The accompanying booklet makes it clear that the software is intended to be an adjunct to conventional music lessons, not a substitute. The programme should prove a boon to music teachers, because it manages to make an enjoyable exercise out of the repetition essential to learning such things as the positions of the notes on the stave. It also addresses the vital, but frequently overlooked, skills of listening and pitch differentiation. Children often embark on learning to play an instrument before getting a good hold of these fundamentals, with the result that they soon get disheartened.
Much of Music Ace's appeal derives from its on-screen teacher Maestro Max. Max is firm but fair, instructing briskly both in sound and in text bubbles. When you get things right, the notes grin and Max heaps on the praise; when you're wrong he just tells you to 'try again'.
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