The magical piano can look like an imposing instrument.  That is because beginning pianists associate learning to play the piano with hours of structure and discipline.  Well, there is good news for today’s beginning piano players.  Everything you need to learn to play the piano can be found online.  There’s more good news!  Say goodbye to hours of inconvenient practice time and those stodgy old disciplinarians.  Today’s piano students learn to play with organized software and DVD curriculums that can be learned in the comfort of your own home and can be practiced as much and as often as you like on a schedule of your choosing.  How’s that for convenience and flexibility.

Players of all experience levels are invited to join the fun of the online learning experience.  Most beginning piano lessons will start with instruction about learning to form scales, piano chords. Arpeggios, modes for the piano notes on the treble and bass and simple chord progressions.  After the first two lessons, which students can re-visit whenever and wherever they please, that imposing piano will no longer look imposing.  In fact, your online instructors, software, piano DVD courses and supporting materials will have you felling very positive and excited about your new musical instrument.

The most important lessons in any beginning piano lesson curriculum are the first two lessons.  By learning to play the piano scales and then by learning the piano chords, the rest of the lessons and the piano playing experience will take meaningful shape.

Remember that with online piano courses, your rehearsal studio and all the support you need are available 24/7.  What a change!  No more grueling cram sessions trying to get ready for the next lesson.  Re-start the previous lesson, keep re-working the scales and chords as often as you like and watch the video instructors show you how to play.  Then you are ready fro lesson three.  Now, learning the piano is not a laborious undertaking, it is a fun and exciting experience that is loaded with potential.

Your online learning experience will be rewarding and fun, just the way you envisioned it should be.  No more grueling hours playing single notes and then waiting for more direction.  Learn at your own pace and your own speed.  You will have a solid musical foundation before you know it and much quicker than with a private instructor.  If your goal is to have a hands-on, affordable piano learning experience, what are you waiting for?

Shop for your beginning piano lessons like you do for just about everything else.  Go online and learn the 21st century way to play the piano.  You’ll be glad you did.

Piano Lessons DVDs are the best and easiest way to learn to play the piano. Right away, students learn to read the music, develop a musical ear and become familiar with the chords. Almost immediately, new students sit at the piano, learn to move their hands over the keyboard while gaining an understanding of the pedals. Instead of being intimidated by the learning process, DVDs embrace the novice providing meaningful instruction and important feedback necessary to keep the learning fun and motivational.

Make no mistake about it. Piano lesson DVDs are fun, flexible and stress-free. Acclaimed instructors speak plainly about their craft. They teach the way they wish they had been taught. The presentations are thorough, in plain language and designed for steady progress. Students can move at their own pace where they do not feel the pressure of keeping up with a class or with their teacher.

Everyone can learn to play the piano. That is why these DVD courses are so popular. The well structured lessons enable the student to go from beginner to expert in an organized manner. Student can rehearse as often and as long as they want.

When the student is ready they can play along with complimentary CDs featuring real bands playing popular tunes. This is valuable experience and a fun exercise. Each time the student jams with the band, they will hear their progress and learn popular hits along the way. In no time, students can sit at any piano bench and bring music to every room.

A great advantage of play piano DVDs is the interactive monitoring system that evaluates strengths and weaknesses at the end of each session. The program actually analyzes the student’s progress and issues a complete report. This allows the student to know just how far they have progressed. Students can rehearse the lessons as many times as needed.

Your DVDs are ready when you are. Any day, any night, your teacher is just a click away. And, what great teachers they are! These courses offer expert instruction from famous pianists who know how to teach. Students will be amazed at the diversity of their instruction. Pop tunes, standards, classics and oldies but goodies are there for the taking. Soon family and friends will be enjoying your newly acquired skills.

There are also DVD piano lessons for children. These specifically designed programs excite young players. Instead of dreading classes with a private piano teacher, children will be anxious for their practice time. There’s no peer pressure here. Learning the piano with DVDs is a personal experience.

Most “learn piano” DVD courses come with free on-line support and informational printed booklets that serve as handy reference materials. The free member web sites are especially worthwhile. Students can go online and chat with other students, ask questions and get answers and get interesting feedback.

Piano lessons should enthuse and encourage the students. The quick hands-on experience brings the piano right to the student. The user-friendly, well-prepared presentations make for an unforgettable and positive trip from novice to expert. Take the Piano Lesson DVD journey and bring piano warmth to your household.

Installation of Play Piano was straightforward and automatic; a piano teacher or parent could easily do the installation without help or exceptional knowledge of computers. Midisoft technical support was wonderful in solving some minor problems (see below) with the operation of the program. Since we did not tell tech support that we were reviewing the software, it seems likely that the average user of Play Piano would get similarly helpful treatment.

When you start Play Piano for the first time, it logs you in as a new user and asks for the length of any previous piano study you may have had. Play Piano then adjusts its exercises for the level of previous knowledge and experience. Some might find their skills above or below the level at which the program feels the user should be playing; in this case, the user can adjust the experience level to one more appropriate to their skills.

Once the one-time only tasks are completed, a nice graphic of an upright piano is presented on the screen where you can choose from classical or rock/pop music pieces, study theory, and view recommended pieces for the level of playing, all the music on the program, or the piece of music in progress. Play Piano uses an “exploration” approach, in which you choose which piece to study, learn the theory, learn the piece, or practice in any order that makes sense to you. When learning or practicing a piece of music, the bottom of the window displays “magic hands” to show you the correct fingering and hand placement for each song. The notes to be played are highlighted in a lime green and help to train the student in good sight reading skills like looking ahead to the next note or two while playing. “Over the shoulder” video clips of a professional pianist performing a specific piece of music provide good visual feedback for technique. If the practice session or learning session has gone well, a gentle voice from your computer speakers will congratulate you on your good work; if it hasn’t gone so well, the voice will instruct you to look at the music on the screen and call attention to the work needed in red highlighted areas.

The goal of playing the piece in its entirety at full speed is attained through pedagogically sound tools and ideas. Familiarization of the user with the ideas of slow, hands separate, phrase by phrase practice, as well as with correct musical terms of dynamics, form, and structure is well-developed in Play Piano. The voice from the speakers lets the student know exactly what is going to happen; right hand only without metronome, or right hand only with metronome. The idea of learning music slowly, hands separately, without the metronome, and then adding the metronome at a slow speed and gradually building up the speed is a wonderful and good idea. Would that more students would consistently learn a piece of music and practice it this way. The piece of music is usually learned one phrase at a time and basically no slack is cut for mistakes. If wrong notes are played or counted incorrectly, the program will show the user via a red box the areas that need more work, and then have the student repeat it again. If the same mistakes occur, the software will advise him to go to the theory lessons for the particular piece of music and work with the theory lessons, until they are under control. The theory lessons are pedagogically sound, and the user can either use them in direct conjunction with the particular piece of music, or independently. The gentle voice is very supportive and will gladly congratulate you on a phrase well played and then tell you to try the phrase again, before getting it faster or adding the metronome. The idea of correct repetition is a powerful tool as well as support for the correct practice skills that the student needs to use, but often fails to learn.

The pieces of music for study range from classical to popular. One criticism of the repertoire is that some of the classics were simplified and/or modified and the student is not taught the exact notes that the composer originally intended. We would have preferred that the actual music as written be used in all cases. Aside from the arrangements or simplifications of classical piano repertoire, the only other thing this reviewer could find fault with was the sensitivity of Play Piano to user impatience. If we did not wait until the completion of the analysis of the playing and went ahead and clicked on the NEXT button, the system would often freeze necessitating a total reboot. Once technical support informed us that this was the problem, we simply waited for the analysis to finish and had no further system freeze-ups.

Play Piano is appropriate for the studio and home, and if used at home is a great support system for good practice skills instilled at the lesson. BecausePlay Piano provides so much freedom to explore while learning, we feel that an older child, age 12 and up, or adults would benefit most from this program. Most 8 year olds in my studio would not have the self discipline to go through the program without parental and/or teaching supervision. You can view a summary of Play Piano and see some screen shots at Midisoft’s Web site. If you’re an adult student or an adult willing to spend time at the computer with your young children, then you should consider Play Piano.