Play and learn
Where's that note?
Reading a note is the first step. The next is knowing where to play it. In this quick game a note appears on the staff and you tap where it is played on the fingerboard, or a spot is marked and you name its note. Choose violin or viola, play a round, and build a streak.
Where's that note?
- Score
- 0
- Streak
- 0
Why the fingerboard matters
A string player finds every note by knowing two things: which string, and which finger. Making that connection quickly is what lets a student read a new piece and play it, instead of working out each note one at a time.
This game stays in first position, where the hand sits nearest the top of the fingerboard. Each string's open note comes from how the instrument is tuned: G, D, A, and E on a violin, and C, G, D, and A on a viola. Each finger stops the string a little higher. Violin music is written in treble clef and viola music in alto clef, so a violist practices reading their own clef as they play.
How this game helps
Some questions show a note and ask you to find it; others mark a spot and ask for its note, so you learn the fingerboard both ways. Easy starts with the strings and fingers of Twinkle. Medium adds the other two strings and both places 2nd finger can go, and Hard adds 4th finger and the rest of first position. The feedback says where each note is played, so every question teaches something. Play a round as a warm up before practice.
Ready for real lessons?
When your young musician is ready to find these notes on a real violin or viola, we would love to help them begin.