Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner - Non Classical Piano Magic - Michael Anderson

Okay, I have a confession to make!!!

I got curious and I signed up and took Piano Magic!!! Yes I did!
I have to say, I was most impressed! & no, I wasn't paid to promote this "Piano Magic" by Michael Anderson!

I have 13 years of classical piano lessons (took theory & history & practical exams up to Grade 10) and I also took 6 years of piano lesson from 4 piano bar/casino piano players/teachers, and I am also a piano teacher.

Anyways, I can sight read sheet music, and was taught never to deviate from the written music, but I have to say, this program has shaken up my thinking on playing! and I have to say, this Piano Magic course has got me thinking in a new direction. It really is Magic!

I'm off to practice now! So many choices so much to think about! But a fun way to play the piano for sure!! I honestly have to say, that this program really is Magic! Wish I had found it sooner!

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=900WpyhgP1M[/video]

Shouldn't this be in Adult Beginner's Section ?

How long have you been doing the program ? Could you elaborate more on the method ?

I have heard from other users here that the method involves harmonising simple melodies first.

If you're "AG" over at PM welcome aboard again! It's been somewhat quiet over there, but when Mike get's back, it'll start humming along again big time.

Pop

I think Michael Anderson in his "Piano Magic" just awakened the idea of "LISTENING" to my playing (not just reading the sheet music of someone elses interpretation).

He gives a lot of left hand ideas as well as right hand ideas, which I hadn't thought of before. His playing sounds "FULLER"! And I think he AWAKENED the idea in me that I am not to just settle with the written music, but to take a chance to experiment with sounds (practice) and make it much much FULLER by LISTENING!

I often heard from amazing improvising piano players to LISTEN. Listen to what??? Now I understand what they were trying to tell me!

I'm just curious where Mike has been?

I signed up, but really didn't see much activity over there at all...
I feel like I got ripped off...

Well, I contacted Michael Anderson by telephone. I explained my music history and told him I was curious about his program. It was only $189 for A WHOLE YEAR! (I have paid $189 & up PER MONTH for piano lessons. So his price was fair enough to satisfy my curiousity!!!

Anyways, Piano Magic - Michael Anderson, also has a forum for members only, too that you can chat with other members, share piano pieces, or just listen to others video posts. But my main focus was on watching\studying only Michael Anderson's videos lessons.

Maybe "rerun" knows if Michael is just away for Christmas holiday. But I do remember "rerun" saying it was quiet, but won't be once Michael returns.

Hey Steven, like PW here, there are probably many members over at PM who don't post or seldom do, it kinda comes and goes. Mike has a long time friend who ended up in a dire condition in the hospital and he's spent a lot of his time helping out with that.

He gigs a lot, plays at church and I believe he's choir director too. He popped in the other day to make some comments but everyone I think is looking forward again to the times when he's in there many times a day. He's a hoot to work with ... got a great sense of humor, he just had a rough road the past few months. Some of us are trying to give something back over there by helping him out because we were so pathetic before finding the place, take me for example.

Ok. Thanks for filling me in Rerun.
I appreciate it.

Well, Seaside Lee finally turned himself in over at PianoMagic ... hopefully will jump into some of the threads over here too.

Some people you just can't help liking the heck out of ... Lee is one of them; click:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I01NxeRevTI&feature=youtu.be

Wow, there was a blast from the past Speaking of someone who had a bit of a rough patch. Thanks so much for posting that, Rerun, and say hello to him for me.

Cathy

Done.

Methinks he'll be dropping in here too shortly.

I've been doing PM for about 4 months now after seeing some references to it elsewhere on PianoWorld.
It's working for me--I wanted to play by ear, and now I can actually play simple tunes with melody, chords (I IV V), and rhythm without music. And not just tunes I've "studied"; if I'm reminded of a tune I can sing, I can just play it. Well, maybe a false start or two, but after a few tries I'll get the whole tune without consulting any sheet music. So I say it works.

Mike's approach is a bit unorthodox--his "chickenfoot" LH handshape would make a classical piano teacher cringe--but if you've played enough to control your fingers independently you can throw away the crutch. For RH, he starts with a single finger, but you can graduate to octaves if you wish. One advantage of his approach is you integrate pedaling right away! The net effect is you start out moving your whole hand to follow the sound, instead of being glued to a five-finger position for a year.

I must say I've resisted some of his approaches at first, but after stumbling along my own way, I've found doing it his way actually does work better. Of course I haven't seen everything that's out there, but I would say Mike is a genuine original genius!

Steve Hazel:
Glad to see you here--and there. I understand Mike's had family issues but has been more active of late-don't give up yet.

And I'd love to interest you in adapting PianoCheetah for ear training exercises!

A note about the "chicken foot" position. Mike's thinking on this would be that it is an advanced position allowing one to easily play extended chords (9ths, 11ths, 13ths) with the left hand; a position one would eventually have to use anyway.

Mike is a genius at chord theory, and his teaching includes tritone subs, quartals, whole note scales, etc. He also teaches a variety of styles including pop, blues, gospel, country, etc. The real advantage of Pianomagic is that it's interactive, you can post anything you wish, and Mike and other members will all offer their insights.

A note about Seaside Lee. He's a favorite among PMMO players, and responsible for recruiting many to the site. He would tell you himself that when he began to play, he could not even find the melody line. He's an example of someone who started from scratch, and now plays beautiful sounds!

Like Diane, Rerun, and others before me, I highly recommend Piano Magic!

Play On!
H.K.

Rerun, thanks for posting the Seaside Lee video. He sounds even better now than I remembered a few years ago and he sounded great then.

Lee, pop on over to the ABF and say hi. We'd all love to hear how things are going with you. Your greatly missed over there.

S-H

Mr S-H!!!!!!!


Will do


Lee

Lee recently posted a beautiful rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" over at Pianomagic. Perhaps we can get him to post it here! Lee?

Play On!
H.K.

Hi H.K.

It's already been posted a few posts above in this thread by Rerun

But more importantly Mr Super hunky reposted the link over where it should be in "Adult Beginners" in my "Hi All" message

Lee

I have tried Pianomagic back in 2006-7..to be honest,I haven't used any of the techniques he taught...

I will highly highly recommend Quaverbox ..I have all of their lessons 1-12 (bought lessons 1 to 10 as a package) ..for $49 ($39 if you don't want the book which I also didn't opt for),you just cannot go wrong...


He has changed the way I think about improvisation ..Also,check out his youtube channel(quaverbox or something)..

Just so you know,I have absolutely no affiliation with the site..

This is great! Love it. Thank you. Have fun playing. Mary