Learn to read music, one landmark at a time
After Octotune's 12 units you can read both clefs from C2 to C6, count quarter, half, dotted half, whole and eighth notes, play in G and F major, read I, IV and V chords, and sight-read in time. Each sitting takes three to six minutes.
Octotune's adult path teaches you to read piano music in 12 units. By the end you can read both clefs from low C (C2) to high C (C6), count the common note lengths in 4/4 and 3/4, play in G major and F major, read the I, IV and V chords, and play music you have never seen before, in time. Each sitting takes three to six minutes.
The method: three landmarks
Most people learn to read by naming every note from the bottom of the staff, with a rhyme. It works, but it is slow, and it breaks down as soon as the notes leave the staff.
Octotune teaches landmark reading, the approach behind well-known method books such as Faber's and Alfred's. You learn three notes so well that you know them on sight:
- Middle C, on its own short line between the two staves.
- Treble G, the line the treble clef curls round.
- Bass F, the line between the bass clef's two dots.
Every other note is a step or a skip from one of those. Treble C, bass C, high G and low F join them as the reading spreads outwards. No note is ever an isolated fact. How landmark reading works.
The 12 units
| Unit | What you learn | Songs you play |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Middle C, D and E | Find any C from the black keys; read middle C, D and E. | Hot Cross Buns, Au Clair de la Lune |
| 2. Up to G | F and G: the whole five-finger position. | Mary Had a Little Lamb, Lightly Row, Ode to Joy |
| 3. Down to bass F | The bass staff, from middle C down to bass F. | Hot Cross Buns and Mary, left hand |
| 4. Treble G and up | A, B and C above treble G; the C major scale. | Twinkle, Twinkle; Jingle Bells |
| 5. Two hands | The left hand's C position; both staves at once. | Mary, Ode to Joy and Twinkle, with bass |
| 6. Steps and skips | Reading by distance; D and E above treble C. | London Bridge, Row Your Boat, Old MacDonald |
| 7. Note lengths | Quarter to whole notes, rests, 3/4, eighths; playing in time. | Lightly Row and Amazing Grace, in time |
| 8. Outward | The edges of both staves: high F and G, low B, A and G. | Happy Birthday; Behr's In May |
| 9. Ledger lines | Round middle C in both clefs; out to C6 and C2. | Frère Jacques; Satie; Schumann |
| 10. Keys of G and F | F sharp, B flat and key signatures. | Minuet in G; Schumann; the Blue Danube |
| 11. Chords | Triads as one shape; I, IV and V in C, G and F. | Twinkle, Ode to Joy and Lightly Row, with chords |
| 12. Sight-reading | Look ahead, keep the beat, let a missed note go. | Minuet in G; Pleyel; Scarlatti |
What a sitting looks like
A unit is a line of stops on a map. Each stop is one sitting of 8 to 15 items, and takes three to six minutes. The kinds of stop:
- Meet. One to three new notes: where they sit on the staff, where they are on the keys, how they sound. You play each one with its key lit, so it can't go wrong.
- Note cards. One note on the staff; play it. New notes are mixed with ones you know.
- Mix. The same notes asked different ways: play it, find it on the staff, name it, hear which of two notes is higher, say whether two notes are a step or a skip.
- Phrase. A short page read left to right. The cursor waits for each note.
- Use it. A real song that uses only the notes you have learned.
- Checkpoint. A mixed review. Passing it opens the next unit.
Every sitting can be driven from the piano: any key starts the next stop, and any C means "OK". You don't need to reach for the mouse.
Built to stick
- Placement. Already read a little? "Jump here" on any unit opens a short test on the units before it. Score 85% and you start there.
- Spaced review. Each note has its own memory in the app. A note you are slow on, or miss, comes back sooner; a note you know comes back less often. A finished unit whose notes are due shows "needs a visit".
- Practice. The Practice button makes a sitting from your weakest and most overdue notes, across everything you've met.
- A gentle daily goal. Pick minutes or cards. There is a streak, and you can turn it off.
- Crowns. One crown for finishing a stop, two for 85% right first time, three for 95% and quick. The path moves on after one; the rest is polish.
- No punishment. No lives, no hearts, nothing ever lost.
Songs are the reward
Every unit ends in music: nursery tunes first, then real piano pieces as the reading grows. Behr's In May in Unit 8; Satie's Gymnopédie No. 3 and Schumann's Album for the Young in Unit 9; the Minuet in G, The Happy Farmer and the Blue Danube in Unit 10. Each is checked, note by note, against what you have learned by then.
The Songs tab holds the whole library of 125 pieces, from the first children's songs to Chopin and Joplin. It marks the songs you can already read.
Questions
How long does the Octotune path take?
Each unit is planned as about a week of short sittings, so the 12 units take about three months at a few minutes a day. Go faster or slower as you like.
I can already read a little. Do I have to start at Unit 1?
No. A short placement test lets you jump ahead. Pass it and the units before are marked done; otherwise it suggests where to start.
Do I need a real piano?
A MIDI keyboard or digital piano is best, but the on-screen piano and your computer keys work too.
The twelve units
| Unit | What it teaches |
|---|---|
| 1. Middle C, D and E | Middle C sits on its own short line between the staves. D and E climb from it, a step at a time. |
| 2. Up to G | F and G complete the five-finger position: one finger for each note from middle C. |
| 3. Down to bass F | The left hand reads the bass staff. From middle C it steps down through B, A and G to F, the line between the bass clef’s dots. |
| 4. Treble G and up | The treble clef curls around G. From that landmark A, B and the next C are a step and a skip away. |
| 5. Two hands | The left hand finds its own C position, an octave below middle C: C, D and E in the bass. Then both staves at once. |
| 6. Steps and skips | Read by distance, not by name: line to space is a step, line to line a skip. D and E above treble C are found that way. |
| 7. Note lengths | Quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes; rests; counting three in a bar. The songs you know, now in time. |
| 8. Outward | To the edges of both staves: F on the treble’s top line and G above it; B, A and G down to the bass staff’s bottom line. |
| 9. Ledger lines | Short lines carry each staff on. Round middle C each hand reads in its own clef; above and below, the notes run out to C6 and C2. |
| 10. Keys of G and F | One sharp, F♯, makes the key of G; one flat, B♭, the key of F. The key signature says it once for the whole piece. |
| 11. Chords | Three notes a skip apart, played as one: the I, IV and V chords of C, then of G and F. |
| 12. Sight-reading | Read music you have never seen, in time: look ahead, keep the beat, and let a missed note go. |