The order they're played in on the day. Move a piece up or down.
Timer
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Time left
Previewing the app.
My favourite tools
My favourite tools
Everyday
My routine
Practise
Learn
My Home screen
Practice time
Streaks
Sessions
Concerts
Tools
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Overall total
-
Practice
-
Rehearsals
-
Performances
-
Lessons
-
Daily time
MTWTFSS
LessMore
Total hours per month
ActualProjected
Days of activity
ActualProjected
Daily session count
MTWTFSS
LessMore
Monthly session count
ActualProjected
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Current practice streak
0 days
Current playing streak
0 days
Average practice streak
0 days
Average playing streak
0 days
Longest practice streak
0 days
Longest playing streak
0 days
Practice streak lengths
Playing streak lengths
The app tells you when something happens to your things. Switch off what you don't want. News from the Notably Better team always comes.
Preview
Play it slowly, then build the tempo.
paletteDisplay & theme
Reduce motionThings appear and go instead of sliding or fading
text_fieldsReading & typography
Increased spacingLines, letters and words, and no italics
Show stats for my own practice year
Show this month's projection on charts
Show flats instead of sharps
Show concert pitch
Show Hz
Show octave
Headphone delay
Bluetooth headphones/speakers add their own audio delay that the app can't detect - press Test and nudge the delay until the circle you see lines up with the click you hear.
0 ms
delay
0 ms500 ms
Test beats · 4/4 · 100 bpm
Account
Email
Account type
Member since
A file with your details, practice history, pieces and results, in a format other apps can read (JSON).
Each practice session is recorded against the instrument you played. Your main instrument is used unless you pick another when you add a session.
Repairers, shops and hire near your bands. Get in touch with them directly. Young players: ask a parent or carer before you get in touch with a business.
Every business here was found on its own website, or is one we know that agreed to be listed. We don't check their work or prices - ask them.
Adding a band is private to you: it is who you can say a rehearsal or performance was with. To share a band's music, open it and choose Set up sharing - or ask the band's organiser to invite you.
With a website, the band also goes on the list for other players to pick. Without one, it is just on your list.
Bands I don't play with now
What the band shares here
These are names you have logged rehearsals or performances with. Tap each one and say what it is - you are only asked once.
The band
groupMembers
Me in this band
I'm happy to share my piece levels anonymously at a summary level only to the band leader
Only you see this band. It is here so you can say who a rehearsal or performance was with - nobody else is in it and nothing is shared.
Want to share music with the rest of the band? Set up sharing and invite them - or ask the band's organiser to invite you, and it joins up with this one.
Sent lately
Waiting for an answer
Invite someone
Type their email address. They are sent an email, and the invitation waits on their My bands page for 30 days. They sign in with that same address to join.
Invite someone to Notably Better. They get an email with a link to choose a password - it works once, for 7 days.
If it doesn't arrive, tell them to look in their junk folder. The email comes from noreply@notablybetter.com.
The grade lists in Scales and the grades in Theory follow the syllabuses published by ABRSM (the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music). Notably Better is an independent app: it isn't affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by ABRSM. Exam requirements belong to ABRSM and can change, so always check the current syllabus at abrsm.orgopen_in_new before an exam.
Bars
Show historySave to flow
history- edited
Pick a piece to play along with.
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No pieces to play yet.
How long
What kind
What's in it
How long do you want to practise?
20
minutes
5120
4 blocks of 5 minutes
What kind
What's in it
What kind of practice do you want to do?
Key:
Fill your blocks
What's in it
What goes in each block?
Tap a block to change it.
Here's your session
Select a block to change what you play.
5:00
left in this block
Session done
30seconds
Rest
Next up
Stretch your range a note at a time: play the scale to your comfortable note, then hold the next one as long as you can. Hold it for 8 beats three goes in a row to reach Level 5.
Pick a rhythm, then tap it - or clap, sing or play it - along with the click. Each rhythm has five Levels, each a little faster: play it well at a Level's speed to reach it.
The skills you're working on. Each one goes step by step through its tool: Tempo, Pulse, Pitch and Rhythm move you on at grade 4 or 5; for Warm-ups and Scales you say when you've got it; Range moves on when you move your range. Skills blocks in a practice session take the one you practised longest ago.
Skills lists
Warm-up lists
What a practice session's Warm-up blocks play. Pick one when you plan a session.
Readiness
Pieces
This piece's bars have changed since you set their levels. Set them again to check they still match.
Set how easy each bar is, so we can focus on the hard ones.
An example, not your piece
152532425264
1The hardest bars. We practise these first.
5You can play these straight away.
Bars at one level join up into a focus section.
The levels now
Your bars are kept on this device.
How to play it through
This piece was prepared before the app kept where each bar started, so its start is worked out from what was kept - for some bars it may be later than when you first prepared it.
Where these bars started wasn't kept. From the next time you set their levels it is.
Bar by bar
Not enough players have shared their Levels on this piece yet. It shows once 3 have.
The piece
Needs the most work
Bar by bar
Each column is a bar: shaded from the lowest Level to the highest, with a line at the average. A blank bar doesn't have 3 players' Levels yet.
Play it through
It plays the whole piece once at full speed. Too fast? Tap the Level while it plays and pick a slower one.
The whole piece takes - at full speed.
After the last bar you'll set the level of each bar by how it went.
My focus sections
–
My music
Your pieces, your bands' and the public library. To practise one, use Rehearse.
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A whole rehearsal in one file. Upload it here, then give it to each piece that is in it. The file is kept once; each piece remembers where it starts and ends.
How to record a rehearsal: use your phone's own voice recorder - it keeps going when the screen locks. Put the phone where it can hear the whole band. Use the ordinary quality setting, not "lossless". Upload on wifi. Tell the band it is being recorded. If anyone in it is under 16, a parent needs to have agreed - as for a photograph. An upload is sound only - a video file can't be added. A video that is already on YouTube can be added as a link.
Uploading…0%
Get a piece ready to practise: play it through, mark how each bar went, and split it into focus sections to work on. Pick a piece to start.
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At concert pitch. Add your instrument in My instruments to see the note as your part writes it.
How do you want to make it?
lightbulb
How file import works: your score is saved as a document into the Media section, while title, composer, tempo, and measure blocks are read into the flow. You can review and amend everything on the next screen. A MuseScore file is read and not kept - add it to the piece's Media yourself if you want it there.
Uploading…0%
check_circle Score parsed successfully
Title & creditsExtracted
Document saved to MediaAttached
Measure blocks detected0 blocks
Worth checking
AboutCreated: –
Credits
Who it's for
Just me
Audio tracks
Backing tracks and click references
0 files
Uploading audio to your own pieces is part of Premium. A YouTube link below is free, and so are files on your band’s pieces.
Uploading…0%
Video links
Rehearsal recordings or YouTube guides
0 linked
Documents & scores
PDF scans, or MusicXML, MuseScore, Sibelius or Finale files
0 files
Uploading documents to your own pieces is part of Premium. Files on your band’s pieces are free.
Uploading…0%
0 bars • ~0m total
Lead-in barA pick-up bar before bar 1, in bar 1's time and tempo. Plays once, before the start.
4get ready
Flow
Tempo (bpm)
How fast it plays: beat notes per minute.
100
bpm
15200
Number of bars
How many bars share these settings. Add more entries for a change of time or tempo.
4
bars
150
Choose an option
Pauses
A pause (fermata) holds a beat longer; a caesura (//) adds a short silence.
Current pauses0
Add another pause
Pause typeEffect on tempo
Bar in blockTarget measure
Bar 1
On beatPosition in bar
Beat 1
Hold durationTotal length
1 beat
Tempo ramps
Speed up (accel.) or slow down (rit.) gradually, from a beat to a target tempo.
Current ramps0
Add another ramp
Start barBeginning measure
Bar 1
Start on beatPosition in bar
Beat 1
Ramp ends atDuration span
End barTarget measure
Bar 1
End on beatFinish position
Beat 1
Target speedFinal tempo to reach
Set custom tempoTap to configure
Move to a band
Add YouTube reference
Supports youtube.com/watch?v= or youtu.be short links
Set start and end
Play it. Tap Starts here when the piece begins and Ends here when it is over. The recording itself is not changed.
StartThe very start
EndThe very end
Start, bars and end
Play it. Tap Starts here when the piece begins and Ends here when it is over. In between, mark a few bars you know as they start - where the speed changes, and after a pause; the bars between are worked out for you. The recording itself is not changed.
StartThe very start
Which bar
Marked
EndThe very end
How long it takes
Concert
–
Concert pitch (C)
–
−50c0+50c
Play a note
Requesting microphone access…
Pitch
+50c0c−50c
Dynamics
-4s-2snow
Rewind history (max 30s)
-30s0s
Tuner settings
Notation
Sharps or flats
Note names
Display
Show concert pitch
Show Hz
Show octave
Transposition
Written note that sounds as concert C
Tuning reference (A4)
440
Hz
415466
00:00
Time left in session
This session
00:00
Today
00:00
Instrument
Its ABRSM list, range and clef decide which scales are in your list.
Music size
The same size for every scale - and for Warm-ups.
Speed
The beat for every scale in your list.
72
bpm
15200
Play each one
Once or twice, then on to the next scale - or keep repeating this one until you move on.
Clef
The clef the scales are written in. For trombone, baritone, euphonium and tuba it also picks the ABRSM list - the bass clef lists are at concert pitch.
Direction
How every scale in your list is played. A dominant 7th, a scale in thirds and the ABRSM patterns keep their own shape.
Detail
How much of the scale to show while you play.
Notes a beat
How many notes of the scale to each metronome beat - 1 plays crotchets, 2 quavers.
Count-in
Beats before each scale, to get ready. Keep repeating runs straight on.
Instrument
Its range and clef decide which warm-ups are in your list.
Clef
Music size
The same size for every warm-up.
Speed
Every warm-up has its own speed. This makes them all a little slower or faster.
Play each one
Once moves through the list faster.
Count-in
Clicks before each warm-up, to get ready.
Volume
80%
volume
Volume
80%
volume
music_note
Pieces
Smart choose bars?
stairs
Scales
Name
Display name
What the app calls you - on the home screen, and to people in your bands. It's your first name unless you change it.
Change my email address
We send a link to the new address. Nothing changes until you open it. Then you are signed out everywhere and sign in with the new address - with Google, that means the Google account for that address. On your other devices, let anything logged offline sync first.
Short quizzes to learn music theory. Pick one, choose how hard, and see how many you can get right.
Sets the clef the quizzes start on. You can still pick any clef in a quiz.
Short drills for your ear and your sense of time. Pick one, choose how hard, and see what Level you reach.
You're given a speed - a metronome mark, or just its Italian name - and tap it on the pad. Five speeds a round.
auto_awesomeSmartLearn
sloweron itfaster
The click goes silent and you keep the beat going by tapping every beat - heard or not. When it comes back, see if you were still with it.
A note plays and you name it. Ten notes a round.
auto_awesomeSmartLearn
Listening…
My last rounds
auto_awesome
auto_awesomeSmartLearn
This test so far
Right
Time
My last rounds
auto_awesome
Sub beats
Auto always shows sub-beats, using the number that fits the time signature. Fixed lets you set your own number.
0
sub beats
216
Play speed
Tap a speed to apply it straight away.
Volume
80%
volume
Playback
Play speed
Auto always shows sub-beats, using the number that fits the time signature. Fixed lets you set your own number.
0
sub beats
216
Warm-up list
starstarstar
Up a Level!
Extra
Got it?
My range
The lowest and highest notes you can play comfortably now. Tap the stave near a note, then use − and + to get it exactly.
Bottom note
Top note
How levels work
Each bar gets a level, from 1 (very slow) to 5 (full speed). The lower the number, the sooner those bars get practised.
You can play the piece through once and set each bar by how it went, or look at the music and set the levels straight away.
Bars next to each other at the same level join up into a focus section. Each one has to fit 5 goes in a block, so you can split a long one.
Too long
Type bars instead
At Level
Type bars instead
These bars become a focus section of their own.
Whose list?
A band's list is seen by everyone in the band, and it stays with the band if you leave. Members who can change the band's music can change it, and each of you sees your own forecast.
Target date
The day you want to be ready by - a concert, an exam, a lesson.
Business
Another town
Block 1
starstarstar
Did you nail it?
It was easy - jump to
What to see and hear
Metronome
See the metronomeThe beats, the pauses and the bar
Hear the clicksOn their own, or with the recording
Recordings
Volume
The clicks and the recording together.
80%
volume
Instrument
Changes the reading for this session only - your Settings default is unchanged.
Beat note
Which note the tempo counts - usually a crotchet, or a dotted crotchet in 6/8.
Start of bar
A plain barline, or a start-repeat sign.
End of bar
The barline at the end of this bar: plain, double, Fine, final, or an end-repeat with how many times to play.
Structure
Repeats
Jump sign
Mark this bar with a Segno or Coda sign for jumps to land on.
Jump instruction
Where to go after this bar: D.C. or D.S., al Fine or al Coda, or To Coda.
Alternate ending
1st- and 2nd-time bars: play this bar only on the passes you pick.
Alternate ending (volta)Play this bar only on specified repeat passes
Start bar
Which bar does this ending start at?
Bar 1
Repeat pass(es)
Tap to toggle multiple passes
Repeat bars
Start bar
Bar 1
11
End bar
Bar 1
11
Rest bars between repeats
They click quietly at the start bar's time and tempo, so you come back in on the beat. They count you in the first time too.
Intro section
The intro: bars played once before bar 1, as a band plays the last line of a hymn.
Start intro?Play from this bar before starting bar 1
Start bar
Which bar does the intro start at?
Bar 1
End intro early?Enable start intro first
End bar
Which bar should the intro finish at?
Bar 1
Edit item
Check your bars
Delete my account
This can't be undone. It happens straight away, on every device.
Deleted: your name, email address and picture, your sign-in details, your own pieces with their recordings and documents, your practice lists and plans, your settings, and your place in any band.
Kept, with nothing to say they were yours: the practice sessions and quiz and drill results you logged, as numbers in the app's statistics. Pieces you added to a band stay with the band.
Want a copy first? Close this and use Download my information.
upload
Sending your PDF
Stay on this screen until it's done.
These are still outstanding, save anyway?
Confirm
Waiting to sync
Report this
Tell us if something here should not be: . is sent to the person who runs the app. Nobody in the band is told who reported it.
Send feedback
Spotted a bug or thought of something? Jot it down here. The screen you were on, your device and the app version are included automatically.
Before it's read
These may not read well. Retake them, or read them as they are.
Read it again
Say what you can see at a glance. Knowing the beats in a bar, the bars are counted from the notes.
It changes time somewhere
It starts before the first full bar
Leave it empty unless you already have the number - from a score, or printed on the last bar.
Edit the band
Everyone in the band sees it, and so does someone you invite. A PNG, JPEG or WebP up to 1 MB - the band's logo, not a photo of people, and one the band has the right to use.
