Jaunty staves
Begun 1 November 2026, updated for Day 2 · Built with Claude
A sketch pad for music. Lay a staff down at any angle, put notes on it, write round them, then circle a phrase to hear it.
How it hears what you wrote
Nothing here reads handwriting. A staff is a ruler: each note is measured by how far along the staff it sits and how high, in the staff's own frame, so a tilted staff plays exactly as a level one would. What a mark looks like never matters. A small pen dot on a staff is measured the same way, so it plays when you circle it; anything bigger, such as a slur, a stem or a sharp, stays ink.
How it plays
Circled notes play in order on a steady pulse. Turn on Spacing as time and distance along the staff becomes time instead. Either way the phrase swells towards its middle and lingers at its ends, and louder notes are brighter. Notes stacked in one place sound together. One loop round two staves starts them together; separate loops play one after another, in the order you drew them.
Limits, for now
Treble clef, with B on the middle line. Sharps, flats and note values are ink and don't change the sound. Made for the iPad and Pencil: once the Pencil has touched the sheet, a resting palm is ignored. Your sheet is kept in this browser only.
Changes
- Day 2, 2 November: pen dots on a staff play; spacing as time is a switch, off by default; separate loops play in turn.
- Day 1, 1 November: staves at any angle, notes that snap and move, pen ink, and circling to play.