iPhone/Pod for: $0.99
Have you already downloaded and used this app? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! Thanks -Rebecca
Read MoreThe House on Melody Street Music Ed App Book
This review is for: The House on Melody Street
Kid/Student Ratings: **** 4/5
Teacher/Parent Ratings: **** 4/5
Educational Value: Excellent
Price: $0.99
Age Recommended: 2 – 9
Skills Developed: Interactive book introducing orchestra instruments and their sounds
App Tested on iPad
Good Stuff about this music ed app: As a music teacher of some young ones, I find these interactive books really great for group class. The music presented in this app is high quality and the kid narrator is quite excellent. What a great example for our youngsters! These characters are the same ones in the really great app review I did a few weeks ago on Mozart Interactive. If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should. The graphics are the best I have ever seen for an app so far!
As you flip through the book you see different music characters introduced one at a time, but they all live in the same house and play in a different key – soooo, you can tell the other chapters are going to be fun to see how it all works out.
Our Wish List: ”The House on Melody Street” includes chapter 1 only with notice that the other chapters are coming soon. I wonder what “soon” means…
My Love: The musical score for this app is really very high quality. The developing team behind this app really knows their music. All characters are played by real instruments and that makes my heart sing!
Summary: All-in-all we think this app about the House on Melody Street is pretty neat. I love music and reading to my children, and if you do too then you’ll for sure enjoy it also.
Purchase Melody Street on iTunes for iPad for: $0.99
Purchase Melody Street on iTunes for iPhone/Pod for: $0.99
Have you already downloaded and used this app? Leave us a comment to let us know what you thought. Thanks! -Rebecca
Read MoreMusic Ed App Review Monkey Drum
This review is for: Monkey Drum FREE (There is also a deluxe version of this app)
Kid/Student Ratings: **** 5/5
Teacher/Parent Ratings: **** 4/5
FREE iPhone
FREE iPad
Educational Value: Excellent
Price: $Free
Age Recommended: 4 – 12
Skills Developed: Rhythm exploration, percussion instrument exploration, rhythm repeat, percussion song composition
App Tested on iPad
Good Stuff about this app: I’ll admit I wasn’t sure about this app at first. I am always analyzing for educational content. But I’ll tell you that after watching my son and a couple of cousins return to it over and over for fun and creativity, it has won me over. And, I love that it is FREE. (no ads)
The idea is that you “jam” on real sounding percussion instruments and little jungle animals copy your rhythm exactly back to you. The animals have funny reactions as you are allowed to feed them bananas to reward them. It really is pretty cute. The young boys seem to really enjoy these reactions.
The best part of the app is the composition section where you create songs using a vertical grid. You can then save your songs and watch the animals perform them for you. It’s really pretty darn fun.
I have a 10 year old drummer in the house and he can’t keep his hands off this app lately.
Our Wish List: The composition area of the app seemed hard to navigate at first. It was unclear what to do or how to save the songs created. The kids also didn’t understand that you could make several sections to each song, but after playing with it for a while (and clicking the help button), we got it figured out.
My Love: I really love the composition page of this app. It’s great that you can earn/unlock more instrument the more you play. There is a tempo control, and it appears that your compositions can have endless sections to them. The kids have really had a hay day with it!
Summary: All-in-all we think percussion enthusiasts will get a bang out of this app! It’s a really great way to use creativity and rhythm and wrap it into a whole lot of fun. Can I say “I Love FREE educational apps” ?
Purchase Monkey Drum on iTunes for iPad for: $FREE
Purchase Monkey Drum on iTunes for iPhone/Pod for: $FREE
Have you already downloaded and used this app? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think. Thanks -Rebecca
Read MoreApp for Music Education Mozart Interactive
This review is for: Mozart Interactive
Kid/Student Ratings: ***** 5/5
Teacher/Parent Ratings: **** 4/5
FREE
Educational Value: Excellent
Price: $ Free
Age Recommended: 2 – 12 years
Skills Developed: Listening Repetition and Interaction
App Tested on iPad
Good Stuff about this app: Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca has never been so much fun! This tune has been running around our home for the past week now. The kids are playing it on all instruments since we have heard it so much. The visual technology of this app really gives it an edge. I felt like I was watching a new pixar movie! It really is very engaging.
The cutest 10 year old is the host of the event. He gives an outstanding performance on the piano while other animated “human-like” instruments wish to join
Read MoreJazzy Day Swinging With The Big Band
This review is for Jazzy Day – Swinging With The Big Band. Melody Book.
Kid/Student Ratings: **** 5/5
Teacher/Parent Ratings: **** 5/5
Educational Value: Superior
Price: $4.99
Age Recommended: 2 – 10 years
Skills Developed: Jazz music characteristics and typical jazz instruments
App Tested on iPad
Good Stuff about this app: I am thrilled to be able to introduce this app to you all. Jazzy Day – Swinging With The Big Band is a fun and interactive story that will teach your child about jazz music and the instruments typically used to play jazz. The book features sounds from REAL acoustic instruments and really great jazz music.
Two kittens and their father take you on an outing to see the Big Band play. How cool is that!?
There are several different activities in this book, but my very favorite is
Read MoreMaximus Musicus
App Name: Music Maximus
Kid Tester Ratings: ***** 4/5
Teacher/Parent Ratings: ***** 5/5
Educational Value: Superior
Price: $0.99
Age Recommended: 1 and up
Skills Developed: music exploration, music appreciation, repetition skills, instrument identification, symphony orchestra introductions
App Tested on iPad/iPhone
Good Stuff about this app: How charming! This app is absolutely adorable. Maximus the mouse guides you into a wonderful world of orchestral music (performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra). In this app, there are several different areas to be explored including playing games with instruments such as a harp, xylophone, and piano. This app really is very appropriate for several different ages. I envision many parents using this as story time for their youngest ones (age 2-5). I also can see how much value this app would have in a school environment when exploring orchestral music. There are so many neat little tid-bits of information inside this app. I even learned that Pandora’s Box wasn’t really a box at all!
This app is designed for opening a world of orchestral music through mini-games within. There are board puzzles (with fabulous symphony orchestra music playing in the background), imitation game-play on different instruments, and more. One of the fun little games within is “Maxi’s Dream”, where Maximus is riding on a mallet (for percussion). He is dreaming of cheese and has to fly over the yellow cheese wedges. If he accidentally gets the green cheese, it says he has a tummy ache. The youngest ones really thought this was fun!
My wish list: Knowing that this game was made by real musicians, I expected all of the instrument sounds within this app to be real instruments. That is not the case in the game of “Mystery Box” where you must listen to the instrument being played and then pick the correct one. Honestly, the kids I tested this with couldn’t tell the difference between some of them since it only sounds like the octave is different (computer generated tones). Hmmm… is this a possible future upgrade? Because it would be a top of the list app if so.
My Love: The wonderful artwork in the app coincides with the picture books available by these same developers. The fact that they have dedicated their musical careers towards children and symphony music education makes me stand and applaud!
Summary: All-in-all we think this app is precious and really very good. Elementary Ed teachers would be in heaven if they could use this during their orchestra units. I think it’s the perfect bed time story for young ones as well. Speaking of stories, apparently Maximus has more books out all encouraging symphony orchestra skills and appreciation.
To purchase Maximus Music on iTunes for iPad/iPhone for: $0.99 
Have you already downloaded and used Maximus Music? If so, leave us a comment and let us know what you thought. Thanks – Rebecca
Read More
Rhythm Repeat
App Name: Rhythm Repeat
Kid/Teen Testers Ratings: **** 4/5
Mom/Teacher/Adult Ratings: **** 4/5
Educational Value: Very Good
Fun Factor: low medium HIGH
Price: $.99
Recommended Ages: 8 and up
Skills Developed: Rhythm Repetition
Reviewed on: iPad (available for iPad, iPhone, iPod)
My 9 year old (drummer) son has kept me hopping with this one. He is hooked. We really liked this app this week! It’s a simple “repeat this rhythm” game on steroids.
Good stuff about this app:
Trae and I worked on this app for more than a week now as well as some of my teen students. There are more than 300 different melodies and rhythm patterns featured on this app. The idea is to listen and watch as the pattern is played, and then repeat it back as
Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
App Name: Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
Student Testers Ratings: **** 4/5
Mom/Teacher Ratings: ***** 5/5
Educational Value: Superior
Price: $2.99
Recommended Ages: 7+ to adult
Skills Developed: Rhythm Reading
Reviewed on: iPad/iPhone (available for both)
I have been using this app myself as well as had four different music students of varying level test this app. And, the consensus is…..(drumroll)… we really like it!
Good Stuff about this app:
Okay, technology is really cool and the maker of this app has really found a good use for it within the music education world. The metronome is spot on and your job is to tap the rhythms you see to the beat. The app detects how close you were to being on and gives you a score at the end of the exercise. It is really easy to change the tempo by just sliding the metal bar up and down on the classical metronome. You can change the tones of the drum you tap and it even has the ability to change for those who are left-handed ! Wow. Maybe this app developer has thought of everything.
I thought the ear-training feature on this app was really cool…. and really kind of advanced if you want it to be. I obviously could use it more often. My scores weren’t so good at first. You just listen to the rhythm being played and then “tap” “tap” yourself and see what score you get. It gets very advanced once you notch the rhythm up.
When used in practice mode, users can just tap tap until they have it all ready to test. Then, you simply start the metronome to take a test. After the test, colored notes show up to show you where exactly you tapped. It’s kind of unnerving for professional musicians to find out they aren’t always exactly on. Practice, practice. Then (a super-nifty feature) you touch the envelope provided and you can email your test to your teacher. Seriously? How cool is that. They receive a graphic of what you did.
My LOVE: Brains of today crave instant feedback and a do-it-yourself possibility. This app has all of that. No more need for a hovering instructor waiting to poke in when you’ve made a mistake. This app politely lets you know by your score and a color-coded graphic of where your notes are.
Our Wish List: The striving teenagers and adults have been really liking it. I know rhythms can be exciting, but this app just doesn’t seem to leave the younger crowd craving more. It could improve this by offering levels or something that drives you to either go faster, repeat more, or just try to make it to the next page of 3/4 times. Think, think. It is a very good tool for sight reading, the littler sized peops didn’t want to keep playing it on their own, I can assign it as a teacher/parent and they’ll gladly do it though.
Summary: This app is absolutely AWESOME for learning how to sight read rhythms. I wish all of my students/children would spend 10 minutes a day on it. Good Job RolfsApps!
Buy Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer on itunes for $2.99 Now:
iPad: 
iPhone:
Have you already downloaded this app and used it? Leave your comments here and tell us what you thought of it. Thanks! -Rebecca
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About Me
Hi, I’m Rebecca. I am an active music teacher, a professional performing musician, and a mom of young musicians with apps. I love apps! The speed and ease of learning is incredible with today’s technology and I tend to use it to its fullest. I aim to only feature the best of the best here. Join Me! Categories
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