For Teachers: Getting Started with Practice Sorcerer
Welcome to Practice Sorcerer! Whether you're managing 40 private students, 5 students or group tutorials, this guide will walk you through the key ways to build musical skills and get students practicing.
What is Practice Sorcerer?
Practice Sorcerer is a gamified music education web-app that teachers and students love. It drills fundamental musical skills in note-reading, scales, rhythm and ear training. Students earn points on the leaderboard for their practice, and unlock animated character companions.
The app uses pitch detection and interactive games to give students real-time feedback as they play their instruments. No recording, no live video—just your student, their instrument, and instant feedback.
Getting Your Students Started
Adding Students
To add a new student, go to the Teacher tab and create a Starter Profile:
- Click Add Student
- Enter the student's first name and select their primary instrument
- The profile is created instantly. You can send them a claim link via email when they're ready to sign up
Managing Your Roster
Once students are added, you can:
- Set their primary instrument (affects how notes are transposed for pitch detection)
- View their progress and XP totals
- Monitor their practice activity through the leaderboard
- Play As any student to preview what they see and test game modes on their account
Assigning Daily Practice: Warmup Quests
For young students, we all wish we could give them more guidance and support with their practice at home, helping them build skills step-by-step. That's why we built 'Warmup Quests' - which allow you to create a sequence of activities where students just have to tap 'Start' and the rest is history.
The easiest way to guide your students' practice is through Warmup Quests—daily activity assignments that appear on each student's dashboard.
How to Create and Assign a Warmup Quest
- In the Teacher tab, select a student
- Click Assign Warmup Quest to see the quest builder
- Add unlimited blocks of activities from the 6 game modes described later in this article
- Set difficulty levels and configure each activity
- Click Save to finalise your quest!
When students complete a Warmup Quest, they earn XP, maintain their practice streak, and you see it reflected in their profile.
Understanding the Game Modes
Perch Perfect — Note Reading
Reach the nest by reading notes. There are 2 ways to play: either tap the note-name on screen, or play your instrument using pitch detection from the microphone. Adjust the note range to match the student's level, and adjust difficulty by turning the cat enemy on/off or giving the student a head-start up the tree.
Best for: Sight-reading practice, building confidence with notation
Scale Sorcerer — Scale Mastery
Notes go green as they are played correctly, meaning your student will never come back forgetting the Bb in F major scale again! Students play scales with real-time pitch detection and visual feedback. The app shows whether they're in tune, helps them play at the right tempo, and tracks their progress across different keys and scales.
Best for: Building technique, muscle memory, ear training
Tiger Dojo — Rhythm Mastery
A rhythm-based challenge where students copy back a rhythm that is notated for them and demonstrated by Tiger Sensei! It features 20 difficulty levels and encourages steady, accurate beat-keeping. It may be surprisingly hard for students to keep the pulse... assure them that this is a muscle they will build over time.
Best for: Rhythm imitation and reading, building internal pulse
Resonant Forest — Tuning
A musical forest which lights up as students play in tune. This is a tuner with an aurora borealis twist!
Best for: Developing intonation
Aural Training — Ear Training
Progressive ear training exercises including interval, chord and scale recognition, as well as sing the middle note or the upper/lower line of a two-part progression.
Best for: Developing listening skills, music theory understanding
Creative Mode — Composition
Students compose their own melodies, start to understand scale degrees (you can then teach transposition, and explore the sound/flavour of different scales), and can save ideas. This can also be used for students to transcribe songs they like (sans rhythm).
Best for: Composition, creativity, theory
Recommended Starting Activities
For Beginners:
- Start with Perch Perfect (note reading) to build confidence with reading staff notation
- Add Scale Sorcerer at an easy difficulty to get used to playing in tune
- Use Tiger Dojo once they're comfortable holding a steady tempo
For Intermediate Players:
- Assign a mix of all modes to keep practice varied
- Gradually increase difficulty levels in Perch Perfect and Scale Sorcerer
- Use Creative Mode to teach students about scale degrees, patterns, and getting creative
For Advanced Players:
- Challenge them with scales that extend their range and build familiarity with difficult key signatures and fingerings/technique (where applicable)
- Use Aural Training to develop ear skills
- Encourage Creative Mode to let them compose and express themselves
Tips for Success
- Start small. Try it out with a couple of students, and focus perhaps on Perch Perfect (note-reading) and Scale Sorcerer in the beginning. You can start using it the lesson only, and recommend it for home practice later once they're in the swing of things.
- Explore it yourself. Do some practice, and even pretend to be a beginning, struggling student.
- Show students the characters. On the left side panel (or on mobile, the menu top-right of screen), you'll see 'Characters'. Show them the characters they can unlock... culminating in the Resonant Dragon.
- Use the leaderboard to motivate. Students can see how they rank against your other students, as well as the global leaderboard. There is a weekly and all-time option, so it's not the same people again and again that take the top spots!
- Check in on streaks. Practice Sorcerer tracks daily practice streaks. Celebrate milestone days as they accumulate.
- Ensure instrument accuracy. Make sure each student has the correct current instrument selected in Settings (or as the teacher, you can change this through Teacher Tab -> Select the student -> Pencil icon -> Change their instrument). Also ensure the student plays in tune, including during home practice, or note-detection will not function well.
Microphone & Pitch Detection
Practice Sorcerer detects pitch using your students' device microphone. Here's what you should know:
- Students need to grant microphone permissions in their browser when they first play a mode with pitch detection
- The app runs pitch detection on-device; audio is never recorded or sent online
- A quiet practice space and in-tune instrument help greatly
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can students practice without me assigning activities? A: Yes! Students can play any unlocked mode whenever they want from their dashboard. Warmup Quests are optional guidance, not restrictions.
Q: How do I know if students are actually practicing? A: Check their profile in the Teacher tab, and choose the 'Student Profile & Progress' tab within this page. You will see their activity history listed.
Q: What if a student says "the notes won't turn green" in Scale Sorcerer? A: This usually means the instrument setting is wrong, the instrument is out of tune, or the app can't hear them clearly. Check:
- Correct instrument selected in Settings
- Instrument is in tune
- Quiet room with minimal background noise
- Student is playing loudly enough for the microphone to detect
Q: Can I delete or modify a student? A: For starter profiles you created, yes—you can edit their name and instrument, or remove them from your class. For linked accounts (students who signed up themselves), you can unlink them but can't delete their account.
Next Steps
- Try a game yourself to see what your students will experience
- During (or before if you're extra organised!) a lesson, add your first student (Teacher tab -> Plus button)
- Assign a simple Warmup Quest with one activity (e.g., Perch Perfect at easy difficulty)
- Check back in a few days to see their progress
- When you're ready, and this is optional, send them a link to claim their account and practice at home by selecting the student in the Teacher tab and clicking 'Email Account Claim Link'. You can use our pre-written email, or copy the URL for them and write your own email.
We're here to help! If you have questions, feature requests or issues, reach out to support@practicesorcerer.com.
Happy teaching!