Treble Cat & Bass Cat ($2.99 each for the iPhone versions and $3.99 each for the HD iPad versions)
These two apps are excellent for students to practice identifying notes on the staff. It is a great pair of apps to recommend to parents/students to use at home. I love how simple the concept of the game is — even young piano students will be able to independently use this app.
In each level, the player is given sixty seconds to find all of a given note(s) as a variety of different notes scroll across the screen. If the player misses more than 3 notes, they must re-try that level.
The graphics and the background music in these apps are fantastic!
Each app contains 5 “Stages” with 10 levels each. The Treble Cat app begins with the Middle C position and gradually adds notes above that, up to high G. Here is a list of the five different “Stages” in the Treble Cat app. Each Stage contains 10 levels.
- Stage 1 — Middle C position
- Stage 2 — Adds A and B
- Stage 3 — Adds C, D, E
- Stage 4 – Adds F and G
- Stage 5 — double staff
The Bass Cat app begins with Low A (first space of the staff) and gradually adds notes up to Middle C. Please note that Stage 1 begins with the low A on the first space of the bass clef staff. Students who are learning piano via a method book with what as known as the “Middle C approach” may be better off beginning with Stage 4 and working their way backwards. The app allows the player to “unlock” all the levels after touching the Settings button, which will allow the player to begin at any Stage.
- Stage 1 — First space A, B, C, D, E.
- Stage 2 — F, G, A
- Stage 3 — B,
- Stage 4 — Middle C
- Stage 5 — double staff challenge
You can read more app reviews on the Music Apps page.
Thank you the great web chat!! I loved the discussion and took notes and got lots of ideas for my students. Hope you continue your music journey!!!
I’m still trying to figure out the Bass Cat app. It doesn’t seem to be beginner level friendly like the Treble Cat app. When you say “stage 4” is the middle C approach notes, do you mean Roman numeral “IV”? It still includes the bass C in the first step of level IV and I wish it were more the middle C approach from the beginning stage. It’s confusing to the students. Also, on their Rhythm Cat app is there a speed control? It was fast for one of my 8 year old transfer students. Is there a way to provide feedback to the creators of these 3 apps? Thank you for your help.