Features of LenMus Phonascus

Phonascus, from Latin "the teacher of music", is a music education software that you can use to practice your music reading skills, improve your aural recognition abilities, or just learn the fundamental principles of music theory and language. And it includes an score editor, so that you can write your own scores.

LenMus is useful for aural training

Musical dictation is difficult for students. It is practically impossible to do aural training to recognize intervals, chords, scales and tonality without a teacher who plays exercises on piano. LenMus Phonascus is always there to help you. And you don't need to have a piano at home! The following exercises are included:

  • Comparison of intervals.
  • Identification of intervals.
  • Identification of chords.
  • Identification of scales.
  • Identification of cadences.

LenMus is useful to practise music theory concepts

LenMus Phonascus allows you to practice specific skills and exercises. The different activities can be customized to meet your needs. Phonascus allows you to work at your own pace, providing interactive feedback until mastery of each concept is achieved. Phonascus includes exercises on:

  • Identifying and building key signatures.
  • Building and spelling intervals.
  • Identifying scales.
  • Identifying chords.
  • Identifying cadences.
  • Music reading: scores composed by the program. Never repeated.
  • Clefs reading

LenMus includes an score editor

The score editor is not yet finished, as much more features have to be added, but the included features are operational, and allows to create simple scores, even with several instruments and voices. Nevertheless, the editor is in a preliminary state (beta status) and it is mainly useful deal with simple scores with one voice per staff. Many voices per staff are also supported but facilities to automate layouting task and taking automated decisions, such as automatic voice assignment, automatically setting up stem direction in notes to avoid collisions between stems, and other facilities, are not fully operational and in some cases produce poor results. Also, at current development stage, it is not possible to deal with:

  • lyric lines
  • slurs
  • dynamics, articulations and other symbols
  • cue/grace notes
  • rehearsal marks, coda, segno and related symbols
  • nested tuples
  • figures: lines, boxes, circles, other

These missing features will be added in coming releases. The basements are now there, so I expect to add much more features in short time.

LenMus supports your language

Software tools should be usable by people in their own native language, so I have done my best to support yours. See available translations. Translating the program is very easy and no programming knowledge is needed. You are welcome to translate it and I will include your translation in the next release. Please see instructions.

LenMus supports interactive books on music

LenMus is not just a collection of exercises. I have developed an architecture for integration between scores, interactive exercises and written text book material. The idea is to allow teachers to write music books so that all exercises are fully integrated into the text. Scores in the text are not just images or pictures but fully interactive operational music scores that you can hear, in whole or in part, by selecting one or more measures.

  • All available exercises can be also embedded in the text of the eBooks, and its customisation is predefined.
  • eBooks are written in XML, with DocBook syntax.
  • LenMus includes a score editor and will include tools to write eBooks.

LenMus is free

LenMus is an open project committed to the principles of free education, free access to information, and free software. It has no commercial purpose. So LenMus Phonascus is licensed under the GNU General Public License, meaning you can use it for free and that you have the right to access the source code and modify it if you like.

  • Open source project with GNU GPL license.
  • Using LenMus costs you nothing and you have no obligations.
  • No time is wasted on registration codes, copy protection, advertisements or other overhead.
  • You can access the source code and modify it, if you like.

LenMus is cross-platform

LenMus is a cross-platform project developed in C++. The Windows version is ready. The Linux version compiles and works, but I have no experience with autotools and learning it to prepare a distribution package will take me much time. So do not expect a Linux release soon. The code is prepared to be compiled and built for Mac OS X. But I do not have neither software/hardware/time to do the porting. If you would like to contribute by preparing and testing any of these builds you are welcome. Please contact me.

  • Programmed in C++ with wxWidgets.
  • No special hardware requirements. Any not too old PC with a soundcard is adequate.

LenMus has other interesting features

  • Use it in your classroom

    • An option to do exercises in teams is included: two answer counters are displayed and each new problem is assigned to a different team.

  • Usability

    • At start up, the program automatically checks if a new version is available.
    • Scores can be exported as bmp or jpg images.
    • Score renderization uses anti-aliasing techniques for improving visual quality of displayed scores. This improves readability and minimizes visual tiredness.

Last updated: 2009/01/07