In a previous article I have discussed the best methods for teaching children to play the piano. It discusses a number of electronic products that can be downloaded or purchased from the Internet. On the whole, they are designed to teach and develop keyboard skills in an entertaining and amusing way.
With children the question “Why do you want to learn the piano?” doesn’t arise - it’s because your parents want you to. For adults, the situation is very much more complex. It could be for any number of reasons. A long-held yearning to produce music, to (ultimately) make money as a musician, to help you understand and enjoy music more, to join a band or orchestra, to assist your children - the list goes on.
Now, it will come as no surprise that the best method to learn the piano depends on what you want tot do with the skill once you’ve acquired it. If you are interested in learning about musical notation and understanding how Western music has developed and how it works then, of all the downloadable products available on the Internet, I’d recommend Rocket Piano by Ruth Searle. Rocket Piano is a complete course in piano playing, starting at the absolute beginning, including the history of the pianoforte and its construction. Through a succession of highly readable ebooks you can work your way up to a fairly advanced level. The package includes a very useful book of fingering exercises. These are essential for all players (but mysteriously absent from many courses), especially so if you’re getting on in years and your fingers aren’t as nimble as they used to be. If you can work at Rocket Piano on a daily basis for somewhere between six and twelve months you should be able to call yourself an accomplished player at the end.
If however, you’re keen to get going with bashing out a tune on demand and aren’t particularly interested in musical notation, then one of the visual/audio methods will probably be more suitable for you. You can learn the piano very quickly with these. The current two top-selling products in this category are “Piano by Pattern” by Albert Edge and “Instrument Master” by Greg Evans. Although they are different in appearance they work in essentially the same way - using graphics of animated keyboards with colored keys to indicate which keys you press to create the notes you hear. If you are the type of person that learns better by this sort of visual approach, then these products will suit you. Some people are happy to take at face value what they are taught, provided it made sense, while others need to question everything and have a full understanding at one level before moving on to the next level. Whichever type you are there are online products available for you.
The big advantage of the eBook or online lesson approach is that you can hear the music as it s supposed to be played. This can be an enormous help to the beginner who, without the benefit of an example to emulate can find themselves floundering and struggling to produce the right melody at the right tempo.
Having decided on the best method to learn piano for you, the next issue you need to address is practice. And that is what the next article is all about.
John Richards has been learning the piano recently and trying a number of different products - see what he thinks at Best Buy Product Reviews
Tags: learn piano, piano, piano tuition
