Half Notes began as the official blog of AheadWithMusic.com, the home of NoteCard 3 and other elementary music education software by Nick Sullivan. It continues in that role but now also serves as the primary news outlet of AhaCentral.com, the umbrella site for Nick’s company, AHA! Software. The blog features news about our site and our products, and an occasional word or two about relevant developments in science, current events, and such else as takes our fancy. With regard to AheadWithMusic.com in particular, Half Notes includes in its general grist all matters relating to the acquisition of the elementary skills needed by musicians. A particular area of interest is the use of computer programs for focused and efficient drill in areas where human judgement is not required to provide feedback. Our flagship AheadWithMusic.com product, NoteCard 3, exemplifies these themes with regard to note-reading — a purely rote skill that is nevertheless an important foundation for the broader task of full music-reading, just as knowledge of the alphabet is a foundation for the reading of text.