Hi folks,

Just spotted this interesting iPad sight-reading app from WessarInternational. It comes with a 1000 graded pieces and it hides the bars played - so no going back or restarting..

You can find it here

It appears to be free. Now if only I had an iPad!

Perhaps someone with an iPad could give it a go?

Looks pretty interesting, thanks for posting. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

thanks...will download it onto my ipad tonight and take it for a test run!

Look forward to hearing how you both get on!

Just spotted that this appears to be an ABRSM sanctioned app

See this link:
ABRSM SightRead4Piano by Wessar

Also on this link it seems that the application comes bundled with a bunch of graded scores, but that more can be purchased.

It appears it was released just earlier this week (I spotted it in the free ABRSM magazine 'Libretto')

i cant download that to my ipad right now since i'm not in wifi, but i do see an iphone app simply called "sightread" that looks good. i think it was $.99, but it has pretty much everything you would want in an app to help read. you can do quizzes for a pre-set 20 40 or 60 notes. looks like its only c major or 1 minor scale, but thats ok....thing this is minor. but, it definitely does what it should do.

correction: it has every scale

That looks cool. While we are on the subject I have an ear training app that's pretty cool called "Relative Pitch".
Don't particularly care for the picture of the ear though. lol

Hi,

I tried the first app you mentioned "wessar sightread4piano" and it is ok as long as it is used with a teacher sitting next to you.
For me as an early beginner, I would need the software to check for the correct notes (via midi or microphone) because otherwise I would not be sure to have played correctly. As long as it's not doing that, it's unusable for me.

Oh! I will have to check this out, thanks for posting about it!

Thanks for posting it. I'll check it out tonight. It looks really good on the demo video . The fact that the measures disappear really forces you to keep going. This could be very valuable I think.

Btw... There are also apps for the abrsm music theory grades 1-5.
They're .99 for each grade.

So I just tried this. It works well. It only comes with 1 sample piece for each grade. You can buy more for a variety of different music boards for a
few dollars for each grade. It is good in that the music disappears bar by bar according to the metronome setting. (which you can set to whatever you want) It really forces you to continue playing which is what sight reading is all about. But it doesn't play it for you or know what you're playing. You would have to know enough to be sure you were doing each piece right or use it with a teacher. Each level costs the same or maybe less than as a sight reading book I think. Perhaps you get more in a book. The book I'm using was $12 and has 56 pages of exercises. Still I could see how this might appeal to some folks. It probably works great with kids who like everything technology based. I would be Tempted to buy the extra music if it had RCM graded music in it.

ZoeCalgary & Clayboy,

Many thanks for the reports...

Nice idea but a little misleading. The free app is really just a reader with one sample from each grade level. The web page shows a screen shot with tons of music, but you have to BUY all of it.

As ZoeCalgary says, probably less expensive to just buy a book. Maybe great for kids used to video games but for older minds perhaps better to just use a piece of paper so the music doesn't puff out of existence. LOL

Of course, anything on the iPad is cool.

+1 to everything said by AmateurBob. Disappointed to find that the free app was really just a free invitation to purchase the content.

Still pretty cool, though, and I might fork out for a level or two to try it.

I've enjoyed this talk of Sight-reading by Margaret Fabrizio. In it she talks about an 'apparatus' (at 4:39) to hide the bars that had been read. This app seems to be doing exactly this and hence my interest.



You have to double click and click on the 'Watch on YouTube' link...

Hi everyone,

Anyone know if this will work on an iTouch or a MacPro book

I did download it but I'm a little nervous about trying it on the iTouch.

A lot of apps that work on iPad do work on the iTouch and the iPhone. Can't afford an iPad at the moment but the disappearing measures look like what I need to keep me looking ahead.

Also having downloaded to my MacPro book can I open it there too? Do you think? I'm not a techie kind of person only wish I was

anyone??? Thanks in advance

I just got this app. I purchased just one grade. It's an eye opener for me.... Forcing you to keep going really gets you looking ahead which is what sight reading is really all about. I think it is awesome! With 55 exercises in the level 3 I purchased ($5.99) I think it will be easy to go through them 2or 3times and still be unfamiliar enough for it to count as sight reading. Best app I have seen so far. Most others are mostly for note recognition.

I bought it and I'm loving it

I really love this app, I downloaded it a few days ago and ended up buying all the music!
As a pianist, teacher and tech enthusiast I reckon this could cometely change the way we look at sight reading. I tried it on a few of my friends and a pupil, they all found it took a couple of pieces to get used to it.

I was reading their website (www.wessarinternational.com) and from the looks of it RCM will be coming soon - they have so many other big boards that I can't imagine they wouldn't include RCM - might be one to watch!!

If you read what they say about it, it is designed to teach continuity, not to teach how to read music. As a teacher I would happily give this to my pupils to use by theselves!

The only minor thing that I don't use on the app is the flashing with the metronome...I find that distracts my abit. What does anyone else think of this?

I just downloaded this and after trying out a song, it seems to be exactly what i'm looking for. I ended up buying the level 1-5 of the ABRSM considering I will have material to sightread progressively compared to buying lot of books of music and trying to find the easy songs to play.

Now I have something to quick to practice on everyday for sightreading.

I don't normally practice to a metronome, but with this app it includes one and I already can see how it's improving my timing when playing with it.
The flashing metronome doesn't bother me, although it's probably because i'm too busy concentrating on the notes.

I like it too. I am working through Grade One.

I think I saw an option to turn the flash off. I'd check, but right now I have a cat in my lap.

I came across this a few weeks ago and just to point out that the downloadable samples from ABRSM are the exact same samples in their published books, which I already had, so paid twice, thinking I was getting more practice samples but ended up with a full set of duplicates! But for £3.99 (or whatever), if you are planning on taking the exams, it's invaluable to get a true sense of the time pressure (30 sec) that you would be under. I thought I was ready to sit my grade 1 next month until I tried this app and now, although initially very discouraged as I now know I will not be able to pass the sight reading part of exam under time pressure, I maybe have a more realistic sense of where my skill level is and am now devoting much more time to sight reading than just learning the 'pieces' - so a bit of a set back but probably saved the embarrassment of bombing the exam. I think the app is a good learning tool but just wish there were more examples to practice with (I know there are some you can buy from other boards but really not many, eg, for grade 1 - Australian Board,14; London College, 19; Royal Irish Academy, 7 - each costing £2.49-£2.99 - compared to 55 from ABRSM ( which unfortunately are dups if you already have the book).

Yep--tap in the lower right on the metronome; you can stop the flash and change the tempo.