If you are a student needing to improve fundaments, please check out these excellent sight reading and music theory primer websites. I love it when my students use these music resources to improve their skills at home!
Theory Primer
- excellent, short bits of applicable information
- comprehensive
Sight Reading Primer App
- I love this app for my piano students…a great music resource for learning to read music
- Level 1 is free, and I see results!
- Use your acoustic piano–no USB necessary!
- Short bits of applicable sight reading exercises
Chord Progressions & More
- This site has a lot of deeper content!
- Chord Progressions (and possibilities)
- Chord Substitution
- Scales
- Modes
- Concepts of Tension and Resolution
Beats Per Minute Counter
- I use this app feature at least 5 times a week
- Considering that I enjoy transcribing notation, the first task is to discover the tempo
- I love that this bpm counter averages your taps
Metronome Substitute — Drum Beat to Play Against
- I use this track for my students needing to practice loops
- I use it for my own practice as well–it’s fast and ready to go!
- There are swing and straight beats to play against
- different tempos
- different genres
- You just have to do a little searching
Musescore.com website and app
- Great website for homemade free music resource for song transcriptions and even orchestral and band scores
- Anyone can upload sheet music
- This is both a great benefit, but also a down side
- Positive: sheet music immediately for many songs
- Negative: self editing…a lot more mistakes and oversight than a professional score
- This is both a great benefit, but also a down side
- You can download the app and work on your own transcriptions!
- This is a free app and it has a lot of features
Pro Metronome
I really love the numerous features on this metronome app.
- IOS, Android
- 13 tone settings, including voice and simple drum kit
- Tap tempo
- A bunch of visual light settings, rhythm trainer
- Stage Mode
- Great subdivision and polyrhythm possibilities
PitchLab
Excellent guitar tuner!
- IOS, Android
- Great visuals
- Paid version sets you up with what must be about 100 different tunings for banjo, bass, bouzouki, cello, dulcimer, fiddle, guitar (probably 50 different guitar tunings), mandolin, pedal steel, ukulele, upright bass, and violin
I’ll provide more as I come across them in my teaching.