Steinway Etude for iPad
Ever wish you could read and interpret sheet music? This tends to be a dilemma for the majority of us who didn’t grow up taking lessons or join the high school band when we should have. I know this to be true because I am one of these people. I have a good insight on musical theory and I produce music full time for a living (Pop, Hip Hop, and RnB), but put me in front of sheet music and I’m about as useful as a sprinter with two left feet running circles around his elbow just to scratch is backside.
Hopefully, that will all change for those of us who are less musically educated with the birthing of Steinway Etude for iPad. I haven’t used this app personally but I had a fellow colleague call me up last week high on life because he was finally beginning to read and understand sheet music thanks to this app. Thus, I decided to write a review on it because more of us so called producers need to learn how to read sheet music.
Based on our conversation here are the key points I gathered from his experience using this app.
It’s tailored toward piano players. Download a song and the sheet music for that song gets interpreted visually on a piano roll in real time. As a song progresses you can look at the scores and corresponding keys you need to hit on the piano to play that music. Do this enough over time and slowly but surely you are learning to read sheet music and play piano – simple but effective in its own right.
You can download a wide range of songs that suit many musical genres – anything from Classical to Billboard hits. Slow a song down to learn its intricacies or speed it up to challenge yourself. The choice is yours.
If you’re not fluent enough to play a song with both hands you can choose to practice each hand separately, which I think is very cool as well. You can also score your own music within this app so you don’t have to do it on paper.
All in all, if you want to learn how to read sheet music and play piano this a good way to go. Best of all this app is free – enough said.
Awesome app! but if you are into composing music scores, I suggest you try the Ghostwriter Notes app. It has a dedicated music sheet feature that allows you to compose songs. And I use it too!
Notion for the ipad is also very good. Easy to use and great sounds for composing and learning. I can see it being an invaluable tool for music teachers as well as composers.
Downloaded this app today and I keep getting an error message when I try to go to the Music Store. I also can’t open etudeapp.com anymore.