eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method features over 300 lessons including 100 popular songs. Irma Irene Justicia, who taught at the renowned Julliard School of Music, lends her piano instruction expertise through over 70 video clips. During this piano course, Justicia demonstrates the basics of hand position, rhythm, notation, sight reading, scales, chords and more throughout the lessons. You transition seamlessly from basic chords to complex pieces. This piano lesson software features an advanced audio recognition technology that works with both electric and acoustic pianos and provides instant feedback with Note Tracker abilities.

Lesson Coverage:

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. The first few lessons are what you would expect. Each lesson takes you through beginning concepts such as:

How the piano works
How to sit at the piano
Posture
Hand placement
Note worth and counts
Finger placement
Rhythm

As the lessons progress, the concept becomes more difficult, and you are soon creating your own songs using rhythmic patterns and adding notes to the staff and ledger lines.

This piano lesson software offers over 100 popular songs and introduces you to music from different genres such as classical, blues, pop and rock. You'll also play music from the likes of Beethoven, Scott Joplin, Samuel Ward and more. Nearing the end of the course, you also get to play music from famous contemporary artists including Billy Joel, Bob Dylan and Elton John.

Lessons are divided into twelve chapters, progressing from hand positions to sight-reading. The twelfth chapter covers music history, including classical and Modern American. Throughout this journey, you are tested on the music theory you have learned through the piano lesson software. The quizzes do not announce your results immediately, but you are able to access your scorecard from the toolbar menu.

Features:

This piano lesson software has over 70 videos scattered throughout the course's lesson material. These videos feature your piano instructor who shows you various finger techniques and takes you through finger dexterity exercises. These videos provide that student-teacher interaction that many music software applications are missing – an element that we believe is crucial for the learning process.

This piano lesson software uses a three-step program to teach piano: first, watch the demonstration video tutorial, which provides piano instruction by Irma Justicia; second, listen to Justicia play a piece in its entirety at the appropriate tempo; and third, practice playing the piece yourself.

With multiple-track playback, you are able to choose keyboard, voice or both to accompany you through each piano selection. The voice track aids you in developing accompaniment skills. You can vary the speed on these tracks as needed to help you practice more efficiently.

To more effectively learn how to play the piano, consider investing in a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) keyboard. Many of these keyboards have a USB port that allows you to connect them to your computer. You can also use a MIDI adaptor to connect your keyboard to the computer. If you do not own a keyboard, this piano lesson software allows you to use your acoustic piano as well to receive instant feedback.

The instant feedback technology listens to you playing the piano through your MIDI interface or your computer's microphone. If you hit any wrong notes or miss certain rhythms as you play along on your MIDI keyboard, you will get a detailed narrative to help you correct the mistakes and improve your finger positioning and piano playing. The Interactive Evaluation Feedback even allows you to create personalized reports that score how you do on specific songs so you can see your improvement.

Practice Tools:

The eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method software features a great selection of built-in practice tools such as:

Digital Metronome – Largo, larghetto, adagio, andante. You see these Italian words at the top of most sheet music as they set the tempo for the piece. For example, if you see Larghetto on the top of your sheet music, set your metronome to 60-65 beats per minute. The digital metronome included with this piano software is a terrific feature.

Digital Recorder – Just as you should record yourself before giving a speech, you should also record yourself playing the piano before any recital. The digital recorder allows you to record yourself while practicing or playing the provided sheet music.

Progress Tracking – This feature requires a MIDI keyboard. You are able to monitor your performance score for each song you play throughout the course, allowing you to improve.

Song Loop – This piano lesson software allows you to highlight specific selections of your sheet music. This feature is terrific for difficult stanzas as you can listen repeatedly to the tempo and music. Simply drag a box surrounding the specific area.

Ease of Use:

Download and go. That's really how simple this piano lesson software is to use, which is fantastic if your children are using the music software to learn how to play the piano or keyboard. This piano lesson software combines and integrates piano instruction and the sheet music into the interface of each lesson, ideal for limiting the sheaves of sheet music scattered around your music room.

Learning how to play a musical instrument is difficult for some and innate for others. Each of the 314 lessons incorporates features that allow you to take each new piece of music at your own pace.

The piano lesson CD, a computer and an MIDI keyboard are required to effectively run the music software. If you do not have an MIDI keyboard, we suggest you purchase one to get the most out of your piano lesson software.

Help & Support:

The eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method software is simple to use, but you may still have technical support questions or need help understanding the installation process. This piano lesson software offers a regular FAQs section that addresses simple customer questions as well as a technical FAQs section, which is a great for a quick reference.

If you are just learning to play the piano through this piano lesson software, you may not be familiar with the musical terms or symbols introduced during the lessons. If, during a lesson, you encounter a term or symbol you are not familiar with, simply navigate your way to the Help tab at the top of the page and select the Glossary option. The glossary does open online, so you will need to have the internet to access this section.

Summary:

The eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method piano lesson software has a lot to offer anyone who wants to learn how to play the piano or keyboard. We love the connectivity option of the MIDI keyboard, which allows for instant feedback. Adults may prefer this piano lesson software to other music software, as it is easy to use and focuses more on technique. Compared to other software that incorporates learning games, however, children may not be as thrilled to practice the piano using this piano lesson software.

Piano and Keyboard Method Screenshots