A local piano shop teaches the chord method also called ez play. Group lessons. Im studying from Alfreds adult books, but would like to explore other methods as well. Ive read posts about piano magic, but dont really understand how they teach, and Ive searched the web and found rocket piano, and others like it. Anyone with personal experiences with any of these please reply and give me an idea of how they teach, what you have learned and what I could expect to be able to play after 6 months, a year, ect. I still plan to continue with alfreds as I want to be able to read, but I also want to get up and playing stuff too. Thanks

Are you interested in improvisation? If so, you may want to check out my site. It teachers beginning adults how to play piano in the New Age style. Go to http://www.quiescencemusic.com for more information.

Well, there are gobs of threads already on PianoMagic, but I'll do a quick once-over for you.

The sole goal of PianoMagic is to teach the ability to play tunes that you know well enough to hum them all the way through without requiring sheet music or fakebooks. In other words, how to play-by-ear.

In order to play-by-ear well, without years of trial and error plunking, you need to know the theory behind where chords come from and their relationship to melody and rhythm. PM teaches that.

You're taken step by step from what to do with your hands, to how to figure out the melody to the tune that you can hum, to how to force a tune into a desired key. Initially, you're restricted to a single key, (C-major), and you're restricted from songs that are in a minor key and are too complex. Your first batch of songs that you can play by ear are going to be folk songs, children's songs, and some holiday songs.

The fee is currently $189 for the first year and renewals are about half that, (although Mike is always running participatory deals where you can earn free months). There are NO additional materials that need to be purchased. All you need is a piano or keyboard with a sustain pedal and a desire to learn how to play pop, jazz, blues, gospel, etc. by ear. Ideally, you'll want to have a keyboard that can record midi files for submission, but that can wait a while if all you have is an acoustic.

If you're curious to hear what PM students sound like, there is a link on the PM website to a bunch of videos that were taken last September in London. None of the students had more than two years with the program. Also, the recent piano recital here in the AB forum had six participants who are PM students. Only two of them, (Balladeer and Seaside), had more than two years with the program and most, like me, have only been with it a few months.

Does that help?

Oh, I'm never comfortable "name-dropping" in these matters. At this point in the discussion, I'll stick with this: I've been teaching myself for about three years. That means I've purchased locally quite a few "method" books, and several pieces of sheet music (including the online download-it-now type).

In addition, I've tried materials or complete courses from four differnt "online" sites.

At this point, I'm merely waiting to get back to work to get the money to sign-up at PianoMagic.

Mike Anderson (of PianoMagic) certainly comes highly recommended from many good people here. I've listened to the music played by some of students (links are in another thread), watched the videos mentioned in the previous post. That's the best testimony to his ability as a teacher.

But mostly my decision comes after having had the chance to talk to Mr. Anderson on the phone this past weekend. His passion and sincerity can't be hidden. But his real gift, as I see it and as I told him, is that of teaching. In the two hours we talked, we made many of the things I've read, studied, and practiced from other methods finally make sense. His gift is helping others to have that "light" go on.

This isn't to say the other methods and other teachers are great. They are. And I'm not at all trying to downplay how much I did indeed learn. It's only that I've hit that plateau (or valley, depending upon your point of view) and I'm not making the progress that *I* think I should, that I know I'm capable of. When a person looks for a "teacher," it's that indefinable "something" that just "clicks" that lets you know it's the right choice.

Sorry for rambling. But after a couple-decades of teaching Karate, I've seen first-hand how important that "something" is between student and teacher. Three people can say and teach the same thing, but it'll make sense to any given individual ONLY from one particular person.

Best of luck with your playing!

Edward (quiescen), I checked out your site and the style is great! I'm looking forward to when I'll have time to sign up and add your stuff to my pianistic toolbox. Alas, folk, rock and roll, and some jazz are first in line for me.

That new-agey style has some big fans around here in the AB forum.