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Legacy Learning Systems, a Nashville based company, is the producer of Learn & Master Piano. Will Barrows, a Grammy Award-winning teacher, is your personal guide throughout this program designed to take you from learning the basics to playing Beethoven. The teaching emphasis begins with chord methods but as you advance you discover you are learning the basics of notation and reading music. The videos are produced by a team of professionals, who have also created software for learning to master the guitar, drums, ballroom dancing, and painting. This software boasts the best media of any of the piano lesson software we reviewed and is easy and entertaining to follow. You will also find Learn & Master Piano in our top ranked Learn Piano Online Review site due to the excellent online features available to reinforce and enhance the DVDs. Learn & Master Piano is one of our favorite piano lesson products because of the excellent lessons, unique combination of features and overall finesse. Learn & Master Piano received our TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award because of their ability to teach this amazing instrument to thousands of people in the best way possible. The lack of a few additional features keeps them just behind the leader in our comparison, but don't let that hold you back from taking advantage of this great product.

While classical music is introduced, the main emphasis is on musical styles used most often in improvisation; Blues, Pop, and Jazz. If after using this method you want more emphasis on classical music, we suggest you try one of our other piano lesson programs which will focus on the type of music you are interested in learning.

Lesson Coverage:

Instruction is divided into sessions accompanied by workshops. Each session teaches a different concept like chords, notations, rhythm, theory and even how to accompany. The companion workshops give you the opportunity to practice with your teacher and get further instruction on how to master the musical principles just learned. By the end of the first lesson you will be playing your first song. Videos show the teacher playing with overhead hand shots and an animated keyboard demonstrating which keys are depressed. Once you’ve mastered a song, you can use the play-along CD to accompany you using their advanced multi-track system. The play-along tracks have an intro, count off, piano part and instructions on how to best use the CD to advance more quickly. Once you’ve learned this technique, you can progress to the next track and omit these elements while playing solo with the band accompaniment. The ability to change the tempo allows you the advantage of practicing at the best speed for your level. Both the play-along CD and the DVD videos allow you to speed up or slow down the demonstration pieces to aid you in practicing.

Features:

Learn & Master Piano offers some excellent online features, which is why you can also find this product reviewed in our Learn Piano Online Review. These options are available to registered users and include: bonus exercises, a digital lesson book and online discussion board. Users can upload their music in either audio or video form, chat during scheduled forums, produce their own profile page, and create blogs on the Learn & Master Student Community Site. The creator, Will Barrows, is available to answer your questions in the Specific Session Questions forum. This website is one of the best of all the products reviewed. The Learn & Master Piano course comes with 14 DVDs, 5 play-along CDs and a companion 112-page lesson book outlining the 28 sessions. While you can’t print music found on the DVDs, you have an excellent lesson book including the printed versions of all the songs you will learn.

Practice Tools:

A standout feature with the Learn & Master Piano product is the lesson book. You can use it to follow along with the sessions and then take it to your keyboard to reinforce what you’ve learned on the video. The quality format of the book allows you to use it with the keyboard as you practice - separate from your computer. The book consists of pictures, keyboard charts, diagrams and references to the play-along CD. Suggested metronome settings are listed with each lesson. Speed up or slow down the tempo while using the metronome for more efficient practicing. The lesson book makes the transition from practicing the music to understanding the theory behind the concepts seem effortless.

Ease of Use:

The DVDs are easy to use, just pop in the computer and off you go, no downloading necessary. The media quality is some of the best we've seen (in both the online and software-based products). Another benefit is the ability to use the video lessons separately from the book, with or without the use of a MIDI controller, and then make the transition to your piano. Most software products we reviewed need the student to either be learning with the MIDI keyboard attached to the computer or the keyboard and computer must be in easy viewing and playing range of each other.

Help & Support:

Learn & Master Piano has some of the best contact options in our software product review. Several options to contact the company are available on their website. A FAQs section is available to answer the most common questions but if you need additional help you can mail, email or call Legacy Learning Systems directly.

Summary:

Will Barrow’s program is simply one of the best software products available to help you learn the basic chord method system of the Piano. Pieces you once thought would be impossible to learn are broken down into a simple format that almost anyone using the Learn & Master Piano program can conquer. It isn’t only an excellent software program, but the online features will keep you progressing and playing far into the future. If you compare this comprehensive product to many of the others available, you’ll discover that the price and value are hard to beat. Although the product is intended for students of all ages, younger students could benefit from a little more supervision.

Pianists of all levels will benefit from the concepts and teaching methods used here, even classically trained musicians with little or no improvisation experience will benefit from this chord method approach to piano. It is also a great complement to those taking lessons from a ‘live’ teacher; the two methods used together enhance the piano experience for all. Learn & Master Piano combines a visually superior experience and online features to be one of the best piano software products available.

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