Hop To It! A Piano Adventure [iPhone]

*** Created by a piano teacher of over 25 years- based on first-hand experience of the needs of young students.

Intervals. That’s what musicians call the distance between two notes. Recognizing different intervals plays a big part in reading music, especially for pianists. “Hop To It!” is an app designed to help developing pianists with this aspect of their music reading skills. From the creative mind that brought you “Flashnote Derby”, “Hop To It!” does for intervals what “Flashnote Derby” does for note names. Students will begin to make the connection from patterns of notes on the music staff to keys on the piano keyboard.

Young students and those just getting started can begin with lessons covering the very basics- line and space notes, up and down on the staff vs. up and down on the piano keyboard, and steps and skips. As you progress, you will be introduced to larger intervals up to an octave. As each new level is mastered, you have an opportunity to review it in practice mode and then ultimately be challenged in a fun and fast-paced game.

The game component of “Hop To It!” tests your fluency in reading intervals, but with amusing obstacles that require you to concentrate even harder and decipher the notes more rapidly. Trying to thwart your progress, an impatient shark, some easily-annoyed jellyfish, sinking lily pads, bad weather, and a loud, distracting opera diva all make an appearance to try to throw you off your game.

You will learn! But you will also have fun.

A Note to Teachers:

“Hop To It!” is a super tool for your young, pre-reading students. Children can get used to how notes move higher and lower on the staff (vertically) and how that translates to a horizontal movement on the piano keys. The tutorials and practice exercises allow students as much time as they need to think about their responses, while the game levels introduce some fun, non-musical obstacles that require a more focused concentration. Older students will also benefit from the drilling of larger intervals and will definitely be challenged by the more difficult levels of the game.

A Note to Parents:

If you have a young child in the beginning stages of piano lessons, “Hop To It!” will be a fun and motivational way for them to practice some very basic and essential concepts. Even before children think about the letter names of the notes (A, B, C, etc.), they can discover how the lines and spaces of the music staff show them the direction and distance the notes are moving from one to the next. Getting comfortable with these ideas will help set the stage for future success at the piano.

A Note to Students:

Are you ready for a challenge? A fun challenge? A fun and sometimes silly challenge? A fun and sometimes silly challenge that will also help you get better at the piano and enjoy your lessons even more? If so, you will love “Hop To It!”