Here are some nice comments from Scott Houston, the host of the TV program "The Piano Guy" that can be seen nationwide on public television stations. Check your local listings so you can check out his show, it's great!
A very helpful device for beginners
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I am fortunate to have been made aware of a really clever, helpful device called a PianoMate that a fellow named Bob Hulcher developed to help beginning piano players get started in a very short amount of time. It is unique in that it will work with ANY kind of keyboard, be it a piano, digital piano, synthesizer, whatever... It literally just sits on top of your keys back away from your fingers. It has little lights that turn on over whatever key needs to be played at the appropriate time. There are 2 groups of my subscribers that I think will really benefit from this tool as it applies to playing piano using lead sheets like we espouse. 1) Those of you who are at a beginning level that are struggling to "connect the dots" between reading melody lines and figuring out where and when those notes fall on your keyboard. As you learn to read some simple melody lines in the included songbooks, the lights guide you and coach you along to confirm you are playing the right notes. It's a great way to build confidence while working alone on your melody line note reading skills. 2) Those of you that are having a tough time memorizing chord positions. There is a chord book that works with the PianoMate to drill through different chord families. To see the lights appear above the notes in a chord, I think, really helps "cement" the location and shape of a chord by giving you such visual feedback And , you are playing beautiful music while you continue learning.. I'll save time here because I can't really do it justice trying to describe it as well as you can see for yourself at their website: I encourage you to take a look and see if it is something that may interest you! |
