Double tenor, F to Bb. Tap the pans to play. Everything below lights up on your pans.
Music has 12 different notes, then they repeat higher up. Next-door notes are a half step apart (like F to F#). Two half steps make a whole step (F to G).
Your double tenor splits the 12 notes between the two pans:
Each pan holds 6 of the 12 notes. Each note comes back smaller and higher on the same pan: big F, smaller F, smallest F.
The pans are traced from your double tenor chart. Tap Fix notes to see each note's octave (F3 is your lowest F), or to change one. It remembers.
A scale is the set of notes a tune "lives in". A major scale sounds happy and settled; a minor scale sounds sad or serious.
Every major scale uses the same pattern of steps from its first note (the root, the note that feels like home):
W W H W W W H
W = whole step, H = half step. Start on any note, follow the pattern, and you've got that note's major scale.
When you compose by ear, you're already picking notes from a scale. Tap the notes of one of your tunes in Find my key and it'll tell you which one.
A chord is 3 or more notes played together (or rolled, like you do on pan). The basic chord takes notes 1, 3 and 5 of a scale: start on a note, skip one, take one, skip one, take one.
Some chords sit completely on one pan, which makes them easy to roll:
Every other chord crosses both pans. The Chords page shows you exactly where.
Musicians name chords by their position in the key, so a tune can move to any key. In C major: C is I (one), F is IV (four), G is V (five).
Capital letters = major chords, small letters = minor (ii, iii, vi). I, IV and V carry most calypso, soca and pop songs. Try them in Progressions.
These chords all fit the key. Tap one to hear it and see it on your pans.
Common chord patterns. Tap one to hear it played in your key. Chords are rolled like a pan player would.
Tap the notes your tune uses on the pans above (they turn purple). The more notes you add, the better the guess. Tap again to remove one.
Record one soft hit of each note. Your recordings replace the generic sound everywhere (Pan app and dashboard). On the phone, use the Pan app or the Dashboard app, not a web browser.
Quiet room, phone 30–50 cm from the pans. Tap Record, hit the note once straight away, and let it ring. Orange = next note, green = recorded. Tap any note on the pans to pick it.
Tap the notes you're playing together (any order, any octave). It tells you what chord that is.