Shapes first

The untimed stage that lets your hand find each new shape, and the moves between them, before the roll starts.

When shapes come first

The first time an exercise asks your hand for a grip it has not held before, it opens on Shapes first instead of the scrolling roll. Nothing here is timed: no click, no roll, no score.

A grip you already know is skipped, and the coach says which ones and why. A shape counts as known in a new key only when it sits on the same pattern of white and black keys; otherwise it is new. On iPhone the screen turns sideways, like the roll.

You can also come back here from the timed run whenever the shapes need another look, with the brain button on the practice screen; see Practicing an exercise.

Playing a shape

The shape that is due is named in large letters and drawn on a keyboard, which grows to fill a roomy iPad screen: each key outlined in your hand’s color, with a finger number. Play all its keys together, on the keys shown, and hold them. Each key fills as it goes down, and a short line says “one note to go” when you are nearly there. Middle C carries a small bar, so you can find your place.

A key that is not part of the shape shows as a wrong key, and the coach names it so you can let it go. Nothing already earned is lost.

The shape pills and their dots

Each new shape has a pill with a row of dots. A dot fills each time you hold the whole shape cleanly, and a full row turns into a check mark.

Tap another shape’s pill to go back and play that one again. Its dots keep what they already had. When there are more pills than fit across, swipe the row sideways.

Once more, or next shape

When a shape’s dots are full, nothing moves on by itself. Tap next shape to go on, or once more to keep the same shape up for another go. Until the row is full, skip to playing is offered instead.

Hearing a shape

Tap Listen to hear what is due. A grip sounds as one chord; a line sounds one note at a time. During the joins it plays both shapes of the move, in order. Listening never counts for or against you.

Shapes that are lines

Some exercises are lines of single notes, played one at a time, in order. The outlined key is next. A key you hold fills and keeps its letter and finger; while you hold it, the key after the next is dashed. The rest show finger numbers only.

Where the line runs past your hand, the walk goes one key past and back, such as C D E F E D C: the thumb travels under, then the hand comes back over it. A dashed arc marks that move while it’s next. One walk there and back earns one dot.

Any other key lights red and starts the walk over. A numbered key out of turn is ignored.

The joins

Once every new shape has its dots, the joins begin: the moves between shapes, in the order the piece plays them, including from the last shape back to the first. Each pill now names a move, such as “1 · C → 4 · F”, and its dots count clean changes. These pills can’t be tapped.

A clean change is the first shape, held whole, then the second shape, held whole.

Three signs on the keys

During a join both shapes are drawn on one keyboard. A solid outline with a number is the shape to play now; it fills as you hold it. A dashed outline is the other shape of the move; once the new shape is fully down, its finger numbers come back for the way back. A solid outline with a dashed line inside is a key in both shapes: keep it down while the rest changes.

The coach says which step you are on: first play the outlined shape and hold it, then let the rest go and take the new one.

When a line travels

For a line, the joins are the moves from one place on the keyboard to the next, named by two keys, such as E→F. Play the key you leave, then the key you arrive on, with nothing in between. Any other key lights red while you hold it, and one in between starts that move over.

Going up, your thumb tucks under so the hand can keep going. Coming back down, the hand crosses over the thumb. You already met both moves in the walks of the shapes, where the dashed arc marks them. Nothing here is timed, so find a way that feels easy.

When a shape keeps slipping

During an exercise, if the roll keeps having to wait for the same shape, the coach offers to take it off the clock. Tap Find the shape (or Find the shapes) and Shapes first opens for just those. Two shapes that follow each other in the piece also get their join.

When you leave, the exercise starts again from the beginning.

Leaving Shapes first

When you move on from the last join (or the last shape, if there are no joins), the exercise itself starts. You can go early at any time: skip to playing and both take you straight on to the exercise.

If you earned at least one dot, these shapes are remembered and won’t be asked for again. Leave with no dots at all and Shapes first is offered again next time.

Help on this screen

Tap for this screen’s help: what Shapes first is for, then the cards about the pills, the join signs and the thumb passage. Nothing on this screen is timed, so reading costs you nothing.