Piano Lessons

A longtime player in music education CD-ROMs, eMedia now combines their Piano & Keyboard Method software with a unique piece of hardware: a MIDI piano keyboard. Featuring 49 full-size keys, this compact keyboard easily connects to your Windows or Mac PC, enabling you to play the keyboard through your computer’s speakers while following the CD-ROM’s lessons. It’s a great solution for those who dream of becoming the next Horowitz, but don’t have room for a grand piano to learn on.

[MIDI, which stands for musical instrument digital interface and is pronounced "middy," is a code standard that works like digital sheet music. It enables electronic musical instruments to communicate with each other and with personal computers via cables.]

The MIDI keyboard plugs into the joystick port on a Windows-based PC desktop, and a joystick port cable is included. (If you don’t have a joystick port and have an available PCI slot, you can contact eMedia to acquire a sound card with a joystick port.) For a PC laptop or Mac (on which we tested this keyboard), you’ll need an optional USB interface adapter. Once we installed and opened the Piano & Keyboard Method application, we plugged the keyboard into our Mac via the USB adapter and started immediately banging on keys like a three-year old, eliciting a cacophony of discordant notes via our computer speakers. They keyboard was working just fine.

In our younger days, we were compelled to take piano lessons and thus had a vague recollection of reading music notes. For novice players, though, eMedia does a good job with explaining the fundamentals of the keyboard, notes, and time signatures.

Each lesson is accompanied by one or several multimedia helpers, including video of the instructor and audio playback with animated on-screen notes to show what key should be played (and when). After you go through several lessons, you’ll get quizzed on what you’ve learned (we first grumbled at this, but then realized it was an important step to retaining the information we just went through).

If you want instant gratification at conquering the keyboard, you may be disappointed. It does take awhile to get to the first lessons involving the MIDI keyboard, but remember that you do need a solid understanding of piano fundamentals. You can play along with an animated keyboard, which was very helpful (especially if following the notes is initially confusing). When finished with the task, a popup box gives you a percentage score (based on hitting the right notes in the proper time signature). You can then check to see where you made mistakes and re-do the task to get 100 percent.

Just like your old piano lessons, don’t expect to learn everything in a day. There are 316 lessons to master, ranging from baby steps (Mary Had a Little Lamb and the Old Gray Mare) to semi-advanced (Bach’s Minuet in G or Elton John’s Candle in the Wind).

As you advance through the curriculum, you can play back the lessons at variable speeds (using an onscreen slider) as well as have the ability to change the sound of the MIDI keyboard to a variety of sounds (from grand piano and clavinet to synthesizer sounds that revive the 80s). Other advanced software options include a metronome (for tracking your keyboard rhythm) and a recorder so that your computer can record your playing through its internal microphone (which is helpful for fine-tuning your skills as you progress).

The eMedia Piano & Keyboard Pack is a seamless combination of software and hardware tools that will go a long way toward getting you to basic piano playing skills. Due to its reliance on individual motivation, we recommend it for older teens and adults (as younger children will definitely benefit from live instruction). –Agen G.N. Schmitz

Pros:

• Keyboard is easy to install and begin playing
• Well structured lessons, great for beginners or those returning to the piano
• Variety of helpful audio and video aids

Cons:

• Self motivation will be needed for progress and practice (best for mature learners)
• Requires optional hardware for PC laptops and Macs

What’s in The Box MIDI controller keyboard, eMedia Piano & Keyboard Method CD-ROM, MIDI to joystick port cable

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