tabDo! The Music-Learning App

tabDo! is an innovative app and teaching method for learning music—notes, scales, and playing melodies—on tablets. tabDo! helps the learner develop an inner feeling for notes. During music lessons children actively discover the world of sound by playing well-known melodies, modifying and transforming them, and improvising their own tonal sequences. In the beginning basic melodic skills are trained with solmization—from four-note motifs to the pentatonic scale, then on to the chromatic scale. From listening and playing to reading notes. tabDo! is perfectly suited for all levels of classroom music activities.

In this app three different functions are integrated, each of which can be used by either one or two children: The “Guidonian Hand”; a vertical ordering of tones similar to that of a glockenspiel; and a horizontal display of the notes as they are related to the notation.

In all three functions the root tone or tonic can be freely varied. Up to 7 levels or degrees of difficulty are available, offering a broad range of notes which can be accessed by students. tabDo! can be adapted to any and every level of learning.

The teaching units in tabDo! are ideal for 15- to 20-minute exercise sequences. The flexible app can be used independently of any particular course or song book. With headphones students can also practice exercises and learn music during quiet periods in class.

A separate Handbook of Methodologies (HELBLING) offers a wide spectrum of ideas about how to integrate the app into teaching lessons. It shows how easily and effectively tabDo! can be used to train music-listening and note-reading abilities. It also contains a wealth of suggestions about lesson planning and exercising musical skills.

What tabDo! offers, in a nutshell:

►Develops audiation skills (comprehension of music notes and their relationships)

►Trains and furthers basic music listening competencies, as well as social skills

►Enhances individualized learning—adapting to the student’s learning speed and level

►Introduces musical notation so that children associate notes with their sounds

►Promotes music-making in the classroom right from the start