Musical Games
Your ear is your strongest tool. Most of these games can't be won with just reading — you have to actually listen. Five mini-games covering everything we've worked on so far: pitch direction, rhythm by ear, chord shapes, melody memory, and matching what you hear to what you see on the page. Put on headphones if you've got them.
Pick a Game
Higher or Lower?
You'll hear two notes, one after the other.
Was the second note higher or lower than the first?
15 rounds. Tap Replay if you missed it.
Count the Hits
A 4-beat bar plays. Some beats are notes, some are rests.
How many notes did you actually hear?
10 rounds. This trains the exact thing Ted talked about — counting silence and sound equally.
Name the Chord
Two notes stacked on a staff. Identify both letter names.
This is exactly the skill you need for the left hand in Thunder — reading two notes at once.
15 rounds. You'll hear the chord after you answer.
Same Melody?
A 3-note melody plays. Then another 3-note melody plays.
Were they the same or did one note change?
10 rounds. This is the ear training that great pianists rely on.
The Bar Hunter
A rhythm plays. You see three written rhythm patterns.
Tap the one you heard. This is the big skill: hearing music and matching it to notation.
10 rounds. The final boss.
For the Back Seat
No-screen ear games for when the iPad needs a break.
Name That Pitch
Someone hums or whistles a single note. The other person tries to match it exactly, then hums one higher or lower. Trade off. Bonus: try to guess the letter name if a piano is nearby later to check.
Counting Songs in the Wild
Find a song playing — restaurant, store, car radio. Count "1, 2, 3, 4" out loud until you can hear the bars. Then try to spot the moment the chorus starts. (It almost always lands on a "1.")
Same or Different?
Someone claps or taps a short rhythm. The other person claps a rhythm back — either the same one, or a sneakily-different one. The first person has to say which. Switch roles.
Hum-a-Tune Memory
Hum the first three notes of a song you both know. The other person has to name the song. Get harder by using non-obvious songs, or by humming notes from the middle of the song instead of the start.