Comments on: Nota – A clever way to learn the Piano

By: studying piano

studying piano — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:53:21 +0000

I just wanted to say, that as someone who has wanted to learn to play the piano all her life, and can NOT read a note of music, this has been so easy to understand! I really love it! For the first time, chords actually make sense, and so do 5ths and so on. Thank you so much for this!

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:16:23 +0000

Just a note to say how much I enjoy the reviews here at Smoking Apples. Although I understand how “just a reader” might want to have several apps compared and contrasted in a review, I also have sympathy for Milind Alvares’s situation: there are a lot of apps out there and not enough time to test them all. How I decide which app to buy — or movie to watch or book to read — depends on a lot of factors. Typically, I would read several reviews, ask around to see what other people are doing, perhaps download demos to see for myself (if they are available). I don’t buy a lot of apps so it’s important for me to choose the right one. In this respect, I can credit Smoking Apples for helping me choose Pixelmator; I wasn’t aware that this app existed until I saw it at Smoking Apples. But, Smoking Apples was not my only source for information: I read other reviews, dropped in on some forums to see what tools other people were using, and made the best decision I could. If I made the wrong choice, it’s all on me. I’ve been following Smoking Apples for some time now and wanted to let you know what a great job you’ve been doing.

By: BUD

BUD — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:26:17 +0000

It took getting further faster teaching myself by ear to realize that there is a basic tenet of this that is probably just merely wrong for learning to read music.

How reading music probably should be taught is…
The notes are relative steps. Lines are two steps apart, spaces are two steps apart. It is the relative position of each that show you a particular chord voicing or melody line. That relative position and the timing info is the important bit.

How reading music often IS taught, and this app seems to teach is

Where does the note lie on the staves?
What letter what note does that represent?
Where is that note, a-g, on the instrument?

A TWO STEP conversion process.

Of course, you might want to know where a melody STARTS, by being able to identify that pitch, but it is the “Music Notation> Abstract Alpabetical Notation> Pitch” that I believe adds too many steps of abstraction to make the process smooth. People do not read by voicing each letter, they see words at a time. Poelpe Do Not Raed by Vioincg ecah Lteetr, tehy see Wrdos at a tmie.

By: Milind Alvares

Milind Alvares — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:54:47 +0000

For the record, we don’t accept favours, in cash or in kind, for any of the articles we post. This one included. We’re not biased against any of our advertisers’ competitors, neither are we to them.

Thanks for your comments as well. Makes one see things differently.

One more thing I should add. My previous reply was in bad taste. Even though we provide free content, doesn’t mean we take our readers for granted.

By: just a reader

just a reader — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:27:48 +0000

“You don’t expect me to have thorough knowledge of all the 95,000 apps on the App Store do you?”
I don’t’ have that expectation, and I’m sure most of your readers don’t.
———————————–
“Why can’t the review be read for what it is?I’m introducing a new app ”
I guess this is where i expected more. A through analysis of what’s out there in comparison.
———————————-
“Lastly, what does [the site] being ad supported have to do with this” “to top it off you accuse me of getting paid to write this review.”
Being ad supported is a major issue, as it creates a clear bias. Also, I never accused you of getting paid, i merely asked. You see being paid would make a big difference on how i perceive the advice given. Also, the question i asked still remains unanswered, was the blog, you, compensated in any way for the introduction.

one last comment. i do appreciate your timely response to my comments. I’m merely here sort of picking on you because i feel like many sites now dont’ give due diligence to articles and are laced with bias based on compensation. There is nothing wrong with making money from a blog , but it should be disclosed.

By: Milind Alvares

Milind Alvares — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:10:49 +0000

I did do the “piano lesson” search you mentioned. However, there wasn’t anything interesting enough to make the effort in checking out. However, how am I to know whether behind those screenshots lies a really useful app? You don’t expect me to have thorough knowledge of all the 95,000 apps on the App Store do you?

Why can’t the review be read for what it is? I’m introducing a new app, letting the reader know about its features, and they can purchase it if they like it. I know this app is good at what it does, so I recommend it. There’s no trickery involved; we’ve done so many of these reviews. This wasn’t a shootout or hunt for the best piano learning app on the app store, if it was I would have.

In general though I do have a better understanding of how an app stands, so a declaration like that would be based its competition. I merely expressed my lack of further knowledge on ‘piano learning apps at the app store’ by that disclaimer—which I could very well have no added—just to make sure It wasn’t misunderstood. You do have a valid point however, and I shall make sure I do a more thorough check on the rest of the apps.

Lastly, what does [the site] being ad supported have to do with this? We’re not charging anyone to read any of the content. We even distributed issues of the magazine without a signup form. To top it off you accuse me of getting paid to write this review. That just saddens me.