Virtual piano online

The virtual piano brings the basic concepts of music within reach without an instrument. The pupil tries notes, rhythm and melody straight on screen, which supports the development of the ear and of multisensory learning.

Playing combines hearing, sight and movement, and makes abstract music theory something you can try out. The tool suits both free exploration and guided tasks where the pupil repeats or completes a melody.

Three instruments to choose from

You pick one instrument per page. The virtual piano is the most familiar, but the other two serve different purposes.

Piano: A piano keyboard on screen, one or two octaves — an online piano that runs in the browser, with nothing to install and no instrument to carry. This is where note names and positions become familiar, and the only instrument on which you can build a melody of your own, note by note.
Flute: Finger holes, one for every note the song needs. A note sounds for as long as the hole is held, and the instrument plays one note at a time — which forces the pupil to listen to how the melody moves.
Soundboard: Colour pads, one for each note used in the song. The pads are generated from the song you choose, so the pupil plays the melody without sheet music and without learning a keyboard first.

Four ways to play

Free play: No task and no checking — the pupil explores. Only in this mode can you set the scale root and the scale: major, minor or pentatonic.
Follow at your own pace: The melody is shown one note at a time and the pupil moves on when ready. No hurry and nothing to fail.
Listen and repeat: The instrument plays a phrase and the pupil repeats it. This trains melodic memory and playing by ear.
Falling tiles: Tiles fall towards the keys and the pupil hits the right note at the right moment. It works on the piano and the flute but not the soundboard, because each tile needs a single key or finger hole to aim at.

Fifteen songs built in

Built in are Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Are You Sleeping (Frère Jacques), Mary Had a Little Lamb, Ode to Joy, Pentatonic Path, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, London Bridge Is Falling Down, Happy Birthday to You, Jingle Bells, the spring, summer, autumn and winter of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and the Finlandia Hymn.

For the soundboard and the flute the pads and finger holes are generated from the chosen song automatically. On the piano you can also build a melody of your own, note by note, when you want the class to practise exactly the piece you are working on.

The settings that fit the instrument to the pupil

The keyboard spans one or two octaves: one is enough for the youngest and keeps the keys large, two leave room for wider melodies. The tempo can be slowed down, which is needed as soon as the melody has quick passages.

There are four colour themes — colourful, pastel, forest and ocean — so the instrument can match the mood of the story rather than clash with it.

How to create this exercise

Choose the mode: free play, following a melody at your own pace, listen and repeat, or falling tiles.
Choose the instrument — piano, flute or soundboard — and the number of octaves.
Pick a built-in song or build your own melody note by note.
Choose a colour theme and write the instruction.

Tip: Let free play come first. Once the pupil has got a feel for how notes rise and fall, following a guided melody is far easier.

Do you want to create your own music activities?