For young violinists · iPad
Every note gets a pencil mark.
Nail the Note listens while your kid plays, follows along in the sheet music, and marks it up like a teacher would: green when it's right on, an arrow when it's a little high or a little low, and a circle when it's a different note.
How it works
Play. Peek. Polish.
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1
Pick a piece and play
Open the song, tap Listening, and go. No clip-on gadgets, no buttons mid-piece. The iPad's microphone does the listening.
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2
It follows along
The music highlights the measure being played and turns the page by itself. Household noise? It listens for the violin, not the kitchen.
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3
Practice the tricky bar
Tap the measures that need work. The iPad plays them first, then listens while your child plays them again until they're green.
Ear test
How close is “close enough”?
Drag the slider to bend an A. Inside the green band (15 cents, about a sixth of a half step) counts as in tune, which is the same line the app uses. Past halfway to the next note, it's a different note, not a tuning slip.
Tip: listen with headphones and compare against the reference.
Spot on. Hold it steady.
For parents
You don't have to read music to help.
- Know what to praise. Green is green. Celebrate the right-on notes without guessing.
- Pinpoint the fix. “Measure 6, the C was high” beats “that sounded a bit off, sweetie.”
- Wrong note or out of tune? It tells the two apart, so a slip of the finger isn't confused with a tuning problem.
- See where the trouble is. Every play-through is saved, and a map shows the measures that keep slipping, so you know exactly what to practice.
- A tuner built in. Tune the open strings first, so the marks reflect the fingers, not the strings.
- Kind by design. Encouraging words, big friendly buttons, no grades, no streak guilt.
- Stays on the iPad. The listening happens on the device. No account, no recordings uploaded.
For teachers
Show in tune. Don't just say it.
- Make intonation visible. Students see exactly which notes drift, and which way, the moment they play them.
- Homework that listens back. Practice between lessons gets the same pencil marks you'd make, so lessons start further along.
- Practice in sections. Students pick a phrase across the bar lines, hear it played, then repeat it until they get three green rounds in a row.
- Bring your own music. Import MusicXML, MIDI, ABC, MEI or MuseScore files, or search thousands of folk tunes.
- Familiar repertoire. Ships with public-domain editions of many pieces from the Suzuki books, from Lightly Row to the Bach Double.
Questions
When can we get it?
Soon. We're putting the finishing touches on it. Leave your email below and we'll send one note the day it lands on the App Store.
What do we need?
An iPad and a violin. That's it. Set the iPad on the music stand, tune up with the built-in tuner, and play.
What music can it read?
It comes with a library of public-domain pieces many young violinists learn, plus the Martini Gavotte with every slur, bowing and dynamic. You can add your own files in MusicXML, MIDI, ABC, MEI and MuseScore formats.
Is this a replacement for a teacher?
No way. It's a practice buddy for the days in between, so lessons can spend less time on “that F♯ again.”
Coming soon
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