MUSIC ACE DELUXE · 36 LESSONS IN ORDER

Scope & Sequence

Music Ace Deluxe's 36 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	Below the Treble Staff	Play and name notes below the treble staff.
14	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.
15	Above the Treble Staff	Play and name notes above the treble staff.
16	The Measure	Strong and weak beats; is the piece grouped in 3 or 4? introduction to the time signature; place the measure bars.
17	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.
18	Above the Bass Staff	Play and name notes above the bass staff.
19	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.
20	Below the Bass Staff	Play and name notes below the bass staff.
21	Dotted Quarter Notes	From quarter notes tied to eighths to the dotted quarter; count, play, sight read, and dictate.
22	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.
23	Rests	Rests beyond the quarter rest: count, play, sight read, and dictate rhythms containing them.
24	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.
25	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?
26	Syncopation	Untied and tied eighth notes; count, play, sight read, and dictate syncopated rhythms.
27	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.
28	Introduction to Major Scales	Derive the whole- and half-step pattern from the C major scale; memorize it; play various major scales.
29	Sixteenth Notes	Echo, count, sight read, create, and dictate rhythms containing sixteenth notes.
30	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.
31	Three Sounds per Beat	Preparation for 6/8: a dotted quarter or three eighth notes on one beat; echo, perform, sight read, and dictate.
32	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.
33	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.
34	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.
35	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.
36	Introduction to Harmony	Compare melody with accompaniment; what a chord is; listen for chord changes.