Recently, while studying for my upcoming Grade 2 music theory examination, I started looking for free, open-source flashcards software programs to use for studying musical terms. (Contrary to popular belief, there’s plenty of good free software out there.) I looked at command-line applications, Linux GUI applications, Windows GUI applications–nothing. So I decided to write my own. I started writing a backend, first in C#, then in Python, then in C# again. I started working on Windows UI mockups. Then, in the midst of it all, I discovered Anki.
Strange name, I know, but it’s great software. Anki epitomizes everything good free software is – it’s fast, reliable, easy to use, cross-platform; it even has a really good-looking UI. Although designed for language vocabulary practice (with a focus on Japanese, a language I will probably never learn), it works just fine for anything.
Anki doesn’t limit you to having cards with just fronts and backs. You can have complicated cards with one front and numerous backs; for instance, a verb and its conjugations. Neither does it limit you to plain text: you can input formatted text, pictures, audio; even mathematical equations, with practice. One thing I would like would be the ability to input musical notation, preferably using Lilypond notation. It’s easy to input flashcards quickly into Anki; I was able to type 120 cards, front and back, in about half an hour, on a laptop keyboard.
The software’s practice interface is equally good. You can customize the formatting used to display the cards on the screen, but the default looks good enough that such action is unnecessary. You can grade how difficult the card was on a scale of one to five; the software will schedule the next appearance of the card based on your selection. This method, the Leitner Flash Card System, ensures that you get the most practice on the cards you find most difficult.
I remember hearing once that the computer platform with the most software written for it was the Commodore 64; but these days, that’s somewhat hard to believe, considering how much software has been written for Windows. Yes, there is much in the way of useless free software out there these days, but there are gems to be found, and Anki is one of them. I highly recommend this software.
