Product Description

The eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method CD-ROM offers over 300 step-by-step lessons starting from basics such as hand position, rhythm and playing on black keys, and moving on to music notation, sight reading, scales and much more! Piano teacher Irma Irene Justicia, M.A., who has taught at the renowned Juilliard School of Music, guides you with video demonstrations of techniques. Songs and exercises are enhanced by live recorded audio, variable-speed MIDI keyboard tracks and colorful MIDI accompaniments.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3808 in Software
• Brand: eMedia
• Model: EG01031
• Released on: 2003-09-12
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows, Mac, Windows 98, Windows 2000
• Format: CD-ROM
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.90" h x 7.60" w x 9.50" l, .30 pounds

Features

• Powerful piano learning toolset
• Interactive feedback when using MIDI-connected keyboard
• Over 300 step-by-step lessons with 70 video demonstrations
• Develop sight reading, ear training, finger technique and more
• Over 100 songs included

From the Manufacturer
eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method CD-ROM offers everything you need to learn how to play. Over 300 step-by-step lessons start with basics such as hand position, rhythm, and playing on black keys, and moving on to music notation, sight reading, scales, and much more! Piano teacher Irma Irene Justicia, M.A., who has taught at the renowned Juilliard School of Music, guides you with over 70 video demonstrations of techniques.

Learn songs and exercises from either the music notation or an animated keyboard that displays fingerings in-time with the music. Songs and exercises are enhanced by live recorded audio, variable-speed MIDI keyboard tracks, and colorful MIDI accompaniments. You will learn from over 100 popular classical, blues, pop, and rock songs, including hit songs from artists such as Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and Elton John!

Interactive review and ear-training screens help reinforce new concepts and develop your ear. When used with an electronic MIDI keyboard, you can get specific feedback on playing mistakes, including wrong notes and rhythms. Other accessories include a built-in digital metronome and one-track recorder.

Over 100 songs including:

• "Piano Man" - Billy Joel
• "Candle in the Wind" - Elton John
• "Ode to Joy" - Ludwig van Beethoven
• "America the Beautiful" - Samuel Ward
• "La Bamba" - made famous by Los Lobos
• "Minuet in G" - J.S. Bach
• "Tishomingo Blues" - Spencer Williams
• "The Entertainer" - Scott Joplin
• "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" - Bob Dylan

• Interactive feedback: get specific feedback on note and rhythm mistakes made while playing to help you get it right the next time.
• Animated keyboard: displays correct fingerings as the music plays or for any note or chord that you double-click.
• Audio tracks: features vibrant multi-track recordings and MIDI tracks that allow you to slow down or speed up the music.
• Video instruction: includes over 70 video demonstrations with teacher Irma Irene Justicia, M.A., who has taught at the renowned Juilliard School of Music.
• Reviews and ear training: reinforce new concepts and develop your ear with flashcard quizzes.
• Digital metronome: keep a steady beat with audio and visual feedback.
• Recorder: Record and play yourself back! Save recordings to measure your progress.
• Accompaniment tracks: practicing is fun when you can play along with colorful MIDI accompaniments at the speed you choose.

Customer Reviews

Great product
I was completely new to music when I bought this set (CD-ROM and keyboard). I think it is great. It walks you through the basics and when you start playing the music has numbers on it that match up to your fingers (1-5) so you can play as you get the hang of reading music. Gradually they remove some of the numbers so your music reading skills improve.

The software grades your playing with a percentage score, and gives you details on your errors (if you want them).

Also, it includes short videos of a person playing piano so you can see proper posture and such. Each song comes with (optional) accompaniment, which can make it funner to play (especially with the simple songs).

The keyboard that comes with it (optional) has a solid feel, and is touch-sensitive (pressing harder plays louder). The keyboard plugs into the joystick port (probably on your sound card).

The method works for me, but the Mac OS X version has bugs.
I've been using this piano trainer for about 2 months now, and am up to lesson 100 or thereabouts. I've been spending about 1/2 hour each day with it, on an OS X Mac with a MIDI/USB piano keyboard attached to it. Each day, I start at my "tail" lesson, then work through all of the other ones up to my "current" lesson. Then I do the "tail" lesson again. If I can play it with the computer rating me at 99 or 100%, I declare that I've "passed" that lesson, and move the tail up to the next lesson for the next day. If I don't pass, I keep the tail where it is. At the other, "current", end, I usually move up one lesson per day, unless the current one is particularly challenging. I also usually have one "goof off/preview" lesson where I just relax and try to have a little fun with the next lesson beyond the current one, giving myself a little treat to look forward to. I usually take the weekends off, and only do my lessons if I'm feeling like I want to. During weekdays, I find it is a nice way to just do "something different" after a day at the office, and quickly find myself sucked in; the lesson time passes quickly.

The system has worked quite well for me so far. I've stayed motivated and am making definite and consistent progress.

The program works very well for the most part. Each lesson displays the sheet music, and has a button that plays the lesson as it should sound. Plus, most lessons have video snippets of an instructor giving detailed examples and hints. Most lessons also have a button where you can play accompanied by other instruments. After you play the lesson, the computer rates your performance, from 0 to 100% correct, and shows on the sheet music where you made mistakes (wrong notes, notes played too long or short, etc.).

There are a few bugs in the OS X Mac version. The worst is that the sound volume level for the instructor / example music can't be changed. There's a slider for this in the preferences window, but it doesn't work. The volume is stuck at maximum, so it is far, far louder than the sound coming from my own playing. The other serious bug is that the automatic lesson grader almost always indicates that you've played the final note of the lesson too short, even if you hold it down far too long; this seems to be especially true if the final note is a whole note. The other bug I regularly see is that a window will pop up saying something about the script interpreter crashing. This doesn't seem to cause any problems, but it is annoying. Other than that, the program seems solid. It uses a better piano sound than the one that comes built-in on the Mac; it still isn't realistic like the ones on the Casio and Yamaha keyboards, but it's good enough.

quality product
I got this product yesterday and started to learn by it.
after browsing it and using it for the first 17 lessons this is my impression.
what you get in this product is 100% of quality content and less emphasize on look and graphics.
and if you want to learn playing the keyboard, so the quality of the teaching is more important then other features.

the teacher leading the instruction process using video clips and audio tracks, is Irma Justicia MA which is a experienced piano teacher.
after 17 lessons i fell in love with her .it feels just lilke i'm in a real lesson with her.
for my non proffesinal impression this product is good for absolute beginners to the intermediate level.
it is also said on the product that it is volume 1 so probably they are going to issue more products in this piano keyboard line just as they done with the guitar.

cause of the simplicity of the graphics you can use it on any computer,old and new.
but still you get many sophisticated features like interactive feedback using midi cable.

for summary ...GOOD WORK.