PlayScore 2 App Review and Giveaway

SPOILER: Be sure to read to the final paragraph for an awesome giveaway opportunity of a 1-year Pro Subscription to PlayScore 2!

---

A musician who can scan a piece of music and hear the music playing in their head is employing a skill known as audiation. Now we have an app that provides the technological equivalent: PlayScore 2.

PlayScore 2 may even have the advantage because it can play multiple lines of music simultaneously and provide accompaniment while you play along with it. I  downloaded the free version of the app and was able to scan and play a single line of music, but after the developers sent me a code to try out the Pro version for a month I was blown away at the capabilities! Here’s a 30 second demo from my iPhone (enjoy the glimpse of my handsome hubby background at the beginning!):

I opened the app and scanned a page from Piano Safari that included a duet. The accuracy was spot on (can you believe that it even read the flats and played in the right key?!), and I can see this being a simple way for students to play along with duet accompaniments for their pieces when practicing at home. They could also use it just to listen to pieces and hear what they sound like or to verify accuracy. And of course, the clever ones who gravitate toward playing by ear could use this is a handy tool to avoid ever having to learn to read the music for themselves! (We wouldn’t let them get away with that trick so easily, though, right…?)

When I received a songbook in the mail a few days ago, I realized that PlayScore 2 is even more of a goldmine for instrumentalists and vocalists who don’t play the piano. Instant accompanist at the tap of a finger? Yes, please! You can scan the score, de-select the vocal or instrumental line, and opt to have the app just playback the piano accompaniment at whatever tempo is comfortable and in whatever key you choose, thanks to the changeable settings. With the Pro version, you can also import pdf sheet music and play it back via the app.

Here’s a longer video tutorial created by another user that is very informative!

Of course, nothing can quite replicate the artistry of a human playing or recording, but the capabilities PlayScore 2 does offer are quite impressive! A monthly subscription is $4.99, or an annual subscription is $26.99. Sometimes I feel like the subscription-based model for nearly everything these days is going to make me go broke, so I’ve become very selective with what I subscribe to and what I don’t. That said, it’s always beneficial to at least explore what’s available and determine what apps and innovations are best-suited for my studio and teaching approach. I’m sure there are dozens of other little uses for piano teachers and students that are yet to be discovered, so if you give it a try, let me know what you find!

Now, for the best part – the developers of PlayScore 2 have kindly offered free promo codes to 10 Music Matters Blog readers to try out their Pro version for free for one year! So, if you’d like to check it out, just leave a comment below and be entered to win the drawing. Ten winners will be chosen using a random number generator at noon (CST) on Friday, December 10, 2021.