Learning to play the piano means sitting at the piano 3 hours a day for the rest of your life playing slowly and accurately.

That is because no-one ever does. We all jump around from method to method, in hopes of getting that "best" way to learn.

The problem is ... there is no "best" way .... only different.

I have PianoForAll and it is fine. If you do everything he suggests, you will end up being a very good player.

BTW ... most courses are like that. If you do what they tell you to do you get pretty good at playing the piano.

>> Can anyone name an online course that has turned them into a very good player?

It is an interesting question. Let me preface my comments by saying that I have no dog in this hunt. I can see pros and cons, though I would not be a buyer of the course.

I think a good analogy is the exercise equipment advertised on TV. The TV spot makes it look so easy, the actors look great, that's why people buy. Most people that buy, use the equipment a few times and then it dawns on them the hard work needed to get significant results. Most buyers give it up without getting full use out of the equipment. The courses aren't all that different.

Like the exercise equipment, or even method books for that matter, a dedicated person will get some value out of it. I'd guess that 1% or maybe 0.1% get what might considered full value out of their purchase of TV advertised exercise equipment. However, let's not make it a federal case. The cost of the program in this thread is the same or less than most spend on a single lesson from a teacher. It isn't that big a deal either way in this case, though there are other much more expensive options out there.

The scenario painted by some, of learning only from a method book, and sitting at the bench for hours would make me give up from boredom and despair. That kind of regimen isn't for me. I prefer audio and video, as well as paper notation. Again, I would not be a buyer of the course.

Different people learn in different ways. I am sure many customers feel they got their $40 (or whatever the price is) of value out of their purchase. To expect one purchase to turn out a very good musician is a bit much.

Another analogy, I bought the book, The Musician's Way. I feel like I got my purchase price worth of value out of it, even though the book is aimed at college level music majors vs. hobbyist musicians like myself. No one expects that a single book, no matter how good, would vault me into being a very good musician. The Musician's Way book helped me in small ways, at the margins. I would guess that many people that bought the course mentioned here, and did a few lessons from it, may feel similar. That they got their money's worth out of it, but it only helped here and there.

Yet another analogy, if a person pays to go to a master's class, or a week at a music retreat, they don't expect that class, or a week, to vault to them to a much higher level. That doesn't mean those classes or retreats aren't worth the money. The attendees may find one, two, or ten tips or observations or experiences that help them on their journey.

I agree


These online courses I view just like any other book of music etc.

I read and watched the vids of the first 40 odd pages of Pianoforall in bed last night on my ipad. I learnt something that's probably very obvious to most people, but that one thing made something click into place.

I have learnt to read music over the past year and can sight read Alfreds Book 1 quite well, many at the proper speed first go. I always struggle remembering the notes when it goes above the treble staff or below the bass staff.

But I saw a particular diagram in Pianoforall last night that made it snapped into my mind that 2 lines above the treble cleff and two lines below the bass is C.

Seeing it there just made it go ping in my brain and I will never forget it and that will make my whole sight reading and music reading skills much easier in the future.

I now know instantly that the line below the bass staff is E as it's one line above the C etc.

Sure I've learnt the usual rhymes to remember the notes, but the sudden realisation about those two C's has made me realise that the bass cleff staff lines are the same notes as the treble cleff only one line down, so if something is on the bottom line of the bass, that would be the same as being on the next line up on the treble cleff, hence its a G. I'm not saying that's an ideal way to read music of course, I'm saying it's useful to know if ever my mind goes blank.

Most of the first 40 odd pages I knew already, but that one little snippit is a superb thing that Alfreds hadn't managed to display/teach in a way that worked for me to remember.

That was the only thing new I learnt from the first 40 pages, but the start of the book is aimed at beginners hence this is to be expected and I have often experienced the same thing with some very good programming books when I learnt to program many moons ago. The first few chapters told me things I already knew, but were worth reading because the odd snippet of information gave me a tip on programming I might not have realised all those other times.

I know some first class piano players that have a ton of different music books. They don't buy each book and work through it from start to end, they buy them when they catch their eye, some might not get open for months, a few not ever, others get dipped into for certain tunes etc

I know my piano playing has improved 10 fold due to the help of PlayPianoToday. It's not going to teach me to become a classical concert pianist but that's the last thing I want to be anyway.

It's little ideas that help with experimentation and improvisation. For example PlayPianoToday getting me to play say the chord of c as a broken chord but playing it as follows

C2, G2, E3

meaning I'm playing the third in the octave higher. Just that simple little thing gave me hours of experimental pleasure and watching them do it really helped too.

So yes I do think these courses are worth it if you don't think your going to be a concert pianist at the end of them.

If I reach a point where the course is not advanced enough or I'm into another course for different tips, so what, I've easily got my monies worth.

Both these courses added together cost around the same as one of my sons new released Xbox 360 games cost. And for that I have books on blues, books on gospel, books on chords, books on ballads etc.

I'm only a day into pianoforall and already its been worth it for my sight/music reading reading.

I'm a few months into PlayPianoToday and I don't regret buying it in the slightest and yes I can say with 100% certainty it has really helped improve my playing.

But, if your the sort of person that likes a traditional tutor, the traditional classical pieces etc, chances are it wont be for you.

best

Joe

EdwardianPiano,
I think the CD is just a data CD that contains the pdf's and quicktime files. It's for people with slow or nonexistent internet connections who don't want to be bothered downloading the files.

Warm Regards

I would get the cd in order to put it on my desktop and laptop. Can you download the files more than one time to different machines?

I think Robin now has the videos on mp4, for iPad. They play on most computers, at least I've been able to play them on any of my computers, as well as in my TV. If you have the VLC media player, you can play them. VLC plays almost any format.

Actually I once encoded the quicktime videos to both divx-avi and mp4, among other things to be able to play them in my DVD player and plug them into the USB port on the TV. However the quality is rather poor, so they don't display well on large screens.

Thank you sinophilia for hipping me to it!

We should consider making a Piano For All support thread, if there are enough people who are going through the course.

Count me in!
I recently purchased this although I have not gotten very far in it yet.

I completely agree! sinophilia is hip in my book. She is a voice of reason on these forums.