Learn piano together.
Learn piano and read music
Short piano lessons that wait for your notes. Learn to read real music, or help a young child start with pictures.
The learning path is free, on iPhone, iPad and the web. No account needed. In your browser, there is nothing to download.
How to start
Choose a learner and how you'll play. Setup questions are optional; use Skip to explore the path first.
Choose who's learning
Start as a grown-up, or set up a child's picture-book path. Beginners and returning players both have a place.
Play on what you have
Plug in a MIDI keyboard, use your computer keys, or tap the on-screen piano. You don't need a keyboard to try it.
Play your first notes
Begin with the keys and short lessons. As you reach the music, it waits for your notes so you can go at your own pace.
For grown-ups, beginners and returners
Read real music
A path of short sittings from middle C to both clefs, drawn as a score. Each stop is a note on the staff, inked in as you play it; what is ahead is still in pencil.
- The Score. Twelve units of landmark reading, outward from middle C, treble G and bass F, to ledger lines, rhythm, chords and sight-reading.
- Tempo marks. Play a stop at Adagio, then Andante, then Allegro. Fluency is tempo, so the mark means something.
- The music waits. Wait for me, one hand at a time, loop the measure that trips you up, slow it down, then bring it back up to speed.
- Real pieces. 124 pieces to learn: 15 children’s songs and 109 classical works, from Bach to Schumann and Satie, as sheet music or falling notes.
For children from 2½
Piano before reading
Kids mode is a picture book at the piano, and its stars are Octo and his friends from the reef: Pim the hermit crab, Moss the turtle, Luma the jellyfish and Gilly the gull. Every step is shown, never told: a lit key, a picture, a friend who waves.
- Octo
- Pim, the hermit crab
- Moss, the sea turtle
- Luma, the jellyfish
- Gilly, the gull
- No reading needed. No words on the screen and no voice. High and low, loud and soft, a steady beat, then the staff.
- Painted notes. Each note is painted in its own color, red C, orange D, yellow E, with its letter in its head, so a child knows it long before they can read its name.
- Grown-up controls. The account, the grown-ups' players and every way out of the app sit behind a sum written in words.
- No ads, no analytics. Children never sign in, and nothing on a Kids screen has a price, a lock or a question for them.
One piano, the whole family
Up to six players share Octotune, each with their own book: their own place on the path, their own pearls, and a friend of their own to dress, from a little octopus in spectacles to a whale in a bow tie. You and one child are free for good; the third to the sixth player come with Octotune Plus. Every player already added stays, whatever the plan.
For teachers and students
Teach piano with Octotune
Start a studio for your adult students, assign pieces and publish your own free courses. A public teacher page gives you a link to share, with your courses and your own booking link. Studios and course listings are free today.
- Students choose. Path progress, pieces and tempo marks, practice days and minutes, notes to work on: each off until the student switches it on.
- Notes, not chat. Up to 280 characters; students reply Got it, Will practice or Question at next lesson.
- Teaching a child? A parent can share a one-page practice report with you instead.
- A clear practice task. Choose a piece, measures, hands and a tempo for one student or the whole studio.
- Your own courses. Build a path of practice stops, publish it to your studio and list an eligible course for other adult learners to add free.
Songbooks: our own songs, each with a picture
Short original songs matched to the path, so every note in them is one you have just learned. Reef Songs for children, in the picture book, with Octo’s friends in every picture; Harbor Songs for grown-ups, in dip pen and wash.
Harbor Songs 1 The grown-up’s book · cut paper
Tidepool
Harbor Songs 1 · No. 1
Sea-Glass Morning
Harbor Songs 1 · No. 2
The Lighthouse Answers
Harbor Songs 1 · No. 3
Reef Songs 1 The child’s book · a picture book
Pim Climbs the Kelp
Reef Songs 1 · No. 3
Luma Glows
Reef Songs 1 · No. 4
Bubbles for Moss
Reef Songs 1 · No. 2
Guides to reading music
- Ledger lines explainedLedger lines are short extra staff lines above and below the staff: every note on them from C2 to C6, in both clefs, with a diagram of each.
- Bass clef notesEvery note of the bass clef with a diagram of each: its lines and spaces, the F between the clef’s two dots, and how the left hand finds them.
- Treble clef notesEvery note of the treble clef, line by line and space by space, with a diagram of each, and how to find it on the keys from a landmark.
- Piano for toddlersWhat a 2½-year-old can learn at the piano before reading: a steady beat, high and low, loud and soft, and the black-key groups.
The Octotune promise
No ads. No analytics. Children are never asked for anything.
Mistakes are information
A wrong note shows you the right one. Nothing is ever taken away.
A rest is part of the music
No leagues, no hearts to lose, no nagging notifications, and no streak unless a grown-up turns one on.
Yours to keep
Progress stays on your device. Signing in is optional, and only for grown-ups.
Free to start, and free to learn
The whole path is free, for children and grown-ups, with two players: you and one child. Octotune Plus adds more music, and room for more players.
Free
$0 always
- The whole path, for children and grown-ups
- Placement, practice and review
- Every children’s song, the songbooks, the path’s pieces and ten first classical pieces
- You and one child, each with a book of your own, and syncing
Founding price
Octotune Plus
$7.99 a month
or $59.99 a year, with 14 days free
That’s $5.00 a month, 37% less than monthly.
- The whole classical library: Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Satie, Schumann and more
- Your own MIDI and MusicXML files, opened in Songs
- The recorded instruments beyond the piano
- More players: up to six, each with their own book
- One plan covers every player
14 days free on the yearly plan for eligible subscribers. The purchase screen confirms eligibility and when billing starts; cancel before the trial ends to avoid the charge.
Cancel any time, in the free trial too. These are founding US prices; the App Store shows your local price and trial eligibility before you buy. Web prices are in US dollars, plus tax where it applies.
Pearls
Pearls are earned by playing and never sold: 50 earned pearls, about a week of practice, unlock a Plus piece for good, with no subscription.
Kids mode never shows a price or a lock.
Before you start
Do I need a MIDI keyboard?
No. A MIDI keyboard or digital piano is the best way to play, but your computer keys or the on-screen piano work too.
Can a young child use it?
Yes, from about 2½. Kids mode needs no reading and speaks no words: every step is a picture, a sound or a lit key.
Is Octotune free?
Yes. Download the free iPhone and iPad app, or start in your browser with nothing to install. The whole path stays free, and so do you and one child. No account is needed to start. Octotune Plus adds more music and room for more than two players; the purchase screen shows the price, trial eligibility and renewal terms before you buy.
Does Octotune listen through the microphone?
Not yet. Today it reads the notes from a MIDI keyboard, the on-screen piano or your computer keys, and doesn't use the microphone. Listening to an acoustic piano is coming.
Ready to bring it to the piano?
Free to start on iPhone, iPad or in your browser. No account needed.
Try in your browserMore about Octotune
Octotune teaches piano and reading music to children and grown-ups, on one piano and in one app. Download Octotune for iPhone and iPad, or play in your web browser with nothing to install. It is free to start, with no account needed. Tap the on-screen piano, or use a MIDI keyboard or computer keys in a supported computer browser.
What it teaches
Grown-ups follow a 12-unit path from middle C to both clefs, ledger lines, rhythm, the keys of G and F, chords and sight-reading. The method is landmark reading: learn middle C, treble G and bass F on sight, and read every other note as a step or a skip from one of them.
Children from 2½ start in Kids mode, before the staff: high and low, loud and soft, a steady beat, and the black keys in twos and threes. Then colored circles, then the staff. Octo and his friends show the way; nothing is spoken and nothing needs reading.
The music waits for you
In a sitting, the note on the page stays under the cursor until you play it. In a piece you can choose Wait for me, play one hand while the app plays the other, loop a measure and slow it down. When you are ready, Play along keeps time and tells you how close each note was.
Works with
| You have | What to do |
|---|---|
| A MIDI keyboard or digital piano | Plug it in (USB, or Bluetooth where your computer supports it). Chrome, Edge and Firefox can hear it. |
| A computer | Play on your computer keys: the home row is the white keys, the row above the black keys. |
| An iPhone or iPad | Download the app, or play in your browser with the on-screen piano. Each finger is its own key, so you can hold a chord. |
| An Android tablet or phone | Play in your browser with the on-screen piano. Chrome on Android can also use USB MIDI. |
| An acoustic piano | Not yet: Octotune doesn't use the microphone today. Listening to an acoustic piano is coming. |
Safari on Mac, iPhone and iPad does not support Web MIDI. You can still use the on-screen piano, or computer keys where available. For a MIDI keyboard, our current recommendation is a supported computer browser. The downloaded app is separate from Safari; see iPhone and iPad setup and help before choosing a keyboard connection. How Octotune works explains the browser options.
For piano teachers
A piano teacher can start a studio on the web, invite adult students with a code or QR code, assign a passage and publish a course of their own. A public teacher page holds their courses, website and booking link. Each student chooses what the teacher sees of their practice, with sharing switched off until they turn it on. Studios and course listings are free today; a Plus piece still needs Plus or an earned unlock to play beyond its preview. Children can't join a studio yet; a parent can share a child's one-page practice report instead. Start a studio and your first course has the steps.
Privacy, in one line
No ads. No analytics. Children never sign in. Your progress is kept on your own device, and a grown-up can choose to sign in with Google or Apple to keep it safe across devices. Read the privacy page.
More questions are answered in the FAQ.