How Practice Mode Works

Quick Overview

✓ Wait Mode — The cursor waits for you to play the correct notes before moving forward
✓ Exact pitch matching — You must play the exact note shown (C4 is C4, not C5)
✓ Chords require all notes — Hold all notes in a chord at the same time to advance
✓ Wrong notes shown — Red noteheads appear when you play the wrong key
✓ Rests auto-advance — The cursor moves through rests automatically at tempo

1 The Basics: How Note Checking Works

When you start practicing a piece with a MIDI keyboard connected, Crescendo enters wait mode. This means the app waits for you to play the correct notes before the cursor advances—you set the pace, not the app.

How it works: The app compares the MIDI notes you play against the notes shown at the cursor position. When you play all the correct notes, the cursor moves to the next position.

What gets checked

Pitch — Must be the exact note (C4 required means C4, not C3 or C5)
All chord notes — Every note in a chord must be held simultaneously
Grace notes — Must be played before the main note (within a timing window)

What doesn't affect note checking

Timing — Take as long as you need; the app waits for you
Velocity — Play soft or loud; the app only checks which notes you press
Extra notes — Wrong notes are marked but don't block progress

2 Playing Chords

For chords, you must hold all notes at the same time. The cursor advances only when every note in the chord is pressed simultaneously.

Correct

Press C, E, and G together and hold them. The cursor advances.

Won't Advance

Press C, then E, then G (rolling/arpeggiating). All three must be held at once.

What about repeated notes in a row?

If you need to play the same note twice in a row (like C, then C again), you must release the key and press it again. Holding the key through multiple positions won't count as a new note.

This prevents "cheating" by holding down a key while the cursor advances through repeated notes.

3 When the Cursor Moves

The cursor advances in different ways depending on what's at the current position:

Notes

When you play all correct notes and hold them, the cursor advances after a brief moment (matching the note's duration at your current tempo).

Rests

The cursor automatically moves through rests at tempo—no action needed from you.

Tied Notes

When a note is tied to the previous position, the cursor automatically advances through it (you don't need to re-attack tied notes).

How does the cursor animation work?

When you play the correct notes, the cursor smoothly animates to the next position. The animation duration matches the note value at your current tempo—so at slower tempos the cursor moves more slowly, and at faster tempos it moves more quickly. This gives you a visual sense of the rhythm.

4 Visual Feedback

Correct notes

When you play the correct notes, the cursor advances. There's no special visual highlight for correct notes—the cursor moving forward is the confirmation that you played correctly.

Wrong notes

When you play a wrong note, a red notehead appears at the staff position where that note would be written. This shows you which key you actually pressed, helping you see the difference between what you played and what was expected.

Haptic feedback: On supported devices, you'll also feel a vibration when you play a wrong note.

Wrong notes are tracked for your session accuracy but don't block the cursor. You can keep trying until you play the correct notes.

5 Hand Separation Modes

You can practice with both hands, or focus on just the left or right hand:

Both Hands

All notes on both staves are checked. You must play everything to advance.

Right Hand Only

Only the treble staff (top) is checked. The bass staff notes are dimmed and not required.

Left Hand Only

Only the bass staff (bottom) is checked. The treble staff notes are dimmed and not required.

To change hand mode, tap the hand icon in the control bar during practice. Your accuracy is tracked separately for each mode.

6 Accuracy Tracking

Crescendo tracks your accuracy during each practice session:

Accuracy = Correct notes / Total notes attempted

Every note you press counts as an attempt. If you press a wrong note, it adds to your total but not your correct count.

What's tracked

Practice time (pauses automatically after 30 seconds of inactivity)
Notes attempted and accuracy percentage
Which hand mode you used
The piece you practiced

View your practice history in the Stats section from the home screen.

Advanced Topics

How are grace notes handled?

Grace notes have a special timing window. You must play grace notes before the main note, within a tempo-scaled window (roughly 350ms at 120 BPM, shorter at faster tempos).

Once you've played all the grace notes within the window, then hold the main note(s) to advance.

What about notes that span both staves?

In hand separation mode, the app filters notes by staff. If a note is written on the treble staff, it's considered "right hand" regardless of which physical hand you use to play it. The same applies to bass staff notes.

Can I play slightly early?

Yes! There's a small grace window at the end of each note where you can start playing the next notes slightly early. This accommodates natural musical phrasing and human timing variations. The window is roughly 30-100ms depending on tempo.

How does tempo affect practice mode?

Tempo affects how long the cursor stays at each position after you play the correct notes. At slower tempos, the cursor moves more slowly through the score. At faster tempos, it moves more quickly.

The app also respects tempo changes written in the score—if the piece has a "rallentando" marking, the cursor will slow down proportionally.

Troubleshooting

The cursor isn't advancing even though I'm playing the right notes

Check these common causes:

Wrong octave — Make sure you're playing in the correct octave (C4 vs C5)
Chord not complete — All notes in a chord must be held at the same time
Repeated note — If the same note appears twice, release and re-press it
Hand mode — Check if you're in the right hand mode (both/left/right)
MIDI connection — Verify your keyboard is connected (check the MIDI indicator)

I'm getting wrong note feedback for notes I think are correct

Crescendo uses exact pitch matching. A few things to check:

Octave — C in one octave is different from C in another
Accidentals — Watch for sharps, flats, and naturals
Key signature — Notes may be sharped/flatted by the key signature

The red notehead shows exactly which MIDI note you played, so you can compare it to what's expected.

My accuracy seems low even though I'm playing well

Every key press counts as an attempt. Common reasons for lower accuracy:

Accidental key presses — Brushing adjacent keys adds wrong notes
Finding the right notes — If you try a few keys before finding the correct one, each counts as an attempt
Chord attempts — Rolling a chord (playing notes one by one) counts each note as a separate attempt

Notes aren't being detected at all

If no notes are registering:

Check that your MIDI keyboard is connected (look for the green indicator)
Make sure you're in an active practice session (tap a piece to start practicing)
Try disconnecting and reconnecting your keyboard

See MIDI Not Working? for detailed troubleshooting.