Over the last several weeks we’ve spent some time exploring the many facets of world music. From Cuba to Argentina, Chile, Spain, Brazil, the islands of Trinidad & Tobago, and Mexico.
But this week we’re going to step off our journey of world music to take a moment to explore a more digital world!
With the ongoing pandemic, many people have begun to look for alternatives to the traditional music lesson environment. In our digital soaked world, it’s no wonder one of the more popular alternatives to arise has been music apps. That’s why, this week, we’re diving into the top 8 music learning apps for iOS and Android. Let’s dive right in!
Yousician
Yousician is a great place to start if you’re trying to get a good start. The app covers many important aspects of music, including piano, guitar, ukulele, bass, and singing, and can work as a digital music teacher to help you master your instrument.
Perhaps the very best thing about this app is that it will let you play thousands of real songs on a real instrument. What’s more, Yousician will give you instant feedback on your accuracy and timing to help keep you on track!
Yousician’s curriculum was designed by expert music teachers and features step-by-step video tutorials so you can learn at your own pace. On top of that, it also features a gameplay option to compete with friends in weekly challenges!
Vanido: Learn to Sing
If you’re hoping to learn to use your voice with real-time visual feedback, then Vanido may be the app of your choice. This app features a fully personalized music learning experience, complete with daily lessons. Each exercise is goal-based, helping you practice each important aspect, like head voice, chest voice, and flexibility.
Something else Vanido does exceedingly well is tracking your progress. That means it helps you keep track of how well you’re progressing while helping you track down the areas you’re having difficulty with.
What’s more, Vanido allows you to set challenging goals to help you progress even faster! With all these incredible features, it’s no wonder Vanido is so popular for iOS.
Piano – Unlimited Songs
If you’re looking to improve your piano skills, this app seems like it’s a perfect match! With a massive catalog of songs, you can choose from your favourites to play in a wide range of genres, including rock, pop, kids, hip hop, and more. What’s more, new songs are added all the time, which means there’s always something interesting to play! Not only that, but you can also invite friends to perform duets!
One of the best features of this app is that it also allows you to choose your skill level for each song. Including beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Based on your own goals, you can practice at your own pace, and create amazing music.
Tomplay Sheet Music
Tomplay is a cross-platform app that allows you to play along with recorded versions os music while following along with the sheet music. The interactive sheet music catalog includes pieces for violin, viola, cello, piano, drums, guitar, bass, tuba, bassoon, harp, and more. Some of the features include the ability to choose your tempo, record yourself, and the ability to annotate the sheet music
ABRSM Theory Works
If you’re looking to beef up your knowledge in preparation for music theory exams, this one is for you! ABRSM Theory Works contains over 6,000 music theory questions to test your knowledge. Available for both iOS and Android, this app can help with engaging challenges for Grades 1 to 5.
Explanations are helpful, with diagrams where useful, as well as further exercises to help you practice and improve. What’s more, it offers instant feedback and recognizes when you get answers right in real-time.
EarMaster – Music Theory & Ear Training
Another great app for music theory, EarMaster can be used in a number of ways. The app provides a wide range of teaching and listening questions to help advance any beginner to a more well-rounded and advanced awareness.
EarMaster includes everything you’ll need to build your music theory skills, and become a better musician overall. The app is specifically designed to help your build and develop your aural skills in rhythm and pitch identification. The app runs through from basic rhythmic and pitch understanding and simple, interactive questions, to more advanced understandings of chord progressions, interval identification, and sight-reading and sight-singing.
Read Music
Speaking of sight-reading, if improving is your goal, look no further than Read Music. At first glance, this app may seem fairly light, but it comes with dozens of lessons that help you practice a wide range of music’s important facets, including rhythm, melody, and more.
Each exercise is bite-sized, which means it’s not hard to time the time to practice!
As with many others on this list, Read Music is goal-based, and each exercise puts special emphasis on helping you improve on a specific aspect of sight-reading.
Justin Guitar Beginner Lessons
We’re finishing off this list with a guitar app that’s got a lot going for it! First of all, the app provides you with a complete, fully structured course that is designed to teach basic chords, strumming patterns, fingerpicking patterns, capo, chord changes, scales, and guitar tabs. Under real guitar coach Justin’s guidance, you can complete more than 50 lessons!
From there, the app also features a self-assessment system to help track your improvement. And as for the song collection, the compilation of over 1000 hit songs should keep you busy!
Of course, as great as these apps can be, nothing really compares to the experience and expertise of a music teacher and playing music with others. In the end, both online and in-person lessons have their benefits and their drawbacks. Check out some of the benefits of in-person lessons here. Ultimately, which is right for you will depend entirely on you and the best environment in which you are comfortable learning. Here at The Music Studio, we offer a variety of classes, lessons, ensembles, and camps. Check out our programs here.
