John Drake

I wrote this Java code to help me learn to read music

It doesn't have a main() function, but the code can be run from most Java IDEs (or from another class) by running "ClefPractice.Practice();".

It prints out, in text, a musical staff and presents a note somewhere on it. The user's goal is to correctly identify the note.

Code:

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class ClefPractice
{
  public static void Practice()
  {
    Practice("treble");	//run this to start practice
  }
  
  public static void Practice (String clef)
  {
    String notes = "cdefgabcdefgab";	//string of note names to index from
    String input = "";	//where user input will go
    Scanner inscan = new Scanner(System.in);	//this will scan in user input
    boolean istreble = true;	//trebleclef or bassclef?  only trebleclef is implemented now
    Random rand = new Random();	//this is for picking random notes from the "notes" string above
    int note = rand.nextInt(13);	//more of the random stuff

String type = " ";
    String output = "";
    boolean previous = true;	//keeps track of whether or not the person guessed correctly on the previous trial

if (!clef.equals("treble"))
    {
      istreble = false;
    }
    
    if (istreble)
    {
      while (!input.equals("x"))
      {
        type = " ";
        
	//only if the person guessed correctly will a new note be chosen
        if (previous)
        {
          note = rand.nextInt(13);
        }
        
        //print out some information
        System.out.println("Below is a staff in treble clef with a random note.");
        System.out.println("In the input box below it, enter the letter of the note.");
        System.out.println("To exit, enter 'x' instead of the note's letter.");

//construct and print out the staff
        output = "";
        for (int i = 12; i >= 0; i--)
        {
          if (type.equals(" "))
            type = "=";
          else
            type = " ";
          
          if ((i > 1) && (i < 11))
          {
          }
          else
          {
            output += "      ";
          }
          
          for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++)
          {
            output += type;
          }
          
          if (note == i)
          {
            if (previous)
              output += "(())";
            else
              output += "((X))";
          }

if ((i > 1) && (i < 11))
          {
            for (int j = 0; j < 80; j++)
            {
              output += type;
            }
          }
          else
          {
            for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++)
            {
              output += type;
            }
          }
          output += "\n";
        }
	//let the user know if they were right or wrong
        if (previous)
        {
          output += "\nCORRECT CORRECT CORRECT CORRECT CORRECT CORRECT CORRECT CORRECT CORRECT \n";
        }
        else
        {
          output += "\nWRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG \n";
        }

//after constructing what to print out, print it all out at once (faster)
        System.out.println(output);

//get user input
        input = inscan.next();
        if (notes.charAt(note) == input.charAt(0))
        {
          previous = true;
        }
        else
        {
          previous = false;
        }
      }
      inscan.close();	//clean up the scanner
    }
  }
}