PianoHead helps students learn the fundamentals of music theory.

Like many piano students, Bill Purdy’s two children grew tired of practicing scales and notes.

Flash cards were tedious, yet learn the fundamentals of music theory they must.

So Purdy, a software developer on the island, decided to come up with something better. It had to be fun and it had to do the job.

“Scales and key signatures require a lot of practice,” said Purdy. “The actual learning of the notes is a lot of repetition. I thought flash cards built on the computer would be helpful.”

In his spare time, Purdy and his longtime colleague John Taylor, based in San Francisco, came up with PianoHead. The software allows students to master the fundamentals of music theory in an interactive, entertaining way.

A year in the making, PianoHead is distributed by Purdy and Taylor’s side company, Spinapse, through which they produce educational computer games, like Photo Hunt in Hawaii and Photo Hunt in Yellowstone.

“(PianoHead) fit perfectly with the few products we were doing,” Purdy said.

This was sandwiched between work for Purdy’s main company, True North Studios, which he runs with his wife, Michele Costa.

The multimedia company produces educational and professional development videos and products for such clients as McGraw Hill, the George Lucas Educational Foundation and Bainbridge Island Metro Park and Recreation District.

Purdy put the unfinished product to the test with Claire Marshall, his children’s piano teacher.

The program goes through three steps. In the process, the student is memorizing the basics. Beginners and intermediate students of any age can benefit from it, Purdy said.

One part teaches students to identify the names of the notes and locate them on a keyboard. A timer counts down one minute, wherein students click on the correct keys.

A score button immediately shows whether the choices are right or wrong by the score and the staff, which highlights the correct answer and plays the sounds. Students can study the notes and signatures at any time.

Since its release last January, PianoHead has been sold in 24 countries.

It was a featured download site on Apple.com, which provided great exposure and prompted many fan letters for Purdy, from such countries as Argentina, Greece and Finland.

“It’s so wild. I have a couple in Italy who can’t speak the language. He’s writing in Italian, but the program doesn’t require a lot of English,” Purdy laughed.

“The program is straightforward. I think it fills a niche. It’s the conceptual theory and that quick response, that ingrained response,” he said. “It just takes memorization.”

Marshall has the program on her computer and says it is ideal for certain students, helping them to sharpen their skills. They can read music better, she added, and it has a pretty broad application.

“It is a great assessment tool for teachers,” said Marshall, who has taught piano for 30 years. “I have seen two or three very reluctant music readers turn around completely.”

Students need the scales and chords as building blocks, she said, and learning that can be “deadly dull.”

“Some students plod along with flash cards,” Marshall said, “but they love computer games and this is the secret weapon to their motivation.”

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Notable notes

To order PianoHead for Windows and Macintosh, see www.pianohead.com. The cost is $15.95, but you can try a couple of rounds for free on the website before you buy.