Duolingo teams up with Sony Music to add popular tracks to its Music course

Tracks include songs from Hozier, Pharrell Williams, Meghan Trainor, P!nk, and Whitney Houston

Learning music has positive effects on the brain, including reinforcing language skills, improving reading ability, and strengthing memory and attention. That's part of the reason why language-learning app Duolingo began offering courses in music last year, allowing its users to learn music literacy, including reading and identifying notes, and playing familiar songs. 

To start, however, the selection of music being offered to learn from were songs in the public domain, such as “Pop Goes the Weasel” and “Clair de Lune,” so not exactly the most exciting or current selection. Now, thanks to a new partnership with Sony Music, which it announced on Thursday, Duolingo will be able to bring popular tracks to its Music course that will be more exciting for its users. 

That includes more than 60 recordings from Sony Music artists such as Dove Cameron, Hozier, Pharrell Williams, Meghan Trainor, P!nk, and Whitney Houston.

Free learners can play each song up to three times, for a maximum of 30 seconds per play, while Super Duolingo learners will have unlimited access to popular songs, and can replay these tunes as often as they want. However, users can't just automatically skip ahead to their favorite artists; rather, Duolingo selects the song that appears on each section of the Music path to make sure the song is relevant to the notes and skills that person is learning. That means, in orderto skip ahead to a new unit with new songs, they have to complete a quick test of their skills.

Currently, the feature is available to eligible learners using an iOS device in English, Spanish, French, and German.

In Duolingo's Music course, users learn rhythm, note names and where notes are located on a piano, how to put sounds together in order to play a familiar son, how to read music and “translate” what they see or hear, and how to train their ear to distinguish notes and different soundsm such as high versus low notes.

They do their by accessing an on-screen keyboard, where they learn by finding notes on the keyboard and then on a staff. Throughout a lesson users gain playing, sight reading, and listening skills, ultimately getting to play full-length songs.

By integrating popular songs into the lesson experience, Duolingo says that its aim is to "enhance learning retention and comprehension while making learning to read and play music more delightful for millions of learners worldwide."

“Partnering with Duolingo gives us the opportunity to bring our artists’ music to a new platform that promotes learning and cultural exchange,” Jessica Shaw, Senior Vice President, Sync Licensing at Sony Music, said in a statement.

“Music has the power to unite and inspire, and this partnership will help learners engage with music education in a meaningful and enjoyable way.”

(Image source: blog.duolingo.com)