Best iPad Music Games for Kids and Adults
Happy Spring Break, Folks!
Whether you're hanging out at home or travelling by planes/trains/automobiles, I thought you might enjoy some iPad music games! Most of these were actually created by piano teachers in one of my piano Facebook groups and I'm excited to share them with you.
SproutBeat
I want to first acknowledge that not everyone has an iPad and that even folks who do often prefer web-based games. The tricky thing about many web-based games is the ads. The site I see music teachers recommending the most - which was developed by music teachers in our group - is sproutbeat.com. SproutBeat has over 50 free music games with no ads!
The Most Amazing Sheep Game
The Most Amazing Sheep Game (or T-M-A-S-G as it reads on the iPad lol) is a favorite among piano teachers. It is one of the best builders of musicality, rhythm and piano technique of any iPad game. It's easy to learn and play for kids as young as 4 and an effective skill-builder for all ages. It's also just FUN.
Costs $.99 and there are no in-app purchases.
Rhythm Trainer
Music Rhythm Trainer is the full title of this app and what it lacks in bells and whistles it makes up for in killer rhythm training. You don't just tap rhythms that you hear, you get to see/read them at the same time which builds the most important element of music reading. This one is consistently recommended by piano teachers and is a great addition to both kids and adults practice time! Ages 4+.
The game is free with the full game available as an in-app purchase for $4.99.
Staff Wars
Staff Wars is a favorite among teachers of all instruments because you can focus on reading one clef at a time. It reminds me a bit of the old Parsec game and was created by a piano teacher from my group, just like T-M-A -S-G. The game says it's for 4+ but most kids that young haven't begun learning the staff. Within my studio, I'd recommend it for students ages 5 and up.
Costs $1.29 and there are no in-app purchases.
NinGenius
NinGenius has been around for awhile and kids tend to love it. It is maybe my least favorite to play of all of these, and that is maybe why it is so appealing to kids lol. It is an extensive music theory course that allows students to work up to a black belt in multiple areas. Teachers and students alike highly recommend this one.
The cost is $.99 and there are no in-app purchases.
Earpeggio
Earpeggio is a terrific ear-training app that teachers have been recommending for years now. Aural skills are a huge part of music training and most of us aren't getting enough time in this area. One of my professors always said "listen three times as much as you play" - a difficult task, especially with the amount of focus needed. I'll go so far as to say: ear-training apps are essential for budding musicians. The next two games are also exclusively ear-training apps.
This app is free with no in-app purchases.
Fuctional Ear Trainer
As you can probably guess from the photo and the title, Functional Ear Trainer is not gamified like a lot of the others games in this email, but it's easily one of the most powerful skill builders. It teaches pitch recognition (playing by ear) through solfege (do, re, mi, fa...) and emphasizes the relationships between the notes. I'll be playing this entire game to brush up my skills and highly recomend it to students and their families. Ages 4+.
Free with no in-app purchases.
Complete Ear Trainer
Complete Ear Trainer is an excellent ear-training app that gives one of the best visuals of intervals - the building blocks of every melodic and harmonic thing we do as musicians. We study intervals throughout the Piano Adventures books and that makes this app a great practice time activity for both kids and adults.
The game is free but access to the full version is an in-app purchase of $5.99.
Wimbo
Learn Music: Wimbo Piano Tutor is the full game title and it features this chick (pictured above) who has the cutest walk and the funniest dance moves. Also designed by a teacher from our group and also truly excellent and so fun. Covers sight reading, rhythm, ear training, keyboard geography, notes and chords and has no ads. For ages 4+.
The app is free with an in-app purchase of $4.99 for the full game.
My Singing Monsters
My Singing Monsters is a bit of an outlier lol. It was not developed by a teacher as far as I know and doesn't teach you to read music or improve your rhythm. But. This game has been talked about in our group quite a lot because of the ways it helps kids fall in love with composition. More than one teacher has posted that they're getting new students who are interested in composition from day 1 and the commonality is that these kids have all been playing My Singing Monsters.
This game is free but has multiple opportunities for in-app purchases.
There are many more music games out there! I hope you enjoy any of these that look interesting to you and if you find one you like that's not on this list, I'd love to know about it!
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