Aquallegro Help
How to Use Aquallegro

# Learning to Learn

Aquallegro's vast options can seem daunting at first. Here's what you can do to help make beginning easier.

### Little by Little
Definitely the best way to tackle Aquallegro's Aural Skills quizzes is a little at a time. Start by selecting just two different options — if you were in the Chords module, for example, you could select just Major and Minor triads. Do a quiz with just those two turned on, and, making extensive use of the Review button, get comfortable distinguishing between those two. Once you can identify them confidently, go back to settings and add one more option — diminished in this example. Now you know your original two from before, and the new sound is the new one. Once you've played with those three for a while, go back and add another choice. With this process, you could get reasonably comfortable with several different options in an hour or so, even if you were completely unfamiliar with all of the choices at first. I'd recommend maybe getting to 4 or so options your first day if things go well, and then maybe go back and review on a daily basis, adding one more option each day. This way, soon you'll know everything Aquallegro has to offer!

### A Mental Image
As soon as you have mastered the Notation - Note Names module, begin working on the Keyboard - Notes module, no matter what your musical aspirations are. The keyboard is an incredibly useful tool in Aural Skills or in Notation as a mental image of pitches. When thinking of any pitch, picturing it on the keyboard in your mind allows you to understand musical ideas much faster and much more easily. For example, thinking of C to F or Ab to Db on a keyboard when in the Notation - Intervals module will help you determine that it is a Perfect 4th and recognize other Perfect 4ths more easily. Help for the Keyboard - Notes module

### Well-Rounded Education
Don't work on the Notation or Aural Skills quizzes exclusively—Aural Skills with no Notation is meaningful, but difficult in our world of sheet music, and Notation without Aural Skills is meaningless and empty. As you work in the Notation - Intervals module, work in the Aural Skills - Intervals module as well. Think about what particular notation might sound like, or think about how a particular sound might be written. Notation is just a representation of what happens aurally; never forget that what you are reading or writing has a sound, and that the sound, not the page, is always the essence of the music.

### Help!
Aquallegro has a ton of help files, and with each new version, they're becoming more detailed. Don't neglect them; many contain very helpful tips for each module. For example, the help for the Notation - Note Names module contains mnemonics for each clef to help you remember the letter names, and the help for the Aural Skills - Intervals module contains familiar songs you can use to recognize intervals until you become more comfortable. The help files also often explain the music theory behind each module's concept, so they're invaluable if you're not taking music classes. Also take note of modules that have Practice options (found in Aquallegro's toolbar or in the Help menu). Often these Practice windows will allow you to hear or see examples, so you can memorize the look or sound of an answer and try to recall it later. Help for included modules