Product Description

For about the cost of 2 piano lessons, this video (both VHS and DVD formats are available) will provide readers with years of musical enjoyment. If truth be known, there is another way to learn how to play piano rather than going to weekly lessons and spending thousands of dollars in the process.

The secret is learning to play the way the pros play. Learning to play in that style is enormously simpler than traditional classical piano lessons. Even better, it takes an absolute minimum amount of note reading ability.

Best of all, your tour guide for this adventure, Scott "The Piano Guy" Houston, forces you to have fun along the way!

Is this DVD going to prepare the viewer for a career as a concert pianist? Absolutely not! However, if you simply want to play some piano for the simple goal of enjoying yourself, then get ready to knock a lifelong dream from your "to-do" list. Have fun!

This is the same presentation as seen by millions of viewers on public television stations for their fund raising pledge drives. In addition there is another 80 minutes of bonus material never seen on TV!

There is also a "Play Piano in a Flash!" book and a "Play Piano in a Flash!" book examples audio CD available from Amazon to help round out your instructional collection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40938 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Color, NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 140 minutes

About the Actor
Scott "The Piano Guy" Houston

Author of the book and Host of the highly successful television special on PBS called "Play Piano in a Flash!", Scott Houston's background combines a degree from Indiana University with over 15 years experience in the music industry. From teaching, to playing professionally, to managing a music publishing company, he has experienced a well-rounded view of the music world.

Realizing that most students do not aspire to become concert pianists, but rather want to enjoy being able to sit down at a keyboard and play their favorite music, he has taught thousands of students in person at university and college workshops nationwide and millions on public television!

Scott truly believes that anyone can learn to play well enough to have fun and sound good at a piano or keyboard. Just ask one of his students!

Customer Reviews

awesome content..so so dvd
After spending hundreds of dollars buying a keyboard and midi equipment as well as PC learning software to try to learn to play the piano and being frustrated with the program and process, I picked up Scotts dvd after seeing him on PBS and I have to say I've learned more in 1 day than I did in the months I tried fiddling with the PC learning software. Scott makes it so simple, breaking it down and not making it feel like a chore. I would also recommend people getting his book to accompany the dvd, the content in the dvd is great as is the quality, I just wish there was a chapter break down so I can skip easily to parts I want to see rather than fast fowarding or rewinding over and over. It's split up into 2 sections, the first section was show on PBS while the 2nd section is new, with a lot of more content as well as "cheap tricks" to make you sound like a pro, which I LOVE. It's been 3 days since I got the DVD and I can play 3 of my favorite songs.

I recommend it highly!

Content 4 Stars VHS Video Quaity 3
Ask yourself two questions:

Question One: Do you want to play classical piano on a world stage?

Question Two: Do you want to play piano in your own home for your own entertainment?

If your answer to the first question is "yes," then this book is not for you. And Mr. Houston says as much on several occasions in both the book and the video.

It seems that those reviews that express a strong negative opinion of this work, start with the assumption that one should only answer "yes" to the first question and one should never approach music in the spirit of the second.

People considering this work should ask themselves specifically what their goal is.

If your answer to the second question is "yes," then this work will spend half of its energy overcoming any reservation you might have about your ability to play the piano for personal enjoyment.

In this work, Mr. Houston has to battle in two directions.

One, he has to overcome the "piano anxiety" that people accrue as the result of years of taking lessons in a style of teaching that prepares the student to answer "yes" to question one.

Two, once he has cleared away assumptions learned from "classical" piano lessons, he demonstrates an approach to piano playing that is easier to implement then it is to explain. I don't think one should fault Mr. Houston simply because his method is easy to implement, once you understand it.

It is true that Mr. Houston does not outline a complicated and intricate regimen that explains the many aspects of music. That is not his goal. Rather he wishes to put the individual at a keyboard with music that can be learned as rapidly as possible. And if you diligently follow his advice you will soon find yourself making music at a keyboard that most people enjoy and find fulfilling.

However, it will take effort on your part, a fact which Mr. Houston underscores several times.

I found I was very satisfied with this program. In addition to the book, I purchased the VHS version of the video (and now wish I had purchased the DVD as I would be able to read the music better and digitally zoom in on Mr. Houstons fingers at the key board).

I also purchased the "Snarling Dogs" chord finder and found it to be very helpful in figuring out such arcane symbols as "D7dim" etc.

I purchased a fake book, "Your First Fake Book" and found that I needed to work at a piece about an hour per day for two weeks before I became proficient. But I would add that I did not know any of the chords. I've also found that the chords from the first song show up with a good deal of regularity in most of the others.

Mr. Houston asks a pertinent question, "would you rather learn hundreds of chords in the abstract or would you rather learn five or six chords and play your favorite song?"

I know that this system has worked for me, given my goals and I know which way I would prefer to learn chords.

I also have a high-speed Internet connection and did not purchase the CD (which has exapmles of blues styles and other examples), but rather I downloaded the Mp3 files that Mr. Houston provides at his web site, free of charge.

If one expects to work on a daily basis for one's own entertainment, this particular package will do very nicely.

This video was an eye and ear opener
I have played piano "by ear" for many many years, but have always found reading left hand notes difficult, and this has led me to be defensive about my playing. But Scott's video made me realize that what I am doing is not wrong. I play for my own enjoyment and for how I feel at the moment. He demonstrated many chord patterns that I have been playing by ear, but couldn't have explained why. The blues section is a totally new area for me, and his explanation of the 6 note blues scale is one I am finding fun to "noodle" around with. One of my sons, who has no piano experience, watched the video and he was able to play something right away. I do think it might take a novice a bit longer than Scott claims, but if someone really wants to have fun and forget about reading notes, this method should definitely get them off on the "right note"!