For a WWW page, the Music Instruction Software Page has a long history. Find out all about it,
along with fascinating facts about the internet you didn't really want to know, on the
History of MIS page.
Quicklinks to the information on the Music Instruction Software Page
(please wait for the page to load completely before selecting one of these
quicklinks--might as well do all your waiting now instead of saving it for later . . . )
[NEW!]
If you want to add a link to this page, you can do it immediately on the
New Links Suggested by Users
page. You can also check there to see all the new links people have added!
This page is sponsored by the Missouri Western State College Department of Music, where Brent Hugh is a faculty member.
Please take a moment to visit the Department of Music's Web Site.
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Helpful Information About This Page
Updates to the Page
This page is updated often, as I become aware of new software and web sites.
As of January 2000, a major update is in progress. Many links are not working; the non-working links will be removed soon. Be sure to check the User-added Links pages;
these are the newest links and all of them work.
Downloading the Software
Most software on the page can be downloaded by just clicking on the program's
"Download" link. Sometimes there is a link to the program's "Web Page"; you can usually go there, read about the program and download.
If the download/web page links don't work, you can search the entire internet for download sites by clicking on "Search".
NoteTest version 1.1 is a
set of computerized flashcards for the beginning to intermediate pianist.
NoteTest
displays the note, the student must respond by playing it
on a MIDI keyboard. NoteTest has many different levels, ranging
from "Middle C Position" through "All Notes Above, On, or Below the
Grand Staff". Version 1.1 of NoteTest fixes some bugs in version 1.0.
NoteTest requires an MPU-401 compatible MIDI card connected to a MIDI
keyboard. (DOS freeware.)
EarTest version 1.2
is an ear training program. It is
loosely based on the method described in the David L. Burge Perfect Pitch
ear training course that you may have seen advertised in music magazines.
EarTest
plays a note, you must respond by playing the same note on a MIDI
keyboard. It has several levels, from very easy to incredibly difficult.
If you don't believe in learning perfect pitch, you can use it to
hone your relative pitch (you begin by learning the notes of the C major
scale, so you can just think of do-re-mi and forget the perfect pitch
stuff if you like). Version 1.2 fixes some bugs in EarTest, allows questions to be answered
via mouse (your MIDI device need not have a keyboard now), provides limited compatibility with
Windows enhanced mode, and will work with many more MIDI cards and configurations than version 1.0.
Version 1.1 required a mathcoprocessor, and Version 1.2 removes this restriction.
EarTest requires an MPU-401 compatible MIDI card hooked to a MIDI
device. (DOS freeware.)
EarTest is now available as an online, interactive game. It works under Netscape 3.0 and Internet Explorer 3.0 (and maybe others).
Check EarTestonline out!
You can also download EarTestonline (zipped file). You can either install it
on a web site of your own, or just run it from your local hard drive. Local hard drive installation actually
works quite nicely, and it works with a wider variety of midi devices than EarTest for DOS does.
KeyNote Music Drillsfor Windows95/NT
is designed to help music students learn to identify the notes of the bass clef, treble
clef, and grand staff, and to locate their positions on the keyboard or
guitar fingerboard. KeyNote Music Drills
also has drills for the alto and tenor clefs. (Shareware for Windows 95 or Windows NT. Will not work under Windows 3.x.)
Music Ace is a new
music instruction program that has received some good reviews. Music Ace has really fun animated graphics and
musical games that really draw the students into the musical skills they are learning. This is a great program for kids--and adults
can play it, too, when nobody's looking . . .
Neon
Notes is system of teaching piano based on a new notation
system which can be learned with a few minutes of instruction. The page includes a freeware program that
demonstrates the Neon Notes concept.
Winoye is
a cool ear training program for windows. The program plays melodic intervals, harmonic
intervals, short melodies, and two- and three-note chords, which you must
play back by pointing to keys on a keyboard it displays.
Winoye requires a MIDI interface or a sound card. (Windows shareware.)
The Music Box is a unique ear training program that helps
music teachers and students improve their ability to identify
intervals and triads, take melodic dictation and even sight sing. It generates melodies for sight singing
and melodic dictation, allowing you to concentrate on specific intervals if you want. It is the perfect software for those who are
taking undergraduate music fundamentals courses, or just for anyone who wants to improve their ear. The demo version has a few
functions disabled, but the shareware fee is very reasonable--around $20. (Shareware, Windows 3.1 or Win95, file size 148K)
The Easy Piano Tutor
will show you how to play your favorite songs
step-by-step on a 3D piano. Import MIDI file tracks, or enter your
favorite sheet music using the powerful EZPNO Editor. Test your
sight-reading skills with a MIDI keyboard as the
Easy Piano Tutor tracks your progress
and keeps score. Enter song lyrics for karaoke-style sing-alongs. Sound card or midi interface optional.
(Dos shareware; Windows version available to registered users.)
Virtuax
v1.0 is a guitar reference and instruction utility designed to
assist advancing guitarists with their practicing. This demo includes a
configurable and playable on-screen virtual guitar, a digital metronome,
and a tuner. Virtuax also displays chords, scales, and arpeggio patterns
using color-coded and numbered fingerings to facilitate easy learning.
All charts can be played at various tempos for play-along practice.
Includes a Windows based installer and complete help file. (Windows
shareware. File size is around 700,000 bytes.)
NoFret
is a guitar chord instruction program complete with special help
sections to help you tune your guitar and read chord charts. Barre and
open chord forms are presented for A,B,C,D,E,F, and G chords in minor,
minor 7th, 7th, major, major 7th, 6th, 9th, and 13th forms. Sound
support is included for SoundBlaster users so the user can hear how
each chord sounds when played correctly. (DOS shareware.)
Softech Multimedia has recently released a new version of their
Piano Professor for Windows. Piano Professor has a variety of activities to help in learning music (note
learning, ear training, chords, key signatures). Softech Multimedia's WWW
Page has information about the Piano Professor; you can also download the program directly from the page. The
new version has many improvements--the MIDI interface or sound card is now optional and the interface is
somewhat faster, among other things. (Windows shareware.)
PC
Piano Tutor also has a variety of activities (note learning, ear
training, rhythmic dictation, reading intervals, steps and skips).
It doesn't require MIDI--sounds are played through the PC's built in speaker
and the student must respond through the normal PC keyboard (MIDI support
is promised in the registered version). (DOS shareware.) (This link may be difficult to access--keep trying.)
Musicware
Piano (demo version)
is a full blown piano teaching program. I believe
Musicware Piano is intended to be
used alone, without a teacher at all (it certainly could be used that
way), but it would be a nice complement to regular piano lessons as well.
It looks well-designed, with lessons grouped into units and each lesson and
each unit seeming to have a well-defined teaching objective. It can
handle multiple students easily. This is a demo version, which means you
can try a few things and see how it works, but basically it won't do
anything usefule
unless you register. It is large (over one megabyte, compressed).
Requires soundcard with synth drivers or a MIDI keyboard and
interface. (Windows demo.)
Musicware, Inc. also has a home page
with information about and
demos of Musicware Piano and other products for Windows and Macintosh.
MusiCalc II, by
Robert Dobbins at the University of Idaho, calculates and
displays chords and scales in all keys, major and minor. It displays the
roman numeral chords (I, II, III, etc.) as well as secondary dominants,
borrowed chords, seventh, ninth, and eleventh chords, and so on. It also
has a self-test mode, so you can see if you know all these chords in all
these keys. It displays the chords in functional notation (i.e., ii, V7),
staff notation, and on a piano keyboard or guitar frets. It seems to be
designed as a review or self-study help for a first year college theory
class. (DOS Freeware.)
Rising Software has developed an aural training
program for Windows called Auralia. (Windows commercial program.)
MiBAC Music Software has released its Music Lessons software
for Windows. Music Lessons is a recipient of the 1994-1995 Technology
and Learning Software Award of Excellence. (Windows Demo.)
Guitar Workshop is a new guitar tutorial
program. It features a great interface and on-going
lesson modules being developed by professional guitarists. More
information and a demo version are available. (Windows demo.)
The Talking Note Picker
teaches students how notes on the keyboard correspond to the notes on the grand staff.
The Talking Note Picker
plays a note on the piano; the student responds by clicking the matching note on the grand staff. (File size 796K.)
The Music Maid is a Macintosh utility which creates music exercises
and worksheets. Great for music teachers! [NEW]
Imaja Software has a WWW
homepage. The WWW page explains their
ear training software (as well as other software they offer) and has
instructions for ordering.
Computer Music: an Interactive Documentary is
a CD-Rom for Mac. It is an interactive documentary that shows how computer music is made. Topics include
studio recording using computers, synthesized sounds, sampling, MIDI, and digital editing. The
CyberLearning homepage has
downloadable demos and further information about the CD-Rom. [NEW]
Trimbelle Software has a series of five disks designed to help students master the rudiments of music. Click
here for a brief explanation of them.
MiBAC Music Software has released its Music Lessons and MiBAC
Jazz software for Macintosh. Their page has further information and demos you can download.
Ars Nova's page describes their software products for Macintosh, including
Practica Musica 3 (music theory and ear training) and Songworks (composition).
Musicware, Inc. has a home page
with information about and
demos of products for Windows and Macintosh. The demo for
Inner Hearing looked particularly interesting.
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Programs for Amiga
Information on the Cochlear
Consciousness ear training program is available. (Sorry, this program
isn't available on the net. However, it looks very interesting, so I have
included some info about it.)
A link to a page about the Guitar
Reference, a GEM guitar tool for the Atari ST. This page fully explains the Guitar Reference and
has a link to download it.
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Online Music Instruction
Here you will find textfiles and hypertext documents that allow you to study music history, theory,
and even ear training online.
[NEW]
EarTest is now available as an online, interactive game that helps you improve both your relative pitch and your
perfect pitch. It should work on any platform that can run Netscape 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0 (and possibly others) and that
has a midi device. Check EarTestonline out!
BigEars is an
Java-based online eartrainer that will give you practice on all intervals up to 11ths. Very nice! [NEW]
Musicianship Basics is a program covering basics such as
note reading, aural recognition, chords, and musical terms. There is a downloadable demo of the program and
an online demo written in Java. [NEW]
Matthew Ross Davis presents an
analysis of a twelve-tone piece, with a good
explanation of the twelve-tone technique in general and what inspired him to write this piece in particular.
The Society of Music Theory (SMT) has an
on-line bibliography of materials for learning the basics of music theory. The bibliography includes books, tapes,
computer programs, and a few other things.
SMT also has a list of
available materials in Computer Aided Instruction
(CAI). You can browse their online
library for interesting materials on
music, music theory, computers and music, music materials online, and so on.
G. Schirmer maintains a list of composer biographies of
composers represented by Schirmer. This list has a commercialized slant, of course, but it is still a great source of
information, particularly on American composers from this century.
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Online Music (mostly in postscript format)
I am making rehearsal recordings, and eventually the final live version, of my upcoming recital available. The recital includes Bach (Capriccio), Beethoven (Fantasy),
Liszt (Funérailles), and Schumann (Carnaval). The RealAudio 3.0 soundfiles start playing almost immediately, and the sound
quality is really quite good. The files are optimised for 28.8 baud connections or above, but will work with 14.4 baud connections.
You can listen in on the Up-to-the-Minute Recital Page.
View and/or print out The Comet, a piece for the beginning pianist, in GIF format. I
have made The Comet available on the WWW in honor of
Comet Hale-Bopp, which is making a very striking appearance
this month (March 1997).
Listen to "A Hard, n-Neat Joy," my latest foray into electronic composition.
Written in CSound using instruments entirely made up of sampled sounds,
this is the first section (60 seconds) of a projected 5 minute composition. (Available as a
RealAudio 3.0 file optimized for 28.8K or faster connections.
If you have the latest version of RealAudio,
the RealAudio file will start playing immediately.)
Get information about and download "Scherzo," a lively piano solo of intermediate difficulty by Brent Hugh.
(Postscript format.)
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Music Education-related Pages
The number of music education-related sites has exploded in the past year or so. When I first started looking for music
education-related pages to put here, I couldn't find a single site. Now there are so many I couldn't possibly list them all.
Here are a few good ones to get you started:
The Piano Education Page, sponsored by the West Mesa
Music Teachers Association, is a fantastic all-around site for piano teachers and students--the best such site I've seen.
Charanga presents GuitarCoach - the phenomenal new CD-ROM guitar tutor
for beginners. Specially commissioned video, audio and graphics are
integrated to provide enjoyable and effective guitar lessons. [NEW]
The Music Educator's Home Page contains
music curriculum materials and links to other useful
sites that may be of benefit to the classroom music
teacher.
Music Notation Programs - a list in answer to a FAQ is a list of music notation applications on various
computers. It contains names, availabilities, list prices (where
known), and citations of reviews of the software. BTW, take the list prices on on this page with a large grain
of salt, because often the street price of software is hundreds of dollars less than the list price.
The Piano Internet Resources list is the official FAQ of
rec.music.makers.piano. It is a very complete list of piano-related resources on the net. Other interesting
rec.music.makers.piano FAQs are also
available.
The Piano Page
is sponsored by the Piano Technicians Guild. The page includes a lot of information
about the use and care of your piano.
A picture of Grant Hall, one of two buildings at UMKC
used by the Conservatory of Music. The Fascinating Fact about Grant Hall is that it is the building where Walt Disney
attended elementary school. Yet another Fascinating Fact: Walt also drew our school mascot, the "Roo".
(I'll spare you the gif of that one . . . )
Harold! Haaarrrold! Why you dirty rotten little brat! You've been writing all over the piano keys
again, haven't you!!!????
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Feedback
The author of this page is Brent Hugh (BHugh@CSTP.UMKC.EDU ). Feel free to email him with any questions about,
problems with or complaints regarding the page. He especially appreciates it if you send
him a quick note (no need to chit-chat or spend extra time being polite) about any problems with the page, such as
dead links or outdated information.
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