iPhone Apps, iPad apps, iPod touch Apps & App Reviews

Whether you’re a beginning student or have been playing since you were 3, Nota is sure to be an asset for any musician. Created by Melvin Rivera, Nota is a comprehensive resource for fundamental music theory. Nota provides the basic user with a 4 octave piano that displays the key played with its concurrent note on a staff. There is also a Notes Quiz that tests you on identifying notes on a staff. The easy level consists of 34 notes, while the Advanced level contains 82 notes along with sharps and flats. I find this Quiz to be a perfect venue to work on note recognition/sight reading and I hope there are plans to expand the quiz to include chords, which would only make a good thing better.

For the more advanced user, Nota comes stocked with a conclusive Reference Library with terms and definitions, including the Circle of Fifths. Flip to landscape mode and you easily can search through the library by symbol. But what really makes Nota great is its extensive Scales and Chords Browsers. With Nota, you can look up practically any chord or scale and it will display the notes and keys and play it so you can hear what it sounds like. The latest edition also includes Solfège mode, to have notes shown in their solfège syllables. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it’s how the other part of the world refers to notes, think “Doe, a deer, a female deer; ray, a drop of golden sun…”

Nota is straightforward and easy to navigate. It is also beautifully designed and the piano sounds are full and clear. You can also try it out for yourself with the free Nota Lite. Nota Lite does not have the Scales and Chords Browsers, Quiz or Reference Library but does comes with the 4 octave piano that displays the notes on the scale as well as the full screen piano in Landscape mode.

If you’re coming in expecting to learn how to play the piano, you’ll probably be better off looking for an instructor or music academy. However, if you’re looking for a fantastic music reference guide with added functions, at $4.99, Nota is definitely worth looking into.

This 3rd Party App is available at the Apple iTunes AppStore. Browse the full list of all AppStore apps filed under the AppStore category.