Fingering vs Beam Music
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Fingering
Access interactive fingering charts for a wide range of woodwind and brass instruments, including alternate fingerings and trills. Features a piano interface to visualize notes and their notations across various clefs, with transposition options.
- Interactive fingering charts
- Alternate fingerings and trills
- Piano visualization
- Multiple clef support
- Transposition options
- Instrument-specific guides
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“This is a must have app for every music teacher, students and enthusiast.” Immediate access to fingerings (with alternates and trills) for each instrument’s entire playable range. Get fingerings from the written or concert pitch. Support for Key Signatures to more easily find a fingering in the music you're working on. Woodwinds: Piccolo, Concert, Alto and Bass Flutes, Oboe and Cor Anglais, Soprano, Alto, Bass and Contrabass Clarinets, Bassoon and Contrabassoon, Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxophones Brass: F/Bb Double French Horn, A, Bb, C and D Trumpets (Cornet, Flugelhorn), Bb/F Tenorbass and Bb/F/Gb/D Bass Trombones, Euphonium and Baritone, BBb, CC, Eb and F Tubas The 'Piano' instrument simultaneously displays the note names, the locations on the piano, and the musical notations of up to 5 pitches in either Treble, Alto, Tenor or Bass clef. The Notation can be transposed for most all instrumental transpositions. • All woodwinds have trill fingerings for minor 2nd and major 2nd intervals. • Flutes and Saxophones have additional fingerings for minor 3rd and major 3rd trills. • Alto and Tenor Sax include altissimo fingerings up to written F, two octaves above the top line F of the treble clef. • All Woodwinds include visual guides to the key names and locations on the instrument to understand the fingering charts better. • Trombones include position guides for the different valve combinations. Common Clefs for Select Instruments: • Bassoon and Contrabassoon include Treble, Tenor and Bass clefs. • Bb/F Tenorbass Trombone, Bb/F/Gb/D Bass Trombone, Euphonium and Baritone include Treble, Tenor and Bass clefs. • F/Bb Double French Horn, BBb Tuba, CC Tuba, Eb Tuba, and F Tuba include Treble and Bass clefs. Treble clef on the brass instruments follow British Band tradition of being in transposing notation for non-transposing instruments. Affects Bb/F Tenorbass and Bb/F/Gb/D Bass Trombones, Euphonium, Baritone, and BBb, Eb and F Tubas. How to Use: Pick a written note (touch the staff) and have the fingering displayed and concert pitch played. Touch a button and reveal the note on the piano. Play a concert pitch on the piano, and have that pitch's fingering displayed. Touch a button and reveal the transposed note written on the staff. • If there are alternate fingerings available for a note or trill, a button will allow you to navigate through them. • Use the 'Play Note' or 'Play Trill' button to repeatedly hear what's being displayed. • Use the mute button to access the fingerings without hearing the pitches. Selecting a Pitch: Using the Staff (transposed for the current instrument): Simply touch and slide up and down on the staff to select the note, slide to the right or left of the note for sharps and flats. Using the Piano (concert pitch): drag in the area below the keyboard to move the keyboard, touch to play notes, touch & slide to change the pitch. When you glissando up the keyboard, notes will be notated as a raised value (sharps), when you glissando down, notes will be notated as lowered values (flats). Use the up and down arrows to move chromatically up and down without touching the music staff or piano keyboard.
Beam Music
Easily import, organize, and annotate music files for ensembles. Share access and collaborate with section leaders. Live Mode synchronizes music across all devices instantly without internet.
- Import PDFs from cloud storage and local files
- Edit and crop music pages
- Annotate with pencil, highlighter, and text tools
- Collaborative notes for section leaders
- Real-time music synchronization via Live Mode
- Organize music into collections and set lists
- Backup music library
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IMPORT AND ASSIGN FILES WITH EASE - Import PDFs from Dropbox, Google Drive, and Local Storage - Assign full files or single pages - Crop, cut, and edit parts - Give edit access to student leaders ANNOTATE YOUR MUSIC - Pencil tool: Draw on the music - Highlighter: Mark key areas - Text tool: Add important notes - Shared notes: Section leaders can add notes for the entire section STAY IN SYNC WITH LIVE MODE Activate Live Mode to automatically connect everyone in the ensemble to your device. When you select a piece of music, everyone’s individual parts for that song are instantly displayed on their personal device. All without the need for internet. ORGANIZE YOUR LIBRARY - Create a collection of songs - Add songs to a set list in a specific order - Add the duration of the song - Back up your library with Beam Backup
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Fingering at 85% against Beam Music's 36%. Fingering also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and chart position (#194 vs unranked). Beam Music's advantage is price (Free vs $4.99) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 7 months). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Beam Music is free to download; Fingering costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Fingering holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 157 and 306 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Fingering's written reviews are positive against 36% of Beam Music's.
Fingering ships an update every 7 months, Beam Music every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | Fingering | Beam Music |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (157 ratings) — better | 4.4 (306 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.8% of reviews — better | 36.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 157 | 306 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #194 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 183 MB | 159 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Patrick Q. Kelly | Ultimate Drill Book |
Customer experience
Fingering
Beam Music
User reviews
Fingering
From 157 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great resource for musicians
- 👍 Helpful for music educators
- 👍 Comprehensive fingering information
- 👍 Useful for alternate fingerings and trills
- 👍 Well-designed and easy to use
Room to improve
- 🐛 Some fingerings are incorrect or missing
- 🐛 No sound for selected instruments
- 🐛 High battery drain
- 🐛 Dark mode difficult to read
- 🐛 Missing fingerings for specific instruments/ranges
Beam Music
From 306 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📱 Centralized music library in one app
- 🎵 Convenient for marching band use
- ✍️ Annotation and note-taking features
- 📋 Setlist functionality for quick song switching
- 🔄 Live mode for synchronized performance
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing
- ⏱️ Severe lag and unresponsiveness
- 🔋 Excessive battery drain (40-90% per hour)
- 🌡️ Phone overheating during use
- 📝 Annotations randomly disappear or delete
Bugs and requests
Fingering
Reported bugs
6 issues- Contra fingerings are wrong after E natural
- Huge battery drain
- Cannot hear saxophone sounds, only piano
- No sound at all
- Sound not working
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- No sound
Requested features
10 requests- Option to switch to light mode
- Create own fingering option with notes
- Fix piccolo fingering chart
- Incorporate extended range fingerings
- Add recorder charts (Baroque and German)
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Option to see pitch rather than concert pitch
- Include more alternate woodwind fingerings
- Add Eb and F tuba fingerings
- Allow user to choose between transposed or concert pitch display
- Allow user to choose between sounding or muting displayed notes
Beam Music
Reported bugs
14 issues- App crashes constantly, especially when needed
- Lag makes page turning and note-taking difficult
- Annotations disappear after using live mode
- Zoom level resets when orientation changes
- Portrait mode activates unexpectedly
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Notes from other songs appear randomly
- Search feature fails to work reliably
- Music fails to load when switching between pieces
- Auto-download feature doesn't work
- App becomes unresponsive with frozen screen
- Battery drains excessively fast
- Phone overheats during rehearsal
- Annotations won't save, erase, or stick properly
- Screenshot returns white page instead of music
Requested features
12 requests- Horizontal page lock (like FlipFolder)
- Ability to save zoom level with vertical scrolling
- Live session annotation capability
- Auto-select correct part for user
- Mass select parts instead of individual selection
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Highlighter tool for dynamics
- White pen/eraser for marking corrections
- Screenshot capability for backup
- Access to music files in Files app
- Rotation lock that maintains landscape orientation
- Better customization options
- Improved search functionality
In-app purchases
Fingering
No in-app purchases
Beam Music
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Fingering free?
Is Beam Music free?
Which has better reviews, Fingering or Beam Music?
Do Fingering or Beam Music have ads?
Which is updated more often, Fingering or Beam Music?
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