Reading sheet music isn't a gift: music theory is a skill, and it is built from short, repeated doses. Cléo cuts it into two-minute lessons you can do standing on a train, with no instrument and no gear. Start from zero, or from wherever you are.
Free on the App Store. iOS 18.0 or later.
Cléo is an iPhone app that teaches sheet music reading and music theory, in English and French. The course is entirely free: nine chapters, 41 two-minute lessons, 370+ exercises, from the staff to key signatures and ear training. Cléo requires no account, no microphone, and no instrument.
Not mockups: the app exactly as it runs on an iPhone.
Why a notehead is hollow or filled, why a stem flips direction halfway up the staff, why a second clef exists at all. Here's what you'll be able to do by the end of the course.
The five lines, the four spaces, and everything that spills past the staff, in treble clef and bass clef alike.
Whole, half, quarter and eighth notes, dots and ties. Position tells you the pitch, shape tells you the time.
Whole, half, quarter and eighth rests, and why silence gets written down instead of left blank.
Bar lines, time signatures and what those two numbers actually mean, on examples you can count through.
Sharps, flats, naturals, and the key signature at the start of the staff that settles the whole piece at once.
Not just the rule: the reason for it. That's the difference between revising something and remembering it.
Three more screens, untouched.
No account, no server: everything happens on your iPhone.
No prerequisites: for a complete beginner, the first chapter starts at the five lines of the staff and the names of the notes. If you already read music, a placement test opens the chapter where it stops being obvious.
The rule gets explained, then you get asked about it. Enough to fit the wait on a station platform rather than a practice session.
The daily mission, the streak and adaptive-difficulty training keep your reading fresh between chapters.
Every chapter, all 41 lessons and every exercise, with no exceptions. The subscription unlocks no lesson: it removes the ads, gives unlimited lives and opens the score catalogue.
The complete course, no exceptions. Limited lives, an ad now and then, an optional video to earn a life back, and one score of your choice to sight-read.
Unlimited lives, no ads at all, every score. Or $39.99 per year, with a seven-day free trial on the annual plan. €4.99 and €34.99 in the eurozone; the App Store shows your own price.
Subscriptions are managed and cancelled from your Apple account settings. Nothing is sent to a server: your progress stays on your phone.
Cléo is distributed exclusively on the App Store: nothing to install by hand, no permission to grant in your settings.
Free download. The whole course opens with no payment and no account.
Download on the App StoreYes. Reading a score and playing an instrument are two separate skills. Cléo teaches reading only: recognising notes, durations, rests and bars. Everything is done by tapping the screen, with no instrument and no gear.
No. The app never asks for microphone access and never listens, at any point. Exercises are answered by tapping the screen, one-handed.
The course is entirely free: all nine chapters, all 41 lessons and all 370+ exercises, with no exceptions. The optional subscription ($4.99 per month or $39.99 per year in the United States, €4.99 and €34.99 in the eurozone) removes the ads, gives unlimited lives and opens the whole catalogue of scores to sight-read. It unlocks no lesson.
No. The first chapter starts from the five lines of the staff and assumes nothing. If you already read music, a placement test finds what you know and opens the chapter where it stops being obvious.
About two minutes. The course has 41 lessons across nine chapters, built to fit the wait on a station platform rather than a practice session.
Yes. A catalogue of twenty-seven public-domain scores opens once you can read the whole staff, at the second chapter: Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Pachelbel's Canon, Bach's Prelude in C major, Brahms's Lullaby, the Largo from the New World, Amazing Grace, Scarborough Fair, Molly Malone, Sur le pont d'Avignon, Alouette, Cadet Rousselle, and seasonal pieces in December. These are whole pieces, thirty to seventy notes, cut into phrases and written with their rhythm. Every note you name is played back, and the phrase replays in full once you have read it. One score of your choice is free; the subscription opens the whole catalogue.
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