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I had posted a similar list of links in an earlier computer assisted learning thread that might also be worth a look.
Computer assisted learning

The "insufficient demand" idea opens up a new line of thought. Is it that, or a failure of teachers of all kinds to really understand what adults want from music lessons?

In my case, I want to play the songs that I like, even if its "easy arrangements." But at the same time, even for EZ, I don't want to just get the notes right. That's why I like having at least some feedback from a teacher who can provide feedback about the nuances of the song I'm playing and my performance.

It sounds like you and probably many more adults are in that frame of mine when it comes to lessons... I just don't see a lot of teachers or methods or online sites looking to fulfill that demand.

I believe there are not many adults taking up the piano. I'll not speculate here on why that may be so, but I have my theories. In any case, few students= no teachers.

When I bought my piano, about 2½ years ago, the store owner said, now you have a good piano, but you're going to have a problem finding a teacher. And, he is located in a city, while I live in a semi-rural area. At the time, I thought he was kidding me, but now I see he was right.

Very interesting....

My experience has been that if you show a piano teacher the money ... they will find a spot for you.

Most published arrangements of any kind in this genre are poor at best. It is good what you are doing to compensate.



If you have a box account, you could load it there, or anywhere on the world wide web and link to it.



I do not. My Father taught adults only. Later in life is often when people want to learn. It is a tough go for the Teachers too. Particularly if that is all they do. You've heard about starving artists, yes? Many Teachers do it on the side so is not a lot for them. I suspect this factors heavily into it.

I don't know... here's some statistics pulled from a New York Times article: "In 2011, 41,000 [pianos] were sold, along with 120,000 digital pianos and 1.1 million keyboards, according to Music Trades magazine." That's a lot of piano-like items going out into homes all over.

What that tells me is that, yes, the market for traditional lessons is probably shrinking. But it also seems that market for newer approaches is probably largely untapped.

That's where the online seems to be really starting to develop. There are all sorts of methods and systems and schools developing online. That's where the future of instruction is for most adults. One of the problems is the vast number of choices... for awhile, I'd really like one site, only to find a site a few weeks that seemed to better suit my wants... only to find another site a few weeks later... etc.

Anyway, that's my take on the world.

What sites have you tried?

If any PW members are interested in any of the beginner arrangements I have put together for my own purposes, PM me with your email address and I'll send you a PDF. (I don't think this violates any copyrights). They are true two-handed melody/accompaniments and not right-hand melody/left-hand chord format. Fingerings are not shown on them because I worked those out during practicing, and they're individual, anyway. Here's what I currently have:

Misty, by Erroll Gardner

The Entertainer, by Scott Joplin

Summer of '42 (theme from the movie)

Wonderland by Night, by Klauss Gunter-Neuman (This is an oldie performed by the Bert Kaempfert orchestra, with a killer trumpet solo, but it sounds good on piano, too)

Stardust, by Hoagy Carmichael

Laura (theme from the movie)

Satin Doll, by Duke Ellington

Besame Mucho, by Consuelo Velazquez

Can't claim to be able to play all of these as yet, but I did spend ample time at the piano on each arrangement to come up with something playable (with practice) by a beginner, yet still interesting.

I'm hesitant to name the sites because I don't want to imply they're bad just because they didn't work for me... actually, I think most of them could be very useful after I get some necessary (for me) background in piano.

To give sort of an example, I bought a DVD set of Scott Houston's "Play Piano in a Flash" system -- right hand melody and left hand chords. I have a 1200 song fake book, and I'd love to use Scott's methods to open to a random page and play whatever's there. And there will come a time when those DVDs are valuable to me... they just don't work as a starting point.

Anyhow, the two sites I like right now are Piano Marvel and artistworks.com.

Piano Marvel seems to me mostly a way of "getting the notes right." Certainly that's a valuable skill to have at the piano. But if Piano Marvel is useful for learning things like dynamics, expressiveness and overall musicianship, I haven't found that part.

I've mentioned artistworks up topic, and -- so far -- I still think they're really the cutting edge of online instruction. I don't really want to be their salesman just yet... but here's an article from the Boston Globe that neatly sums up the overall artistworks concept (it's not entirely about aw, though... http://www.boston.com/ae/music/arti...usic_students_learn_from_experts_online/
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/10/business/la-fi-ct-artistworks-20120110
Another interesting article...

I've used this site for learning to relate notation to the keyboard. Notice that the display can be configured to show the grand staff.

http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/keyboard-reverse

I am somewhat skeptical of promises of quick results. I think practice along with guidance, from books, teachers, websites, or a combination, is the way to learn. And, of course, not all teaching methods are in agreement on technique. There are no credentials required to call yourself an authority!

That's one of the impressive things about artistworks.com. Hugh Sung, the popular piano teacher, graduated from the Curtis Institute... and was a piano professor there for 19 years. And credentials like that seem true of all the schools... for instance...

William Caballero, the French Horn teacher, is not only Principal Horn for the Pittsburgh Symphony, he also chairs the brass department at Carnegie Mellon School of Music.

Having interactive access to teachers like these... for between $35 to $15 a month... that's where the online thing is going.