In his book "Elementary Training for Musicians", Paul Hindemith wrote that dictation is just as important as sight reading, ear training, etc. A neglected activity when it comes to learning music. He should know: a celebrated composer and teacher who famously played every instrument in the orchestra! So I've been meaning to get better at dictation ever since I read this but there are hardly any self-service tools, are there? I've also been meaning to create one such tool. So there we are, it's live!

Try the rhythmic dictation at sightread.org/?rhythm-dictation

To support dictation in addition to sight reading, SightRead.org now introduces multiple practice modes called quests. Click the logo to switch between quests:

Currently available quests

• Rhythm Reading: See notation, play/clap the rhythm. This is the default.
• Rhythmic Dictation: Hear a rhythm, identify it, notate it on your own piece of music paper. This is the new quest.

Rhythmic dictation

Initially the notation is hidden. Only empty measures are visible:

Press Play (or space bar) to hear the rhythm. Listen as many times as you need. When you're ready, press the Reveal button (or hit R) to see the answer:

Dictation exercises have no rests or ties, that'd be confusing, right?

Settings

Settings (tempo, time signature, level) carry over when switching quests. The settings are pretty much the same, only some are missing: those that control ties and rests. And the mixing of multiple time signatures is out too. Too hard, I think. But do let me know if I'm wrong.

Happy sight reading, errr... listening and notating! 👀