Functional Harmony vs MelodEar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Functional Harmony
This music theory app helps users spell chords and scales by entering a root note. It also identifies intervals when two notes are provided. Learn music theory concepts quickly and easily.
- Spell chords
- Spell scales
- Identify intervals
- Enter root note for chords/scales
- Enter two notes for interval identification
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Functional Harmony is a fast music theory desk for players and students. Build chords and scales from a root and quality. Identify harmony from notes. Or just Ask—type a chord, scale, or note stack in plain English and jump straight to the answer. SCALE FINDER • Choose a root and scale quality—major, minor, modes, pentatonic, and more • See every degree spelled clearly for practice and ear training • Perfect when you need a quick scale finder without flipping textbooks CHORD BUILDER & CHORD ID • Spell major, minor, sevenths, suspended, augmented, diminished, and more • Stack notes in the Notes tab to identify chords and intervals (reverse lookup) • Piano-friendly note entry with accidentals—great as a chord identifier ASK • Natural-language queries: “C major 7”, “F# dorian”, “C E G” • Live preview before you open Chords, Scales, or Notes • Built for homework, rehearsals, and songwriting sessions WHY FUNCTIONAL HARMONY • Chords, scales, and note identification in one app • Clean, bottom-anchored controls designed for one-handed practice • No accounts, no clutter—just theory when you need it Whether you call it a scale finder, chord identifier, or harmony lab, Functional Harmony keeps tonal music theory at your fingertips.
MelodEar
Enhance your musical ear and understanding of music theory. This app helps musicians and singers grasp harmonic progressions, improvise, and create melodies. Practice intervals, scales, and chords with interactive exercises and video lessons.
- Harmonic progression understanding
- Melody creation and improvisation
- Ear training for intervals and notes
- Music theory video lessons
- Piano chords and scales practice
- Vocal training exercises
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Welcome to MelodEar – A music learning tool that is designed to help musicians and singers where they can understand and hear harmonic progressions and sing their favorite melodies. It is an advanced tool to help singers and instrumentalists by connecting their voice and music instruments to make them more expressive. + Experience different piano chords and scales + Watch music theory videos and practice daily with music reading exercises + Recognize music intervals and notes with ear training and understanding harmonic progression Whether you want to understand and improve harmonic progressions and improvisation skills or want to create your own melodies then MelodEar has got you covered ! Here you learn how to sing along with instrumental music. DAVID ESKENAZY VISION: MelodEar is designed by David Eskenazy, a musician, singer, and a facilitator who spent 15 years in developing real-life teaching methods and music theory exercises focused on helping musicians and vocalists to understand and improve their harmonic progression and melodic skill. Why and for Whom MelodEar is designed? For Musicians: It is a tool that’s designed to help instrumentalists connect their fingers with inner ear. The only aim of the tool (specifically for musicians) is to help them sing with their music instruments to improve their ability of improvising and creating melodies. For Singers: It allows singers to engage with jazz harmony and melodic modes in a more creative way. Improve pitch accuracy and melodic creativity. Improve your sight reading skills and engage in the vocal training to improve vocal agility and understand the flow within and between different harmonic structures. + Learn piano scales to improve understanding of scales and intervals + Enter the training mode to develop improvisation skills and increase + Learn piano chords and build strong connection between what you hear and what you play! How does MelodEar work? MelodEar provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface to help musicians and singers understand and improve their musical skills. Following is step-by-step method of how it works: + Edit Window: Start creating and editing your song including selecting and modifying chords. Customize the structure of your music by choosing melodic modes that match the harmonic progression of the song. + The Library: Once the song is created, it gets stored in the library which also contains pre-filled smooth jazz standards. You can access, modify, or use them as templates for learning purposes. + Session Window: It is the core of MelodEar where you start the real practice. Here you view the harmonic progression of a song with a visual display of the melodic modes that are connected to each chord. See how notes and intervals relate to each other Play with chords (jazz chords, guitar chords), scales, and melodies in real-time using the chord player and vocal keyboard which plays the piano notes of the chosen mode. “Pitch recognition” feature allows you to highlight the notes you’re singing to hit the right pitch. You can also adjust the pitch with a “fine tuner” and focus on specific sections of song with a “looper” for repeated practice. + See It, Hear It, Sing It: See the musical structure visually, hear the melodic intervals, and sing. Get real-time feedback to check your accuracy. + Learning and Skill Building: Learn music notes from tutorials and get a guidance through music reading exercises to improve your pitch, ear training, and improvisational skills. Develop deep understanding of harmony and melodic patterns to improve your musical creativity. + MelodEar Tutorial Pack: Get detailed guidance and comprehensive learning resources to improve your musical skills. Get step-by-step instructions, skill-development exercises, improvisation training, understanding music theory, and improving musical creativity. Terms of Use: https://vocal-improv.com/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://vocal-improv.com/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Functional Harmony at none against MelodEar's 6. Functional Harmony also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.6). MelodEar's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. MelodEar sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Functional Harmony asks for nothing beyond the download.
Functional Harmony holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 25 and 69 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Functional Harmony's written reviews are positive against 77% of MelodEar's.
Functional Harmony ships an update every 6 months, MelodEar every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Functional Harmony | MelodEar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (25 ratings) — better | 4.6 (69 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 76.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 25 | 69 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 200 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dylan Shade | David Eskenazy |
Customer experience
Functional Harmony
MelodEar
In-app purchases
Functional Harmony
No in-app purchases
MelodEar
- MelodEar Premium3 Days trial$9.991 Year
- MelodEar Premium3 Days trial$14.991 Year
- MelodEar Full Version 1 year7 Days trial$29.491 Year
- 3-day free trialFree
- MelodEar Premium$19.99
- MelodEar Premium$29.99
Questions
Is Functional Harmony free?
Is MelodEar free?
Which has better reviews, Functional Harmony or MelodEar?
Do Functional Harmony or MelodEar have ads?
Which is updated more often, Functional Harmony or MelodEar?
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