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Hello, I am a beginner piano player, and want to improve my playing ability (particularly my sight reading). I don't have a schedule that allows regular sessions with a teacher, and wanted to know what people on this forum thought was the best piano learning e-course (either online or downloadable software) out there.

I see that Musiah and Piano Marvel have been discussed frequently. Right now I am leaning towards trying out Piano Marvel. Any other recommendations? Anyone out there have an informed opinion on Piano Encyclopedia? Thanks!

Hello and welcome!

For sight reading I think sightreadingfactory.com is excellent, but you can also get some sheet music and just do it. One thing to remember though is that 15 minutes every day is much better than 2 hours once a week.

Great suggestion, I'll have to try that one out. Still waiting on my MIDI cable

Welcome to the forum Fly Boy, there is much to be said about learning piano and I would encourage you to research as much as possible by searching old posts on this forum. Why? because I think it is really valuable to understand the learning process and the various options if you are going to self teach.

Having said that it is my belief there is no optimum route (or program) that will help you to your goals. There are some bad routes like having absolutely no structure or idea what you are doing but in general it always come down to time, effort and a bit of discipline. PianoMarvel and Musiah are not the only interactive learning programs but if you pick either one it would be the right one for now. I say for now because our piano journeys will change as we grow and gain more experience and often quite quickly we see that something that seemed good is not working for us. Interactive programs may give way to method books, method books give way to graded compilation books or everything swept aside in favour of having a teacher (scheduling permitting). The only important thing right now it taking the first step into a structured learning environment. So good luck and I hope you keep us up to date with your progress.

I'm just starting too. I've been using pianomarvel.com for 3 weeks and I really like it. It has a free 1 month trial, no credit card required. The only problem with it is that it doesn't track whether or not you hold notes for their full duration. I also bought downloadable emedia piano software (under $40) and it is not as fun as pianomarvel.com, but it tracks how long you hold the key.

Hi Fly Boy, newnewbie0, welcome!

What is the operating systems you run? Just Windows? Linux? MacOS? Android, iOS?

I quite like Piano Maestro by JoyTunes (iPad) and there is also YouSician (Windows, Mac, iOS, ...) for practice. Both help with sight reading (Yousician even starts out before sight reading) and practice generally.

And I like to just attach my tablet, not having to move the laptop etc.

For just sight reading, there is also "Piano Tutor" for the iPad/iPhone.

I keep recommending this because I truly believe it is the best and most valid course available and it is very inexpensive.

http://pianoforall.com/

You won't be able to have the computer tell you which keys to press and for how long but you will know.

When you wish to move past the "video game" type of instruction, give this a look.

Good Luck

I second the user above, PianoForAll is amazing. I've been using it for 5 weeks now and have noticed a major improvement. In fact, I've started a video series documenting my progress through the program, and talking about the pros and cons of using pianoforall.

Feel free to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0YoiTqQh9s

I should be posting another update tomorrow of Tuesday.

Thank you for the input and endorsement concerning pianoforall, it has made me seriously look into it. The price is definitely alluring, and i watched a few of those youtube review videos -- very helpful!

Does anyone have any opinion on The Piano Encyclopedia? Their course, The Logic Behind Music, was featured on Forbes and their website (pianoencylopedia.com) looks fancy and all, but i wanted to know if there was anyone who actually tried it out.

Thanks again!

If you're interested in Pianoforall, sign up to Udemy.com. It's on there and Udemy seem to *always* have sale on. Sometimes it's full price, but they'll email you a discount link. I picked it up for $10 a while ago.

I haven't really used it, so I can't vouch for how good it is, but just wanted to give you a heads up.

Thanks for the tip, but $247 is not what i'd really call a discount.

https://www.udemy.com/pianoforall-incredible-new-way-to-learn-piano-keyboard/

Yup, which is why I suggested signing up. I've just received an email to tell me that I can get any course for £13 today.

This is the link in the email. I don't know if it'll work for you or not. https://www.udemy.com/courses/featu...y.4274645&data_h=0&utm_term=hero

Hmmm, well if you don't have a schedule that allows regular sessions with a teacher, how do you expect to find time to do daily piano practice?

I'm a computer programmer, and learning piano from a book or video or software just seems pretty dumb to me when there are living piano teachers who can breeze you through everything in that book/video/software in the least amount of time possible. And a book will not teach you how to express yourself at the piano.

Playing piano is an art.

Software can't teach art.

WRT sight reading;

As we learn language we are taught to read and write in parallel.
This is also true in "traditional" music ed, i.e. students are taught to write on score paper alongside being taught to read from scores.

I have found that scoring software can serve this purpose, at least in part.
I copy pieces to (virtual) paper, which I could then print if I wanted to, I don't always want to.

I can also have the scoring software play it for me, much as a teacher would, so I can hear how it sounds.
(OK, so the subtleties aren't there and it won't teach me the supposed "meaning" of the piece)

Not saying that every beginner needs to rush out and buy a full version of Sebelius or Finale, but a trial or "light" version could help to fill a gap.

At least CONSIDER doing some writing as you learn to read.
Sure, there is a learning curve to the software.

This is also something you can work with if/when away from your keyboard/piano on a business trip.

Awesome, that link seemed to work for me. Now how do I download the course? or is it streaming only?

Well, that is too bad ... you are asking questions after you purchased it.

I think it is streaming only.

For the small difference in price, I would have purchased from the authors website.

However, streaming may work for you.

It is a very good course.

Good Luck

I just noticed that there is a 30-day money back guarantee.

If you are not happy with the streaming method, you could get your money back and then purchase the product from pianoforall.com

That is what I would do. I like to have it in my possession.

Yea it seems that the pdf's and videos are available for download on a piece by piece basis, which I am okay with, not to mention the fact that the Udemy interface is kind of neat. The lessons are laid out neatly and in a manner that makes sense -- broken into little chunks. This is probably better than if I had just a bunch of pdf pages with imbedded video. There is also the community part of it as well, being able to discuss the course and see how others are liking it, etc. I think I'll give this method a try and if I don't like it i'll do what you said.

The allure of an online course is the price point, at least for me. Piano teachers can be very expensive, and their methods may not be sound (no pun intended).

You're right in that you can't learn expression through a book. I also don't think that can be taught by a piano teacher, it's just something you have to develop as you evolve as a musician

Yes, I actually bought both the PDF version direct from the author, and later the Udemy course version, and the Udemy one is much easier to follow. I like that it's broken up into lesson chunks with the videos, and marks your progress as you go. But yes, as you say dmd, the PDF one will be there on my hard drive forever.

Again, I only used it for the first 10 steps or so. It looks like a great course, but I think I was after something that was less heavily chord-led at the time. I believe it deviates from chords and you eventually get into classics, etc, but I wanted something that mixed all of that in from the start.