MUSIC ACE MAESTRO · ALL 48 LESSONS IN ORDER

Scope & Sequence

Music Ace Maestro's 48 lessons are deliberately interleaved: staff reading, the keyboard, rhythm, and ear training develop side by side, each lesson building on the last. One skill is isolated at a time (rhythm away from note names, note names away from rhythm) until it is automatic, then they are combined.

Every lesson has a matching game that practices the same skill, replayable to raise scores. The Doodle Pad, an open composition tool with classical excerpts to open and rework, is available throughout.

Pitch & the staff
The keyboard
Rhythm & meter
Ear training
Scales & keys
Melody & harmony

#	LESSON	WHAT STUDENTS LEARN AND DO
1	Introduction to the Staff	Lines, spaces, and leger lines; pitch and vertical position on the staff; treble and bass clefs; match pitch on the staff.
2	Introduction to the Piano	White keys, black keys, and black-key groups; key names for one octave; match pitch on the piano.
3	Beat and Tempo	Tap and identify the beat; tempo names from Largo through Presto.
4	Playing with Pitch	Ear training with no difference in timbre or loudness: same or different? which is higher or lower? simulate tuning to match pitch.
5	The ABC's of the Piano Keyboard	Play octaves; use black-key groups as references; identify and play notes across the keyboard.
6	Hearing Rhythms	Echo rhythms; two rhythms: same or different?
7	More Piano ABC's	Reinforce key identification and ear training.
8	The ABC's of the Staff	Transfer the piano layout to the staff; notes identified by letters of the alphabet; match notes by naming them.
9	Basic Rhythm Notation	Echo rhythms without notation, then see the notation and play again; quarter and eighth notes; learn to count a rhythm; sight read and dictate.
10	The ABC's of the Treble Staff	Map the top half of the piano to the treble staff; derive a mnemonic; identify notes within different ranges; drag notes to target note names.
11	More Treble Staff ABC's	Identify notes by playing on the piano and clicking buttons; ear training on the treble staff.
12	The Quarter Rest	A silence in a rhythm: echo rhythms containing a rest before seeing the notation, then count, perform, sight read, and dictate them.
13	Keyboard Review	Identify and play notes with increasing fluency; play aural sequences on the piano.
14	Below the Treble Staff	Play and name notes below the treble staff.
15	Melody	What a melody is and why it matters; pick the melody out of a multi-part piece; identify melody shapes by eye and by ear.
16	Above the Treble Staff	Play and name notes above the treble staff.
17	Loud and Soft, Same Pitch	Ear training with differences in loudness: pitch is independent of volume; compare, order, and match pitches.
18	The Measure	Strong and weak beats; is the piece grouped in 3 or 4? introduction to the time signature; place the measure bars.
19	The ABC's of the Bass Staff	Map the left half of the piano to the bass staff; derive a mnemonic; identify notes within different ranges; drag notes to target note names.
20	Above the Bass Staff	Play and name notes above the bass staff.
21	Notes Longer than a Beat	Half, dotted-half, and whole notes; starting from tied quarter notes, learn to count, sight read, and dictate multi-beat notes.
22	Below the Bass Staff	Play and name notes below the bass staff.
23	Same Pitch, Different Timbres	Ear training across timbres: pitch is independent of timbre; compare, order, and match pitches.
24	Dotted Quarter Notes	From quarter notes tied to eighths to the dotted quarter; count, play, sight read, and dictate.
25	The ABC's of the Grand Staff	Combine treble and bass staff knowledge into the grand staff; ear training combined with note naming.
26	Half Steps and Whole Steps	Half and whole steps on the piano; why they sometimes span two black keys, two white keys, or one of each; distinguish them by ear.
27	Rests	Rests beyond the quarter rest: count, play, sight read, and dictate rhythms containing them.
28	More ABC's of the Grand Staff	Reinforce staff and piano note identification; play a given note in every octave across the grand staff.
29	Sharps and Flats	Build on half and whole steps: on the piano, play the natural, then the sharp or flat; sequence memory with sharps and flats.
30	Review Note Names	More practice identifying notes until the skill is automatic; more ear training.
31	Sharps and Flats on the Staff	Transfer sharps and flats from piano to staff; play the natural, sharp, and flat of one note; by ear: is the note a sharp or a flat?
32	More Sharps and Flats on the Staff	More practice playing sharps and flats; ear training at rising difficulty.
33	Syncopation	Untied and tied eighth notes; count, play, sight read, and dictate syncopated rhythms.
34	Review Sharps and Flats	Increase fluency before key signatures and scales.
35	The Key Signature	Sharps and flats next to the clef; a key signature changes the specified notes in every octave; experience the effect of adding one.
36	Introduction to Major Scales	Derive the whole- and half-step pattern from the C major scale; memorize it; play various major scales.
37	Sixteenth Notes	Echo, count, sight read, create, and dictate rhythms containing sixteenth notes.
38	Intervals	Intervals on the staff (before major/minor is introduced); identify by counting steps or by sight; distinguish intervals by ear.
39	Review: Key Signatures and Major Scales	Review in preparation for sharp and flat key signatures.
40	Sharp Key Signatures	The sequence of sharps; name the key from the last sharp; write the sharps for a given key and identify keys at sight.
41	Three Sounds per Beat	Preparation for 6/8: a dotted quarter or three eighth notes on one beat; echo, perform, sight read, and dictate.
42	More Sharp Key Signatures	Extend and reinforce the previous key-signature lesson.
43	The Time Signature	Notes other than the quarter note can get the beat; count and perform in various time signatures; determine the top and bottom numbers from the music.
44	Flat Key Signatures	The sequence of flats; name the key from the second-to-last flat; write the flats for a given key and identify keys at sight.
45	The 6/8 Time Signature	Visually identical rhythms with a dotted-quarter beat vs. an eighth-note beat; perform 6/8 in 2 or 6 beats per measure.
46	More Flat Key Signatures	Extend and reinforce the previous key-signature lesson.
47	Minor Scales	Derive the whole- and half-step pattern from the A minor scale; play various minor scales; distinguish major from minor by ear, even from subsets of the scale.
48	Introduction to Harmony	Compare melody with accompaniment; what a chord is; listen for chord changes.

For curriculum directors: how these lessons map to the National Core Music Standards. see the standards alignment →