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Joined: Sep 2015
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Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. My 6 year old son started piano lessons 6 months ago. He has recently finished with the Ecklund Piano Pronto Keyboard Kickoff and Prelude books. I was wondering if there are any good piano learning apps he can use on the IPad that could supplement his piano playing journey? It would not replace his teacher, of course, but allow him to get better with learning his notes, sight reading, etc. Thank you so much!
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Joined: Jan 2015
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Check out Piano Maestro by Joytunes. Great app. They also have two simpler apps Dustbuster and Simply Piano.
The Piano Maestro app has method exercises from Piano Pronto so your child can review and go on from there.
We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams.
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Joined: Jan 2015
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+1 on Piano Maestro. Start is free, you only have to decide on paying after a couple of chapters. I use it, my daughter uses it sometimes. Both in addition to teacher.
Kawai CN35. Daughter wanted a piano, so we got one. Now who'll learn faster? ;-)
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Joined: Oct 2013
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Generative/improvisatory composition apps - Bloom HD - Sound Prism - Sound Drop Rhythm Tapping games that help with feeling the beat and rhythm - RC 2 - Cytus - Deemo - Groovecoaster - Give it up! Sight Singing /Aural Skills - SingSmash (seriously awesome application!) Sight reading - Piano Maestro Note Identification - Staff Wars That should be a good list to get started. I do blog a little about games for my masters research so you can read my blog if you feel like it.
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Joined: Jan 2015
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Rebecca, thanks for that, I'll look into those.
On Piano Maestro, we now have a subscription. They keep adding material, e.g. just added Czerny, which our piano teacher also uses.
Also tried SimplyPiano (also by JoyTunes) and that has a cool function over Piano Maestro where, when you have accumulated too many errors, it jumps back a couple of seconds, so that you work through where you have issues most.
Kawai CN35. Daughter wanted a piano, so we got one. Now who'll learn faster? ;-)
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Joined: Jan 2015
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The wife did dig out her old guitar. Our piano teacher re-stringed it and said: you now have to tune it twice a day until it is stable. So I got a guitar tuner app. Digged around a bit and found that the same guys have a guitar AND piano learning app called Yousician.
Starts "lower" than Piano Maestro, as in even without staff notation at the start. But also allows you to take tests to jump forward in the curriculum.
A couple of minutes free every day, if you want more, you need a subscription.
Apparently not just for iOS, but also Android and Windows and Mac OS X.
Check it out, looks very promising. I'll give an update in a few days.
Kawai CN35. Daughter wanted a piano, so we got one. Now who'll learn faster? ;-)
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Thanks for the suggestions everyone! We have started with Piano Maestro and my son seems to respond well to it. I saw a fairly animated discussion a few topics below regarding the music teacher using an IPad for his students. Hehe. But I am a non musical parent to a budding pianist so I will take all the help and instruction I can get.
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Keep in mind, Piano Maestro is a practice tool. It doesn't replace lessons but the app helps you practice what you learned in class and the app is really, really good at getting students to practice!
There's a saying that a teacher can show the student the door, but the student has to walk through. That's how I see lessons and practice; lessons are where the teacher shows you the door, but practice is where you, as the student actually walks through the door!
This is why I'm a big fan of this app, It's addictive, every time I sit down to play 'just one more piece' an hour slips away! I'm actually in a running competition with my 9 and 11 year old niece and nephew to see who can get better scores :-) this from two knuckleheads who used to dash out the door the minute the teacher was done. Now they're peppering the teacher with questions after class so they can beat their uncle at Piano Maestro.
We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams.
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A tip for using Piano Maestro.
The app has a motherload of progressive exercises; 1,000+ pieces, all neatly graded from elementary up to level 3b. And they keep adding more.
Play through the main game until you feel like you're starting to hit a brick wall. This will give you an idea of what level you're really at.
Then go into the song library, load up all those songs that are at or below your level and keep practicing until you feel ready to go to the next level. It's a great way to stay in the sweet spot between practicing what you know and moving to the next level.
We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams.
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Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. My 6 year old son started piano lessons 6 months ago. He has recently finished with the Ecklund Piano Pronto Keyboard Kickoff and Prelude books. I was wondering if there are any good piano learning apps he can use on the IPad that could supplement his piano playing journey? How does his teacher feel about his young student using such apps, and might he have some ideas of his own about how your son might supplement his learning?
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Joined: Jul 2011
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I'm actually a fan of PianoMarvel (as opposed to Piano Maestro). I've got a six year old student who now learns six to eight pieces a week, up to tempo, using Piano Marvel. She is learning Mozart sonatas, Bach Inventions, Clementi Sonatinas, etc. She loves it, but I also assign pieces apart from that and we work on musicality on those. PMarvel is great for boosting reading, not musicality of course.
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We have used the app merely to reinforce the skills and lessons his teacher has already taught. He continues to go to lessons. In fact, most days, we do not even use the App at all because to work through some of his assignments takes quite a chunk of practice time (45 mins to an hour). I will have to look into Piano Marvel to see if he will enjoy that. He is currently working on polishing his Star Wars theme in time for Christmas and polishing the Musette by Bach (?). I had to learn to play along side him so he can practice effectively, so much so that I will be starting piano lessons myself with his current teacher! No app or YouTube tutorial, I think, will ever replace the experience and learning you get from personal instruction. His piano teacher, in fact, has recommended Chromatik to me as a potential source of music for my son since he really wants to learn the Jurassic Park theme song and it has been difficult to find the correct music and arrangement that works for his playing level. So he is learning the right hand melody thru a trumpet arrangement and his teacher works on the left hand.
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Really interesting to follow this thread - I have noticed that, the continual re-statement: that applications are not intended to replace a teacher, every time, I often wonder if it's out of fear that AI will take over the world and that private instructors will be rendered useless.
I am currently in the process of writing papers on more applications, some that you might find handy:
- Sightreading factory (just lots of computer generated sightreading exercises that you could listen and play back to), not wonderful, but it does the job if you want a skill and drill tool - Flat.oi (a browser-based notation application), I LOVE IT, and use it for my students
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Hahaha, a piano-teaching, world-overtaking AI, that would be something...
Well, as I have stated elsewhere here, software is eating the world. That includes jobs. But as someone who, as a piano student, is using both, apps and a real world teacher, I think you can not get rid of the teacher for quite some time.
It starts with the obvious: the app can not see you play. It can not observe you, your habits, your technique. Most of the software just tracks if you hit the right note at the right time; some not even if you hit more than you should. Most not how long you hold a note. Staccato vs legato? No chance. Of course, not yet. It will eventually.
Software excels at immediate feedback on what it can currently track. It excels in patience and there is no cost for the patience. When you are not getting something, it can make the loops shorter and the pace slower ad infinitum. (Most do not do this yet, but to some degree).
Currently, the software that I have seen can not tell you how to approach a new piece of sheet music. Break it down yourself. Recognize the patterns, figure out the fingering. This is the not-so-obvious that a teacher will hopefully show you.
So, in my option, anyone who can afford a teacher, should absolutely do so. If you can not, well, you can always see how far you get with the existing apps.
Kawai CN35. Daughter wanted a piano, so we got one. Now who'll learn faster? ;-)
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Joined: Sep 2015
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I very much agree. The apps we use currently, deals with a lot of the grunt work, working on his sight reading skills, some tempo work and just learning to play a piece in general. But the app does not give feedback on his technique, his posture, his fingering,his dynamics and the musicality of a piece. Even for such a wired world, my son'S piano teacher by his side playing a duet with him, working on his rhythm and understanding of the music he plays, the tactile feedback, makes him appreciate the piano more than the apps. The apps, I think, in a general sense, helps his teachers too in the sense that when my son goes to his lessons, he already has a general and fundamental grasp as to what the music sounds like and the notes that need to be played, which then allows his teacher to work on everything else.
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Hello, I really like Piano Maestro app and have been using it for many of my students. However, I've noticed that it does not work well working with acoustic piano, specially if the tuning is not perfect. Any suggestions?
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... apps ... deals with a lot of the grunt work, working on his sight reading skills, some tempo work and just learning to play a piece in general. ... ... apps, I think, in a general sense, helps his teachers too in the sense that when my son goes to his lessons, he already has a general and fundamental grasp as to what the music sounds like and the notes that need to be played, which then allows his teacher to work on everything else. Grunt work, yes. Getting the basic muscle memory in place, so that you can actually concentrate on "how" to play a piece, not worry about getting the next note correct.
Kawai CN35. Daughter wanted a piano, so we got one. Now who'll learn faster? ;-)
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Mellocello and Hendrik - my research investigates that, and there are technologies being developed that assist with posture, technique and even articulation!
I think the thing that apps are doing is they are getting the teacher to do less instruction, less skilling and drilling, thus, he role is changing, the teacher acts as a motivator, a collaborator and facilitator.
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Sure, there is development in these areas. Recently I came across the "Lumo Lift Posture Tracker", a Bluetooth thingy that you attach to your shirt or so and is telling you if you're sitting straight. And there is this hand-exoskeleton that could be used to track what your fingers are doing: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ng-device-used-control-robots-games.htmlSame: http://www.crunchwear.com/exoskeleton-hand-lets-feel-virtual-objects/Different approach: http://www.crunchwear.com/manus-machinae-gloves-turns-cyborg/So, looking forward, the job of the teacher is changing. Even more so in areas where the instruction does not actually require observing the student. A lot can be achieved with just really good instruction videos and tests afterwards. Some people here are taking/giving piano lessons via Skype. Takes away the travel and if you have the necessary camera set up, probably better than just an app. With me, the apps today really help me with practice. Immediate feedback is great. Slowly building a piece, phrase by phrase, slow to fast, whenever I want. Just great. Few weeks ago I showed our piano teacher the apps I use. She had not seen any of them, I think. She was amazed. "I feel honored that you still take lessons", she said, and I think it was not all joking :-) For quite some time the apps will make life for teacher just easier, because it motivates to practice etc. No need to change just yet. But at some point, there will be real change required.
Kawai CN35. Daughter wanted a piano, so we got one. Now who'll learn faster? ;-)
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I do not really understand the difference in Joytunes apps Piano Maestro and Simply Piano. Anyone know or have tried both?
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:23 PM
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