Sound Recall

 App Name: Sound Recall

Kid Tester Ratings: ***** 4/5

 Teacher/Parent Ratings: ***** 4/5

Educational Value: Excellent

Price: $0.99

Age Recommended: 4 and up

Skills Developed: Memory, Pitch Sequence,

App Tested on iPad

Good Stuff about this app: This was one of the first apps I tested on some of my youngest students.  They really were enamored with this game.  The idea is that you watch and memorize a growing sequence of pitches being played.  Your job is to repeat what you hear and see.

What makes this different from a Simon Says game? It’s actually put in pitch order.  There are 5 colored shapes at the bottom of the screen that light up when a certain pitch is played.  The cute little firefly listens to you repeat it.  If you are correct the pitch is played again with an additional one played right after.  This pattern repeats until you can’t seem to remember them all and you lose your 3 lives.

It’s not the most high-tech game, but it really gets your curiosity to find out how far you can take your brain.  Anyone suffering from adult brain-mush would even enjoy this game.  There are a couple of variations within the game, but it stays on the same memorization skill.

Our Wish List: The instructions aren’t clear in the 2nd game.  Most of my testers got frustrated and went back to the first game.  It only says “add tone to the melody”.  Apparently you are supposed to remember the tones that were already played and add the new one to it.  The first game is the most effective when just learning to play memory games.  But, the second and third games are a fun challenge after you get the hang of it.

My Love:  Once I show the kids that the bottom note (the red circle on the far left) is a C, and the green octagon is a G.  They can easily see that this is a 5 note scale!  The notes just jump around within.  The game is to see how many in a row you can remember.  Fun, Fun.  I had 5 year olds getting into the 60 point range.

Summary:  All-in-all we feel this app is quite an excellent memory booster.  The fact that the tones are in real low to high pitch/scale sequence is a definite plus and makes this game quite an excellent educational music tool.

Purchase Sound Recall in iTunes for iPad: $0.99

Purchase Sound Recall in iTunes for iPhone: $0.99

Have you already purchased and used this app?  If so, leave us a comment and let us know what you thought.  Thanks -Rebecca