Learn My Part

I recently bought a new iPad and was horrified to find out that my app I’ve used for years to learn choir music, Sonja, was no longer available in the App Store and therefore I was losing it. You would think that there would be a number of options in the App Store that would perform the functions that this app does but incredibly, as far as I know, this is it. In fact, it took a lot of perseverance to find it given that the name, “learn my part“ doesn’t work well for a search using words like “choir practice.” Why any choir singer would not use this kind of app is beyond me. Thankfully, this app does just what it claims to do with a reasonably easy to use interface. Being able to play the midi and see a PDF score at the same time is a nice touch. And although the instructions don’t say so, you can import files from other sources such as dropbox. Given that the app hasn’t been updated in five years, I’m guessing the developer isn’t interested in suggestions but there are some things that could really improve the functionality that might not be hard to incorporate. One would be to show a time index in the play line. It would also be great to be able to place markers at important points on the line. Check the app "TempoSloMo." For sure, the app should remember the settings for each midi file and bring them up automatically. It would be awesome if the player had a scrubber bar where you could drag the circle through a certain spot in case you want to hear that strange transition from one chord to the next with total control. That was a great feature of Sonya. Perhaps most importantly, it would be useful to be able to rename the tracks and to re-order them. Midi files don’t always have that information correct.

2019 update-still great. Still loving this app, several years later. I had a question, emailed the developer, and he responded very quickly, and was extremely helpful. Original review, march 2014: I can easily download midi files off my choral website. I like how you can highlight any given line, and manipulate the tempo.

The app is easy to use. You have to search the Internet for free midi files or you can buy them from cyberbass. To load them, you just email them to yourself and when you click on the attachment the learn my part icon pops up and you just click to add it to the app. The app isolates the parts and gives you the ability to put in a loop for difficult parts and slow them down until you learn them. Sometimes you have to search around for different versions of the midi files to find one that works, but once you do you can work on the music from your IPad or IPhone any time. My only complaint is that the app does not seem to turn horizontal when I am using the IPad, so I can't keep it in my keyboard. An update to fix this would be appreciated.