Detailed feature reference

Make a song your own guide

CADENCE — MAKE A SONG YOUR OWN

This pathway is new in current source builds. The 0.36.1 public download predates it.

A PIECE, A PATHWAY, A VERSION OF YOUR OWN

In Learn → Your pathway, choose Begin my pathway. Select piano or guitar and use the original
Cadence example, or choose a piece from your library. This first slice needs four
reviewed 4/4 bars, a single melodic voice on staff/voice 1, and written chord
symbols. Unsupported material stays editable in your library. No AI request,
book upload or subscription is needed for the original pathway.

The original example is an eight-bar lead sheet. Activities select its first
four bars; Open full score always opens the complete piece. The second original
example changes the key and melody for a later return. These are reviewed,
redistributable examples, not transcriptions of a private book.

The vertical map has five open chapters:
  Hear where home is — hear, imagine, sing and find the phrase.
  Make the changes flow — recognise a common tone and try several valid voicings.
  Give it a groove — calibrated MIDI play-along with optional accompaniment.
  Make your own version — an editable eight-bar arrangement in My compositions.
  Take it somewhere new — a later independent attempt in the second example.

Select a chapter to see its goal, recorded evidence and activity. Your pathway
returns to the map from the activity, coach and full score. Other exercises,
book courses and existing pathways remain available under Explore other activities.

AN OPENING CHECK AND A SMALL SESSION

The opening check asks for a close C-major to F-major change. MIDI first observes
C4–E4–G4 and its release, then checks the next shape. Multiple valid answers are
accepted by the existing voicing rule. Shared notes retain their register; the
exercise allows three ordered voices within an octave and movement of at most
five semitones. These are this task's constraints, not universal harmony rules.
On-screen choices are saved separately from instrument performance. Hints and
retries remain labelled as support. A failed save keeps the answer for retry.

Choose 10, 15 or 25 minutes. Suggestions read the actual activity history and
name their reason. An uncertain opening leads to slower chord work; supported
or incorrect activity results return for care. A session reserves room for your
own musical choices. Times are guidance, without a countdown. Every chapter
remains available, including the creative finish.

The common-tone question records harmony recognition separately from listening
and playing. It does not claim to grade an explanation in prose. The coach can
help you explain or explore a choice: its prepared question includes a bounded
symbolic melody, chord symbols and scoped evidence. You explicitly send it using
your configured key; opening the coach makes no automatic paid request.

AN ARRANGEMENT TO KEEP

Open my eight bars creates one linked composition, repeat-safely. Its first
phrase has a harmonic scaffold; all eight bars are yours to write. Choose a
melody, bass and accompaniment, then make a contrast and a return. Piano has two
editable staves; guitar has linked notation/tab. Use MIDI step entry or the
editor controls. Your original source is never overwritten.

Hear my arrangement plays the whole version. Save finished arrangement becomes
available after playback completes for the current musical fingerprint. Keep
eight bars for this pathway. An empty score cannot be finished. Later edits
require another listen. A finished version is a creative artifact, not a grade
for artistic quality. It remains linked to the original passage.

RETURNING INDEPENDENTLY

A delayed return is eligible at least a day after the most recent familiar-piece
practice or finished arrangement. Early attempts remain available. The separate
MIDI play-along must use the second piece, with the guide muted; timing conditions
remain visible. A supported or early pass cannot become an independent result.
Existing activity schedules remain the scheduling authority; the course map does
not create a second gradebook. Guitar microphone activities match monophonic
pitch; this first timed return requires MIDI and does not assess guitar technique.

SAVING AND SOURCES

Course storage is now format 3, including stable pathway/source/composition links.
Practice evidence stays in its existing store. Older courses migrate; older app
versions reject the newer course file. Back up the complete data folder before
switching between development and older releases.

Changing or removing source music invalidates its recommendations, preserving
old evidence and compositions. Review the new source and begin a fresh pathway.
A failed course write cannot publish a new pathway or approval. Failed opening
answers and received import replies remain available for save-only retry.

VERIFICATION LIMITS

Core, storage, virtual MIDI and native accessibility-action regressions use
original fixtures. These do not establish learning effectiveness or substitute
for physical keyboard, microphone permission or VoiceOver testing. Consult
Docs/DEVICE_TESTING.md for the remaining hands-on release matrix.