One of the best things about this program that I can see is that it has a large library of videos that you can watch to play what the teacher has written on the page. He will show you slowly how to make each chord or note and where it is on the keyboard, in case you forget.
I’ve seen these kinds of tutorials on YouTube before and thought they were a great idea. Every video in this program is meant to be watched at piano for all incredible new way to learn piano certain time during your learning. So, when you start learning the blues progression in book 2, you can follow along with the teacher so you don’t get lost.
One problem with this feature is that your computer might not be in front of your piano. You can easily follow along with the videos if you can get your piano close to your computer or use a laptop.
So just keep that in mind.
Since we’ve already used book 3 as an example for this review, I wanted to point out that it has some tips and tricks that you might not find anywhere else. I can’t say for sure, but I’ve been teaching for a long time and know my methods, so it’s always interesting to learn new ones.
Let me give you an example. In one video, the teacher shows a simple way to remember how to shape both major and minor triads in their root position. Except for the B chords, the root and fifth notes of every other chord are on the same color keys.
So, C minor is made up of C and G. In C# minor, the black keys are C# and G#, and so on.
There are a lot of things like this on this show that you might not see anywhere else.
I think it’s a great idea to use both audio and video to turn a virtual experience into a visual lesson with a strong message. I think the Piano for All course has a lot of really interesting ideas and methods, and there are many ways in which this program looks very promising.
Why I like Piano for All
I think a lot of teachers don’t realize how important it is to hammer chords into the minds of their students. When teaching culture, people usually focus on the melody, which is the right hand. I think this is because many teachers want their students to feel like they’re doing well, and most people with untrained ears can only hear melodies and tend to ignore chords.
So, the right hand is used more than the left hand. For the first few months of teaching, the left hand is kind of left out. Students who are more comfortable writing with their right hand tend to prefer the right hand as well.
You can’t really avoid using your left hand with this program. Right away, there is a lot of focus on how to play rhythm piano, which is very unusual for a course on how to teach. Also, the left hand is used a lot when playing rhythm piano.
Because of this, I could see a lot of students using their left hands better than their traditional counterparts. And I’m very grateful for that. I think it’s important to treat both hands the same, because in the long run, it will only help the student.
In book 2, the teacher says right away that the left hand should be practiced much more than the right. He knows that most people tend to be better at what they do with their right hand, so he doesn’t worry about it. It’s a smart way to deal with the problem.
This focus on chords can only help students in the real world. Even if they’re not playing hard jazz, pianists in bands need to know their chords. This method can help students read the charts that bandleaders give them and, more importantly, play by ear, which is very important.
Real teachers don’t always find it easy to use both audio and video at the same time. This is a great addition to the course and will help a lot. The Piano for All website says that there are ten hours of audio and video, which, when you think about it, is a lot. That’s the same as 20 lessons of 30 minutes from a real teacher.
Last but not least, I like that this program is very cheap. People could easily pay $300 for this, but for $40, what you get is really quite amazing.
