Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Duane Shinn 52 Week Crash Course

If you become a reseller some day, I'd be interested in lessons 9 to ...
... always depending on price and format.

David M, has the online course a time limit or have you been granted access forever?

I agree.
We have in the ABF the 40 Pieces a Year Club that is helping me a lot.

52 weeks! (Just kidding. :-))

That's one of the questions I sent to Duane Shinn's office last week. So far, I have not yet received an answer from them.

And, I agree: Reselling this course should be a quite easy. Heck, I'd be interested too!

May I ask you what the issue was, or more precisely, who was responsible for the issue: customs or Duane Shinn's office? My order of the first four DVD's will have to cross some borders as well...

Even though they had a web form, the address was a mess and the postal office had problems finding me. In addition, since it was a parcel from outside EU, I had the misfortune the be among the selected parcels which had been charged with customs duties.

Bill,

I failed to comment on your failing eye sight. I am so sorry to hear that! I am an Optometrist in the Memphis TN area. If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask me and I’ll do my best to answer.


David

Thanks David. I’ve always liked that verse. And definitely agree. I’ll see what I can do about videoing as I go along!

No time limit that I have seen. I’m sure my login information would allow me access for as long as the site is up

So I have gone through the first 8 lessons of Duane Shinn’s 52 week course. I am going to go back and play through all the songs of the first 8 lessons again at this point and reapply the techniques taught so far.

What has been taught so far is mainly left hand stuff. The right hand is still playing one note melodies. With the left hand, we have gone thru block chords of C, F, G, G7, D7. We started with the pointer chords which is the 2nd inversion of these root chords. We played many songs using Pointer chords.

Then we went to first inversion of these same chords and have played many songs. He has added chord breakups, 2-1 chord breakups, swing bass, Alberti bass etc. I am going go back thru all the songs so far playing each one with all of these different methods. I have already been doing that but want to get more proficient before moving on. We have also been introduced to playing with the damper pedal which most of the songs in the last 3 lessons or so are using.

Duane has also introduced straddles and has given a foretaste if things to come such as right hand chords, walk ups, walk downs, convergences etc. Lesson 9 will finish the first book in the piano course. I forget how many total books there are.

I am due to receive a Casio PX870 digital piano on Monday so that I can practice more without disturbing my family members 😂

Thanks for your review, Dmoss3 (David M)! Sounds like you're happy with this course – and eager to carry on. Have you experienced any downsides so far?

Oh, and have fun with your new digital piano... you and your family! :-)


Yep, customs duties... I'm (not so much) looking forward to mine as well. Hopefully, they labeled my package correctly, at least.

Are you currently "on hold", waiting for a good second-hand offer? Or are you thinking about ordering the remaining (52-8)=44 lessons?

I'm close to taking the plunge.

How can you tell?

I'm always waiting for a good offer. And no, I'm not paying the official rate for the remaining lessons.

No, no downsides. Duane seems like a very nice man. Sad to know he's no longer with us. He explains things well and the videos give us a listening ear to how the tunes should sound. I may say that if there is a downside, it's that there aren't many piano closeups as he plays until the end of each lesson. It is at that time that he will show the hand and note positions of any new techniques taught. Nowadays, the teachers have everything digitized so you not only have closeups of the notes being played, they are also highlighted on the screen. That is not the case in this course because the videos were probably filmed 30 years ago, but the instruction and content is really good. The songs are older. Depending on your age, you may not recognize a lot of them.

I see: My impression was correct. I'm especially happy to hear that you find the video quality at least okay. That is (or was) one of my main uncertainties: whether I can identify the notes I need to play easily enough. You are, of course, right about modern courses and their modern means to highlight those notes/keys...

The songs are fine for me: Even though born in 1980, "my" music was written and recorded in the Fifties and Sixties... and I love Stephen Foster and the like, hymns too... so that works perfectly well! Plus, as soon as it's about re-arranging songs, any song is interesting, right? :-)

Thanks David. I’m actually going to seek out a new ophthalmologist after covid passes. The last one, after IOL replacement refused to do anything further and it seems he got the prescription wrong but wouldn’t consider changing it.

So I may have a question or two if I can send a future PM?

Take care everybody, it’s a gorgeous day outside.

-Bill

Yes, I love hymns and I am looking forward to the arranging styles, and right hand chords too!

Absolutely. Ask anything you want.

So, earlier today I sat down at the piano and played around for 3 hours. I haven’t touched it in over 15 years.

I pulled out the Alfreds All In One Afult book Level 3 and walked through about 10 or 12 of the first pieces. I was excited that I could read the pages well, with lots of golden sunlight pouring in. My sight reading was ok and I was surprised how easily my hands fell to the keys and patterns. (Like riding a bike? Haha).

Well not exactly but I did much better than I anticipated. Granted the pieces were not so hard but I imagine they were more complex than what I’ve seen from Duane Schinn’s course. With more time and practice I think I’d be doing passably well in the next week or two.

So this got me thinking... I might spring for the 52 LESSON Crash Course and see how far I get in six months. Then I could let it go to the next person that could put it to use. I really think I can pull everything I need out of it in that time.

Either that or realize that I’m doomed 🤣

-Bill

Congratulations, WBLynch (Bill). That is so good to hear!


...and congratulations for renaming (and, thus, reframing) this course! In doing so, you might be responsible for saving dozens, if not billions, of beginners (me included) from nervous breakdowns. :-)

Enjoy your time at the piano!

They are pretty good at sending out promo newsletters, but unfortunately, I fear, not quite as good at replying to customers' emails. Still no info about the DVDs' region code, still no info from them about the duration of access to their online courses (I saw that Dmoss3 wrote that there is no time limit, but I had sent my email already by then). It's been two weeks now...

Has anyone among you made the same, or a totally different, experience with Duane Shinn's office?

To be clear, this doesn't take anything away from the crash course's appeal to me, but admittedly, I'm a bit old-fashioned when it comes to buyer/seller relationships: I prefer dealing with institutions where I'm convinced they'd be here for me in case anything doesn't work to my satisfaction. (No, I'm not talking about my piano playing. :-))

Maybe I'm just unlucky?

Living here is in the U.S. it was easy for me to call the office. I would leave a message and receive a call back usually that day or the next.

I did correspond with Duane via email a few times when he was still alive. I know his son now runs the business.

It's unfortunate you haven't gotten a response back yet. Hopefully that will be remedied.

God bless,
David