App for practice?

[clinton-blackmore]

I was wondering if anyone might be able to recommend an app or application (for almost any mainstream platform*) that would:

Critical:
– let me upload my own songs (in any reasonable format, most likely MusicXML)
– allow me to adjust the speed of the playback (so I can practice fast and slow)
– give me some time (a few measures lead-in, perhaps) to get my hands onto my strings before starting

Desirable:
– let me loop certain sections
– allow for hands-free commands (such as, ‘start now’) (using voice or bluetooth foot pedals, for example)

Would be super awesome:
– can listen as I play and tell me if I’m hitting the right notes at the right time

If I found something that, ahem, hits the right notes, paying for it is not out of the question. I do see tons of apps for the Piano and Guitar, and a number that have online services with a random assortment of music, and fewer that let you know how you are doing. I’ve seen some for other instruments that look like they’d listen to you play, but, well, no idea if they’d work for the harp.

Can anyone recommend something at all like this? If not, and if you can’t count/keep a beat, how do you practice and polish a piece?

——

* Platforms I can use include iOS, Android, Alexa skills, MacOS, Windows, Linux, and, well, any platform that can be simulated/emulated/hosted on one of those.

[wil-weten]

https://musescore.org/en/download
Open source, free, no ads, very flexible, active support forum.

It does everything you want and wish, except for the hands-free commands (as far as I know, but perhaps you could ask this on the feature request section at https://musescore.org/en/forum/7).

If you don’t like the sampled sounds, you could plug in a more sophisticated set of sampled sounds.
I love the MuseScore software.

[clinton-blackmore]

Thank you very much, @wil-weten.

Can MuseScore do the super-awesome part, of listening while I play and telling me about whether I hit the right notes and how accurate my timing is?

I was thinking of MuseScore. Perhaps I should get the mobile app version.

[wil-weten]

The way MuseScore works: you can listen to how it plays the right notes, including the articulation of the notes, with the righ rhythm of a piece or the passage that you have selected. If you play along and you sound different, you know the spot that needs working on. You may like to do that by setting the speed somewhat lower and by isolating a difficult fragment and let it play in a loop while you practice along with it.

The mobile app version is very limited in functionality, no way suitable for your needs and besides, it’s not free.

[clinton-blackmore]

I’ve got it set up now, wil-weten, and this is really slick. Thank you so much!

[wil-weten]

Nice to hear!

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