Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Finger Trainer I

Here is a fantastic tool that I found to help students with their fingers.  Lots of beginning, and even more advanced students, often have trouble remember fingerings for certain notes.  Although fingerings can be found in fingering charts there isn't always a good way to have students test their understanding of fingerings on their own.  With Fingering Trainer, students can have an interactive activity in which to practice their knowledge.  The fingering trainer allows the student to highlight the appropriate keys or fingers used to play a note that is asked of them.  After they select the fingering that they think is correct, they click the submit button to see the results.  Below is a shot of the home interface.





 As you can see, it is a real image of the instrument and the student simply highlights the keys used.  In this case, the note asked for is a C natural.  There is also an option for a bonus question that asks if the note is usually Flat, Sharp, or in Tune naturally on the instrument.  In the picture below you can see what it looks like when the students has made their choice for the correct fingering.  The keys are highlighted in blue.





Once the selection is made and the student clicks the submit button.  The correct answer appears.  I can see students being able not only to test themselves but being able to work with classmates to help each other with some practice that would be note only fun, but helpful for reinforcing instrument fingers.

2 comments:

  1. I think it is cool that there are so many fingering examples on the web. Do you think that they are useful to learning the skill? Does the web make it easier or harder for music instructors to do their job?

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  2. Kirsten,
    They are very useful in learning this skill. If a student is having trouble at home, there is an instant resource for them to use. It helps for sure.

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