Micro Maestro brings music alive - makes practice a pleasure and performances real!

Micro Maestro has been designed to put the fun back into music. As experienced musicians ourselves, we know how it feels to practise in the old-fashioned way, alone in your room with nothing but a music-stand and silent sheet music for company. We don't claim that Micro Maestro contains any magic formula - if you're learning a musical instrument, it won't make you a virtuoso overnight, because there's no substitute for practising.

That's why we've made the program as flexible and instructive as possible. With its unique ability to 'scroll' the music onto the screen of your micro, together with the wide range of practice aids it offers, you'll discover that practising your instrument will be transformed into an exciting and rewarding experience - and your technique will quickly improve too.

But practising and perfecting your instrumental skill is pointless unless you can perform - which is why we provide you with a separate audio cassette containing exclusive professionally-recorded backing tracks of the tunes you've been practising. Now you become the soloist in a realistic and exciting performance. Micro Maestro brings music alive for you, and helps you to become the skilled musician you want to be.

Before using Micro Maestro, we recommend that you read the operating instructions carefuly - only then will you be confident that you are using all the facilities that it offers.

We hope that Micro Maestro will give you hours of entertainment, and help you to fulfil your musical ambitions.

Loading
On side one of the program cassette, you'll find the operating system followed by the data for Ghostbusters, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Chariots Of Fire.

On side two of the program cassette, you'll find the operating system followed by the data for Superman, Dress You Up and HELLO.

Keyboard Instruments
How to use the Micro Maestro program
Your computer has now automatically loaded the first song.

To familiarise yourself with the way Micro Maestro works, we suggest you start by looking at the music.

Press 3 to "View Music". You are now seeing Page One. Press the right arrow key to view forward through the song. You will notice that the bars of the music are numbered. Press BREAK to return to the menu.

Press 4 to "Play Music". To start/stop, press SPACE. Press BREAK to return to the menu.

Press 2 to obtain "Practice Aids". Press Y for Yes, N for No. The options appear in the following order:

VOLUME ON?
Listening is an essential part of playing a musical instrument. The computer plays the melody line, and this will help you to learn the tunes. When you feel confident enough to play the music on your own, turn the volume off.

BEAT COUNTER ON?
This provides you with a visual reference to the number of beats in a bar, and the relationship of the rhythm groupings to the beat of the bar.

BOUNCING BALL?
The Bouncing Ball indicates precisely the notes to be played. In the early stages you will find this very helpful - no danger of losing your place. When you are familiar with the tunes you can turn the Bouncing Ball off.

CHANGE TEMPO?
When you are learning the tunes you can adjust the tempo - start off by playing slowly, and gradually build up to the correct tempo.

Press 5 to "Play Section". Type in the bar number/s you want.

You may have difficulty playing a particular bar or section of a tune - now you can pick out and practise those parts.

At any tempo setting below 45, graphics of the keyboard will appear on screen, together with suggestions for fingering. The fingers of the right hand are numbered from the thumb 1-2-3-4-5. The appropriate finger number will appear on the note you should play in the correct time.

How to select song
From the menu, press 1. The list of songs will appear. Choose your song and press the number alongside. The word "Searching" will appear. Press the Play button on your cassette player. When the data for the song has been located the word "Loading" will appear. This takes about one minute. When the song is loaded, the main menu will re-appear: Press STOP on your cassette player.

The three songs on each side are identified by a simple code: S1, S2, S3.

You may find it helpful to use the tape position counter on your cassette player to make a note of the locations of the tunes on the cassette.