PIANUMERO
Falling notes
Falling notes turn rhythm into something you can see: each note falls onto the key that plays it, and the longer the bar, the longer you hold the key. On Pianumero, every song has them, free, in your browser.
In numbers, a dash for each long note: 1 1 5 5 6 6 5— 4 4 3 3 2 2 1—
How to play with falling notes
- Open any song and press 🌧 Falling notes (Pianumero remembers it on your device).
- Press ▶ Listen: the notes fall in time with the music, and sound as they land.
- Press 🎹 Play it: play each note as it lands on its key. The fall waits for you if you are not there yet.
- Hold the long ones: keep the key down until the whole bar has gone into it. Let go too soon and the bar fades.
- Too fast? Lower the Speed slider. On a phone, ⛶ Full screen gives the notes more room.
Why falling notes come after numbers
Numbers answer one question: which key? Falling notes answer the next two: when? and for how long? They show when each note comes and how long to hold it, long notes and short notes included, before you ever read a quarter note. In Play it the fall waits for you, so you learn the notes and their lengths; then follow the music with ▶ Listen to keep the beat. A good order is: play a song with the numbers until you know it, then once more with falling notes.
Falling notes, piano rolls and sheet music
Music has been written this way for well over a century. Player pianos, popular around 1900, played from paper rolls punched with holes: one hole per note, long holes for long notes, in the place of each key. Computer music programs still call that view a piano roll, and the falling-note videos on YouTube are a piano roll turned upright. Sheet music says the same thing with symbols: time flows from left to right instead of from top to bottom, and a note's shape (whole, half, quarter) gives its length.
Free falling-notes songs to try
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star · Ode to Joy · Happy Birthday · Für Elise · Canon in D · Amazing Grace
Each link opens the song with falling notes already on. Want the numbers first? Read how the numbers work.
Falling notes: questions
Is there a free falling notes piano online?
Yes. On Pianumero every song has a Falling notes button: the notes fall onto the keys in your browser, on a phone, a tablet or a computer. It is free, with no download and no account.
Do I need a keyboard or a MIDI piano?
No. Tap the keys on the screen, or press the numbers on a computer keyboard. Pianumero does not read a MIDI keyboard yet: with a real piano, play along on it while the notes fall on the screen.
Can I slow the falling notes down?
Yes. The Speed slider under the keys goes from half speed to 130 %. In Play it, the fall also waits at each note until you play it.
Is Pianumero a free alternative to Synthesia?
For playing songs with falling notes in a browser, yes: Pianumero is free, with no download and no account, and the fall waits for you at each note. It does not read a MIDI keyboard or MIDI files yet, and its songs are easy one-hand arrangements of public-domain tunes.
What do the long bars mean?
How long to hold the key. A bar twice as long is a note twice as long: keep the key down until the whole bar has gone into it.
More guides
How piano numbers work
What 1 means, why key numbers are not finger numbers, what numbers teach and what they don't, and how to move on to letters.
Do Re Mi or C D E?
The same seven white keys have different names around the world: letters, do re mi, the German H, and where they come from.
Piano letter notes
How to read a song written in letters (E E F G…): the seven letters, sharps and flats, which octave, and what letters leave out.
Where is middle C?
Find middle C (C4) on any piano or keyboard, 88, 76, 61 or 49 keys, and why so many songs start around it.
Piano keys labeled
Every key named: the white and black keys of one octave, how many keys each keyboard has, and how the pattern repeats.
Written by Loïc Berthod, who makes Pianumero.