About Clapchart
A tool for the music teacher who makes rhythm play-alongs by hand: write the rhythm or the melody once, and get the play-along, the video and the chart.
Why we made it
A play-along video is one of the most useful things in a music room, and one of the slowest to make. Teachers build them slide by slide, nudging a marker across the notes and lining the timing up by eye, then start again when the class needs it slower. Colour charts for tubes and bells are often bought one song at a time, in somebody else's arrangement and somebody else's colours.
We built Clapchart so the teacher's own material comes first. You write the rhythm or the melody the way you teach it, and the maker plays it in time, draws it, and turns it into a video and a chart. The same board makes a slow version for the first lesson and a full-speed one for the performance.
What it does
It reads a grid you fill with the mouse, touch or keyboard, or text you type in rhythm syllables or note names, and tells you exactly what does not add up. It draws the notation with syllables or counting under the notes, plays it with a count-in and a moving marker scheduled from the audio clock, makes play-along videos in landscape or portrait, and prints colour charts and one-bar cards for stations. The rules are written out on how it works, and the guides turn them into lessons.
How it treats your work
Everything happens in your browser. What you write is never uploaded, there is no account, and every video and chart goes from your browser straight to your own downloads. Your boards are saved in this browser, and a backup file keeps a copy you control.
On your phone
On an iPhone or iPad: open the site in Safari, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
It then opens like an app, and works offline after your first visit.
What it is not
- Not a full notation program. One line per part, written for the rhythms and short melodies of a class lesson.
- Not a song library. The starters were written for this site; the rest is yours to write.
- Not tied to one instrument maker. The colour convention is a starting point you can change to match your own set.
- Not a guesser. A word or a bar it cannot read is shown to you, never filled in.
Contact
Questions, and reports of a rhythm that was read or played wrongly, go to [email protected]. Include the text of the part and the time signature, so we can play it the same way.
Clapchart is not affiliated with any instrument maker, publisher or music exam board.