Plain answers, written by the people who built it.

No. Create a free account for five instrument lessons and five music theory lessons. They stay yours with no countdown. You only pay if you add an instrument or exam package later.

You keep the five instrument and five theory lessons with saved progress. To continue the curriculum you add an instrument package ($15 a month or $150 a year per learner), exam preparation ($25 a month or $250 a year) including full published question banks. Tools, charts, guides, and printables stay free without a subscription.

No. Canceling a paid package ends that package after the paid period. Free starter lessons and free tools remain.

Yes. Pause billing for 30 days and keep access while you reset your routine. Open Packages in your account to pause or cancel.

Arco is a practice companion and interactive workbook for violin, viola, cello, and double bass players of all ages. That includes school and college musicians, private students, adult beginners, returning players, and parents setting up learners at home.

Violin, viola, cello, and double bass each have a complete curriculum, from open strings through vibrato. Instrument-specific topics include Simandl fingering for bass and alto clef for viola. A shared music theory track works alongside every instrument.

The theory curriculum only needs your eyes and ears. For technique, bowing, and intonation lessons, you will want your instrument in the room. Arco will wait patiently if you are still finding one.

Yes, and in fact especially. The curriculum is designed for people who've never held a bow, for school orchestra students in their first or second year, and for players returning after a long absence. It assumes intelligence, not knowledge.

Yes. Arco is built to supplement private lessons and school orchestra, not to replace them. Use the visual theory and short daily sessions between lesson days, bring compositions to your teacher, and show them the progress ledger.

Yes. One account, as many learners as you need. Switch who's practising, and optionally give a learner their own login. Packages are bought per learner, so each child can have the instrument or exam package that fits.

Yes. The synchronized staff, keyboard, and fingerboard views are designed to make intervals, key signatures, and chord construction more concrete by showing how the same idea connects across all three views.

Arco is an interactive workbook. You read, play, write, and listen. Instead of watching a video pass by, you work directly with the music. Touch the staff and the keyboard responds. Move on the fingerboard and the staff follows.

Yes. Violin, viola, cello, and double bass each use their own recorded multisample set, with separate sustained, pizzicato, and short-bow layers. Nearby pitches are produced from the closest recorded root, with an instrument-specific room and tone profile.

Arco does not record your playing. Practice rooms never upload audio of your instrument. Evidence comes from things like tap timing and quiz answers. Technique Gym progress is self-attested. Model playback uses our recorded samples, not a capture of you. The optional tuner uses the microphone on your device only when you start it.

Yes. Keep PDFs in your score library. Paid plans can turn selected pages into editable notation with AI transcription. Everyone can import MusicXML for free, including files exported from MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale, or Dorico.

The $25 exam package includes planning, weekly tracking, and full published original question banks for ABRSM Practical, Trinity Face-to-face, and RCM Certificate grades 1–5 on your instrument. Scores measure those published questions only. Arco is not an official board paper bank.

A=440 and A=442 out of the box. A=415 is available in Settings for those working through baroque repertoire. Adjusting the reference retunes the playback engine accordingly.

Yes. Open Packages in your account to cancel an individual package. You keep that package's access until its paid period ends; other packages are unchanged. Existing original plans remain managed in Billing.

Yes. If something feels wrong within your first two weeks, whether the product was not what you expected or a charge was made by mistake, write to us and we will gladly help with a refund.

Yes, completely. The Composition Studio exports MusicXML and MIDI, and its print view is ready to save as a clean PDF. You can open the files in standard notation apps or keep an archival score. You can delete your account whenever you like; backups are kept for thirty days, then fully removed.

Yes. Each instrument costs $15 a month per learner. Exam preparation, including full published question banks, is $25 a month. Annual billing includes two months free. Add packages to the same account and cancel each independently.

No, and it does not try to. A teacher watches you play and corrects physical technique, including bow hold, posture, and left-hand tension, that Arco does not assess. Arco structures the time between lessons, keeps theory moving, and gives you a practice record to bring back. Arco has not measured whether using both improves learning outcomes.

No. The theory track starts at the musical alphabet and the staff, assuming nothing, and the instrument curricula introduce reading alongside technique. If you have never read a note, you are exactly who the first modules were written for.

The tuner, metronome, curriculum contents, glossary, guides, printable library, and selected exercises are free. None of them needs an account. A free account also includes five instrument lessons and five music theory lessons with saved progress. MusicXML import into the score library is free; AI transcription of PDF pages is a paid-plan feature.

The site already works on phones and tablets. Lessons, the interactive note views, practice tools, and the composition studio adapt to smaller screens. A native mobile app is planned for the future.