Tenuto vs Note Rush
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tenuto
Enhance your musicality with a comprehensive suite of 24 customizable theory exercises and six essential musical calculators. Practice note and chord identification, ear training, and construct musical elements. Tools include accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices.
- 24 customizable theory exercises
- Note and chord identification
- Ear training for intervals and scales
- Musical construction exercises
- Accidental calculator
- Interval calculator
- Chord calculator
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Tenuto is a collection of 24 highly-customizable exercises designed to enhance your musicality. From recognizing chords on a keyboard to identifying intervals by ear, it has an exercise for you. Tenuto also includes six musical calculators for accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices. A short description of the exercises and calculators follows. –––––– • Note Identification • Key Signature Identification • Interval Identification • Scale Identification • Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the written staff line. For example: if shown a C, E, and G with a sharp; tap the "Augmented Triad" button. –––––– • Note Construction • Key Signature Construction • Interval Construction • Scale Construction • Chord Construction Construct the specified label by moving notes and/or adding accidentals. For example: if shown a C and an "Augmented 4th" label, move the second note to F and add a sharp. –––––– • Keyboard Reverse Identification Tap the piano key corresponding to the written note on the staff. While similar to Note Identification, this exercise uses a piano keyboard rather than note name buttons. • Keyboard Note Identification • Keyboard Interval Identification • Keyboard Scale Identification • Keyboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the highlighted piano key(s). If the C and G keys are highlighted, tap the "P5" (Perfect 5th) button. –––––– • Fretboard Note Identification • Fretboard Interval Identification • Fretboard Scale Identification • Fretboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the marked fretboard position(s). If the 2nd fret of the D string is marked, tap the "E" button. –––––– • Keyboard Ear Training • Note Ear Training Listen to the played reference and question notes. Select the piano key or note button corresponding to the question note. • Interval Ear Training • Scale Ear Training • Chord Ear Training Tap the button corresponding to the played notes. If E and F are played, tap the "Minor 2nd" button. –––––– • Accidental Calculator Display the accidental for a note and key. • Interval Calculator Display the interval for a note, type, and key. • Chord Calculator Display the scale for a tonic and scale type. • Chord Calculator Display the chord for a note, type, and key. • Analysis Calculator Display the chord for a symbol and key. • Matrix Calculator Display the twelve-tone matrix for a specified tone row.
Note Rush
This app helps users improve their music note reading speed and accuracy by listening to them play notes on their instrument. It offers customizable levels, fun themes, and a unique landmark-based learning system for effective practice.
- Interactive note identification
- Real instrument feedback
- Customizable note sets
- Preset and custom levels
- Landmark-based learning system
- Fun and traditional themes
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Learn to Read Music with Note Rush! Note Rush boosts your note reading speed and accuracy, building a strong mental model of where each written note is on your instrument. Now even better with Note Rush: 2nd Edition! How it Works --------------------------- Note Rush is like a virtual flash card deck for all ages that listens to you play each note, giving instant feedback and awarding stars based on speed and accuracy of note identification. Race against the clock to improve your performance or hide the timer to gently engage those just starting out with the staff. Includes built-in levels for piano and a range of other instruments as well as custom level design. What makes Note Rush Different? --------------------------- - Play On Your Instrument Note reading is best learnt in the context of how you identify and play each note - on your acoustic or MIDI instrument. - Designed for Teachers ...and not as a replacement for them! Create fully customizable note sets and easily send them home to students. - Fun Themes Engage with fun themes that don't get in the way of learning, or opt for traditional notation. Landmarks: The best way to learn your notes --------------------------- Note Rush fits with all teaching methods, whether you favor a purely intervallic approach or use traditional mnemonics! We promote learning key landmark notes then reading adjacent notes intervallically for the best results in learning to read piano notation. Note Rush features a unique landmarks-based hints system (optional) that highlights nearby landmark notes to read intervallically from. Over time students naturally move from reliance on landmarks to a more intrinsic staff-to-keyboard association. Preset and Custom Levels --------------------------- Use preset note ranges or create your own set of levels to suit your teaching style. Create a personalized level to target a particular student’s needs. - Individual Note Selections - Sharps and Flats - Treble, Bass or Grand Staff (alto and tenor coming soon) - Up to Six Ledger Lines - Send custom note reading drills using App Links or QR Codes
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Tenuto at 4.7 against Note Rush's 4.3. Tenuto also leads on price ($4.99 vs $8.99) and review sentiment (94% vs 78%). Note Rush's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (2.4K vs 667). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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
Tenuto costs $4.99 and Note Rush $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Tenuto holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 667 and 2.4K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of Tenuto's written reviews are positive against 78% of Note Rush's.
Tenuto ships an update every 3 months, Note Rush every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Tenuto | Note Rush |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $8.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (667 ratings) — better | 4.3 (2.4K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 94.1% of reviews — better | 78.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 667 | 2.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #9 — better | #39 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.8 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 279 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | musictheory.net | Thomas Grayston |
Customer experience
Tenuto
Note Rush
User reviews
Tenuto
From 667 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Essential for musicians
- 👍 Great app
- 👍 Perfect app
- 👍 Wonderful app
- 👍 Highly recommend
Room to improve
- 🐛 Wrong billing
- 🐛 Piano tone is so bad
- 🐛 Not good
- 🐛 Great but buggy
- 🐛 All sounds stopped working
Note Rush
From 2.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and helpful for learning notes
- 🎓 Improves note reading skills
- 🎨 Engaging themes and visuals
- 🎹 Works with various instruments
- 💰 Good value for the price
Room to improve
- 🐛 Note recognition issues, especially with certain notes
- ⏱️ Timed sessions too short
- 🔊 Needs louder volume to be recognized
- 🔒 Limited customization options
Bugs and requests
Tenuto
Reported bugs
5 issues- Sound cuts out
- Unresponsive at times
- Freezes up
- Doesn't work well for guitar
- Incorrect chord/key associations
Requested features
20 requests- Cadences and inversions for ear training
- Chord progressions for ear training
- Melodic and harmonic minor modes for scale recognition
- 6th, 9th, 11th and 13th chord extensions for chord recognition
- Melodic dictation
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- Rhythm exercises
- Fretboard reverse identification
- Chord inversions for chord identification
- Scales written on staff using various clefs
- Rhythm, melodic, and harmonic dictation exercises
- Part writing exercises
- Exercises for form, cadences, etc.
- MIDI support
- Autoplay function
- Ability to input notes/chords on fretboard
- Chord progression ear training
- Inversion options for chord and interval identification
- Melodic and harmonic minor scale identification
- Extended chord identification
- Rhythmic dictation
Note Rush
Reported bugs
3 issues- App freezes or crashes occasionally
- Note recognition fails even with correct input
- Compatibility issues with certain devices
Requested features
5 requests- Add key signatures and accidentals
- Increase number of customizable note sets
- Include more ledger lines
- Add option to disable time penalties
- Allow saving of individual student profiles
In-app purchases
Tenuto
No in-app purchases
Note Rush
No in-app purchases









