About ToneSavvy

The online ToneSavvy exercises are free to anyone who wants to hone their music skills.

Teachers who want to design customized assignments for their students and track scores and their students' progress can subscribe for a low fee — view the details on the pricing page.

ToneSavvy is run by David Crane and Rob Whelan. David Crane is the original developer of TonedEar, while Rob Whelan is the original developer of eMusicTheory. These two music theory sites were merged to create ToneSavvy.

About David

I learned most of what I know about music through the internet, which has proven repeatedly to be a valuable resource for studying music. Still, when it came to ear training, I couldn't find any websites offering exactly what I was looking for, so I created a handful of ear training exercises in 2014. I made these available for free on TonedEar.com, where they grew pretty popular.

In 2015, Rob contacted me about updating the eMusicTheory drills to the format of TonedEar so that they could be accessible from modern devices, like smartphones and tablets. Together we worked to merge the sites into ToneSavvy.com.

I am originally from Connecticut and currently live in New York City, where I work to make ToneSavvy as good as it can be.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at dave@tonesavvy.com or use our contact form.

About Rob

I studied music (and of course music theory) and computer science in college, then launched a career as a software engineer. I've worked on some big projects with lots of developers (even won a Beacon Award from IBM once!). eMusicTheory is a spare-time project that grew gradually to become my main job for a few years.

eMusicTheory started as "Java Music Theory", a few drills online for the Hamilton College music department back in 1997.

Currently I'm the CTO at a fiery little startup based in Cambridge, UK called Patients Know Best — we give healthcare organizations a secure way to let their patients see their records, and share them as they see fit with other professionals, carers or family.

I go through life with my wife (novelist Preeta Samarasan), our lovely daughters Rumika (born in 2009) and Juniali (2012), and Bella the dog. We've lived in a few different parts of the USA, and now we're in a former post office in central France, where we're sort of centrally located to our immediate family members, who live in New York, Portland and Boston in the US, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Geel in Belgium....

Fortunately, I work entirely online, so all I need is an internet connection! eMusicTheory is also still an American venture, regardless of where I am in the world.

For those curious about my musical interests: my focus in college was voice performance (bass) and composition, plus a bit of classical guitar and electronic music. I also played viola for about 7 years through junior high and high school, though those skills are pretty rusty now! Nowadays, music is still a huge part of my everyday life — I always have a guitar nearby, I write little songs for my daughters by the dozen, and when we travel I often come home with a new instrument (oud, sitar, didgeridoo) — but I'm not currently performing or recording. Current favorite genre: Django Reinhardt-style jazz, and (season-permitting) singing Xmas carols in minor keys.