Name the note

Ten notes. Name each one.

The short answer

Name the note is a free reading game from the PlayPiano app. A note appears on the staff, and you name it by its letter or on the keys. A round is ten notes, in the treble clef, the bass clef or both, across five levels from five notes, C to G, to two ledger lines either side. Nothing is timed and nothing is stored.

Pick a clef and a level

Every level is open. Answer with the letter keys A to G on your keyboard, the buttons or the piano keys, and press Enter to go on.

How the levels work

Level 1. Five notes: C4 to G4 in the treble clef, C3 to G3 in the bass clef.
Level 2. The whole staff and the spaces beside it, with no ledger lines.
Level 3. One ledger line above and below.
Level 4. One ledger line and the spaces beyond it.
Level 5. Two ledger lines above and below.

Two clean rounds, 10 out of 10, at a level offer you the next one. It is a key you can press when you want it, never a gate. Notes are naturals only, and no note comes twice in a row.

Questions

How do I learn to read notes on the staff?

Start with five notes from C to G, then widen the range one level at a time. A note on a line and the space above it are neighbours, so each step up the staff is the next letter of the alphabet, from A to G and round again. Ten notes a round, a few minutes a day, is plenty.

What are ledger lines?

Ledger lines are short extra lines that carry a note above or below the five lines of the staff. Middle C sits on the first ledger line below the treble staff and on the first ledger line above the bass staff. Levels 3 to 5 add them one and then two at a time.

The app has more games, from reading and ear training to rhythm and scales, and plays them with a MIDI keyboard or the keys on screen. Name the note is one of them, in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

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