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MUSIC LESSONS I Overview
Chapter 2 of the MUSIC LESSONS User Manual.
This section contains an overview of the MUSIC LESSONS program.
Screen Displays
Two types of Drill windows are used. One displays a piano keyboard and the other displays groups of answer buttons.
The following picture shows a Drill window that displays the piano keyboard. You enter answers by clicking a note on the on-screen keyboard or playing a note on your MIDI keyboard. Hereafter, the term keyboard refers either to the on-screen MUSIC LESSONS keyboard or an attached MIDI keyboard.
The following picture shows a Drill window that displays answer buttons (radio buttons). You enter answers by clicking the appropriate answer button.
Toolbar
The toolbar displays twelve buttons. The first eleven buttons represent the eleven MUSIC LESSONS drills. Clicking one of these buttons will change to that drill. The Help button opens the MUSIC LESSONS Help window. The current drill is indicated by giving the button a recessed appearance, Major/Minor Scales in this picture.
Music Staff
The music staff displays a clef, key signature, time signature, notes and rests. The exact symbols displayed depend on the drill.
Score Area
The score area in the upper right corner of the screen displays the percentage of your correct answers for each drill. The number of correct answers and questions tried are also shown. MUSIC LESSONS tracks your score for each drill. As you switch from drill to drill the score displayed changes accordingly.
Instruction Text
The instruction text is located below or to the left of the answer boxes and provides instructions for answering the question or context information about the question.
Answer Boxes
Answer boxes are located below the music staff. When you play the keyboard or click an answer button, your answers will appear in these boxes. If the Allow Typed Answers menu command is checked, you can also type your answers.
Active Text Box
The active text box is the answer box that contains the blinking text insertion point.
Check Button
Click Check (or type Enter, or Alt-K) to evaluate your answer. If your answer is correct, a "u" will appear above the answer box. If your answer is wrong, an "X" will appear above the answer box. In most drills clicking the Check button will also play your answers. Your score is only updated the first time you click Check, so make sure you've entered the answer you want. If you correct a wrong answer and then click Check again, your score will not be updated.
Show Me Button
Click Show Me (or type Alt-M) and MUSIC LESSONS will display the correct answer by highlighting the keyboard key or answer button. In most drills clicking the Show Me button will also play the correct answers. If you click Show Me and then click Check, your score will not be updated.
Next Button
Click Next (or type Alt-N) for a new question.
Play Button
In drills that require you to identify pitches, clicking Play (or typing Alt-P) will play the correct answer, and allow you to compare your answer, heard when you click Check, with the correct one. The Play button is disabled in the Key Signatures, Scale Degrees, and Note/Rest Durations drills.
Piano Keyboard
Clicking a note on the piano keyboard will play the pitch and enter the note name into the active text box. Depending on the current clef, not all keyboard notes produce valid answers. If you play a note outside the range allowed for that clef, a "?" will appear in the answer box. Valid clef ranges extend two ledger lines above and below the staff.
Accidental Palette
In the three scales drills, you use the accidental palette to enter note names that require accidentals. Select an accidental, then click a note on the piano keyboard. The selected accidental will be used until another one is selected. If you play a note on the keyboard that doesn't make sense with the selected accidental, a "?" will appear in the answer box, and the note will not be drawn on the music staff.
Black Keys Are Flats and Black Keys Are Sharps Buttons
In the three scales drills, the Black Keys Are Flats and Black Keys Are Sharps buttons default to the most common accidentals for each scale. For example, if you are asked to name the notes of the F sharp major scale, the Black Keys Are Sharps button will be selected and all of the black keys you click or play will be interpreted as sharps. You still have to use the accidental palette to enter enharmonic names for white keys (e.g., E sharp), select double sharps and double flats, or to switch between accidentals in scales which use both sharps and flats (like G harmonic minor).
Answer Buttons
Clicking an answer button will select that button and enter the answer into the active text box.
Procedures
Answering Questions
There are four ways to enter your answers to the drills:
- 1. Click the appropriate key on the MUSIC LESSONS keyboard.
- 2. Play the appropriate key on your MIDI keyboard.
- 3. Click the appropriate answer button(s).
- 4. Choose Allow Typed Answers from the Options menu and type your answer.
Note: In each clef, MUSIC LESSONS recognizes notes that are no more than two ledger lines above and below the staff, so remember to play your answers within that range. If you play a note beyond this range, a "?" will appear in the active text box and the note will not be drawn on the music staff. If the Allow Typed Answers menu command is checked, MUSIC LESSONS will make an intelligent guess as to which octave the note is in. Sometimes it guesses wrong and the note is drawn in the wrong octave, but the answer will be accepted.
Moving Between Answer Boxes
There are four ways to move between answer boxes:
- 1. Press the tab key to move to the answer box to the right.
- 2. Press shift-tab to move to the answer box to the left.
- 3. Click in an answer box.
- 4. Choose the Auto Next Note command from the Options menu, and then click or play your answer.
Auto Next Note and Auto Next Question Commands
All drills have Auto Next Note and Auto Next Question commands in the Options menu.
When Auto Next Note is checked, the blinking text insertion point automatically moves to the next answer box after you enter an answer. Auto Next Note is available in all drills that have more than one answer box.
When Auto Next Question is checked, MUSIC LESSONS automatically displays a new question after you click check and your answer was correct. Auto Next Question is available in all drills except Circle of Fifths.
The two Auto Next commands affect only the current drill. You can have different settings for each drill. Settings for each drill can be changed and saved using the Preferences command from the File menu.
Check, Next, Play, and Show Me Buttons
- Click Check (or type Enter or Alt-K) to evaluate your answer.
- Click Next (or type Alt-N) for a new question.
- Click Play (or type Alt-P) to hear the question again.
- Click Show Me (or type Alt-M) to hear and see the correct answer.
Note: You can assign notes on your MIDI keyboard to function as the Check, Next, Play and Show Me buttons by using the Assign MIDI Keys command in the Options Menu.
Scoring
Your score is only updated the first time you click Check, so make sure you've entered the answer you want. If you correct a wrong answer and then click Check again, your score will not be updated. If you click Show Me before you click Check, your score will not be updated.
The Progress Report Window
The Progress Report window displays a detailed account of all the drills you've done. Progress Reports can be saved and printed.
When you choose the New Progress Report command from the File menu, the Student Name dialog box appears. When you've typed in your name and clicked OK, that name is permanently attached to the Progress Report file and cannot be changed. When the Progress Report window opens, you'll see a detailed account of the drills you've done since the current MUSIC LESSONS session was begun.
When you choose the Open Progress Report command from the File menu, a dialog box appears that allows you to open a previously saved Progress Report. When you open a previously saved Progress Report, all the drills you've done in the current MUSIC LESSONS session will be added to the totals of the drills already saved in the report. In this way, you can keep a cumulative record of the growth of your musical skills.
The New Progress Report and the Open Progress Report commands are available in the menus attached to a Drill window. When a Progress Report window is active it will contain its own menus to save, print, display the session view or cumulative view, and close the Progress Report.
When you save a Progress Report, your cumulative totals are updated and the session scores for all drills are reset to zero.
Program Settings
Preferences
The Preferences command in the File menu allows you to save global program settings to suit the way you use MUSIC LESSONS. You can save the Auto Next Note and Auto Next Question settings for each drill plus various other MIDI and PC sound settings. The settings are saved in the ML.INI file and will be used whenever the program is started.
Set Max Accidentals
The Set Max Accidentals command in the Options menu allows you to specify the maximum number of sharps or flats that will be used in drills that display key signatures.
Color Preferences
The Color Preferences command in the Options menu allows you to choose highlight colors for various elements of the screen display. If you set a highlight color that is the same as the window background color, that screen element will not be visible.
Assign MIDI Keys
The Assign MIDI Keys command in the Options menu allows you to assign keys on your synthesizer to function as the Check, Next, Play and Show Me buttons. You should assign notes for each clef that do not conflict with the valid answer ranges for that clef. You can type the numbers (Middle C is MIDI note number 60) or you can play the notes on your synthesizer. The MIDI note number for the key you play will be entered into the active text box. Use the tab key to move between text boxes.
