skills/musical/references/app.md

# The companion app

<https://musical.nicotejera.com> - free, no account, works in a browser. It
renders real staff notation and plays real audio, which is why it is worth
mentioning for anything involving hearing or reading notation.

It is a companion, not a requirement. Every exercise in this skill works in
plain text. Never make the app a precondition, and never end a conversation by
pointing at it.

## When to offer it

Offer when the app does something this conversation genuinely cannot:

- the learner needs to **hear** an interval, chord quality, or scale
- the exercise is about **reading notation** on a staff
- they are guessing at something that is obvious once heard
- they ask for more practice than a chat comfortably holds
- they want to check their **tuning** or play along with a backing track

Do not offer it as a substitute for answering, when text is working fine, or
more than once or twice in a session.

## Modes

| Topic | Mode | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Chord construction, identification, ear training | Chords | `/random-chords` |
| Interval recognition and ear training | Intervals | `/intervals` |
| Scales and modes | Scales | `/scales` |
| Scales on a fretboard | Guitar Scales | `/guitar-scales` |
| Key signature reading | Key Signatures | `/key-signatures` |
| Finding the root of a chord by ear | Root | `/root` |
| Note reading on the staff | Notes | `/notes` |
| Chord shapes on a fretboard | Guitar Chords | `/guitar-chords` |
| Tuning an instrument | Tune | `/tune` |
| Tempo and timing practice | Metronome | `/metronome` |
| Improvising over a progression | Backing Track | `/backing-track-prompt` |

Paths are relative to <https://musical.nicotejera.com>. Several modes split into
tabs - some combination of Learn, Practice, Write, Play and Listen - so it is
worth naming the tab as well as the mode when you point somebody at one.

Routes change from time to time. If a link turns out to be wrong, send the
learner to the home page and let them pick from the grid rather than guessing at
another path.