Melodash

Play a note. Watch the world come back.

Melodash is a practice game where your real instrument is the controller. A world called Cantara has gone gray and silent. Every note you play paints it back into color.

Grab your instrument, or just sing or whistle. The sound is heard in this browser only. Nothing is recorded or sent anywhere.

Listening. Play or sing any note.

You just did what a Melodash player does every day: you kept playing, and the world answered.

Start playing, it’s free

Practice that feels like a quest, because it is one.

No tapping on a screen to fake it. Melodash listens to the instrument in your hands and turns real progress into game progress.

  1. Pick up your instrument

    Trumpet, violin, voice, snare, guitar, piano and more. Your instrument becomes your class in Cantara: a Brasswright, a Stringweaver, a Windcaller, a Percussor, a Keysmith or a Voice.

  2. Play, and the game listens

    Pitch, rhythm and timing are heard live, note by note, on your own device. In-tune notes glow green. Steady time lights the beat. Nothing is ever recorded.

  3. Grow your musician

    Practice earns Resonance, the living sound of Cantara. Level up, unlock outfits and instrument art, keep your streak, and watch whole realms return to color.

  1. Apprentice
  2. Journeyer
  3. Performer
  4. Virtuoso
  5. Maestro

Five ranks, earned only by playing better. There is nothing to buy that moves you up.

Every section of the band has a place here.

Make a musician who looks like you, holding the instrument you actually play. Every outfit and accessory is earned by practicing, never bought.

A trombone player in a red varsity jacket
BrasswrightTrumpet, trombone, horn, euphonium, tuba
A flute player in a purple polo
WindcallerFlute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, all four saxophones
A violinist in a white shirt and navy skirt
StringweaverViolin, viola, cello, bass, guitar
A percussionist in an orange band hoodie
PercussorSnare, practice pad, drum set
A singer in a pink sweatshirt
VoiceChoir and solo singing
A pianist in glasses and a blue shirt
KeysmithPiano

A world that was sung into being, and then went quiet.

Long ago, the greatest musician in Cantara froze before his biggest performance. He was so afraid of playing a wrong note that he never played again, and his silence spread. Color drained away. Rivers froze. That silence is called the Hush.

You are a Kindler: one of the few who can still make Resonance. Your playing doesn’t have to be perfect. It only has to be real. That is the lesson at the heart of Melodash, and it is the same one every music teacher knows: the brave wrong note beats the fearful silence.

“Where the note touches the nearest tree, a single leaf turns green.”
From the opening of Melodash
  • PulsewoodRhythm, timing and the steady beat
  • The Scale MountainsScales, technique and range
  • Cadence HollowEar training: hearing it, then playing it back
  • Tempo ForestTempo control and playing up to speed
  • The Harmony KingdomIntervals, chords and playing together
  • The Sightreader’s StraitsReading music you’ve never seen
  • The Virtuoso CitadelWhere the great Maestros wait

Tonight’s Program

More than a thousand exercises, from a first long tone to all-state level, written by a music educator.

Scales
For every instrument. Ten scale types, and the game hears every note.
Rhythm
Real notation and rudiment sticking, from quarter notes to sixteenth-note mixes, timed to the millisecond.
Ear Training
Find the beat, echo rhythms, then melodies, intervals and chords in Cadence Hollow.
Trumpet & Trombone
Long tones, lip slurs, range, multiple tonguing, alternate positions, jazz and solos.
French Horn
First calls to the orchestral horn, with a mock audition hall.
Flute
Headjoint to third octave, with études, solos and piccolo.
Saxophone
Alto, tenor, soprano and bari, with every fingering shown, all the way to altissimo.
Guitar
First notes, chords and strumming, blues, power chords, barre chords and fingerstyle.
Voice
Solo and choir singing, sight-singing, part singing and a mock audition.
Metronome & Rhythm Coach
A full practice metronome with drum grooves that also tells you if you’re rushing or dragging.

Clarinet, oboe, bassoon, strings and piano play Scales, Rhythm and Ear Training today, with their own challenges on the way.

Compete with the world. Stay completely private.

Weekly leagues, class boards and a daily duet put players side by side. Nobody ever sees a real name, a face or a word typed by another player.

  • Velvet Nocturne 57
  • Brassy Fanfare 204
  • Steady Drumbeat 46
  • Golden Arpeggio 72
  • Stage Names, not real namesEvery public name is built from vetted music words and a number. Nothing is typed.
  • No chat between players, everPlayers cheer each other with preset, positive reactions only.
  • Kids and adults never mixBoards are split into Junior, Teen and Adult divisions.
  • Teachers and parents hold the controlsThey decide whether a younger player competes beyond their class.
Class board · This week3 days left
  1. 1Brassy Fanfare 204Brasswright1,240
  2. 2Golden Arpeggio 72Windcaller1,105
  3. 3Silver Overture 92Brasswright990
  4. 4Velvet Nocturne 57You · 32 Resonance to pass #3959

A sample board. Scores are Resonance earned this week.

Built with the grown-ups in the room.

Melodash was designed by a band and choir director with 27 years in the classroom, for the people who help students practice.

For teachers

See who practiced and how the time was counted. Classes, login cards, a projector-safe board and choir tools.

See the teacher tools →

For parents

A weekly practice recap, real streaks to celebrate, and privacy built in from the first screen.

See what families get →

Cantara is waiting for your first note.

Play in any browser, on a phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer. Nothing to install.

Start playing, it’s free I’m a teacher