Synthesia

[GimmedaBall]

A friend of mine is looking to purchase a digital piano for his 9-year old daughter and asked for suggestions on learning software. He will sign her up for traditional lessons once the Covid business settles down. She's very interested and we want to get her the best learning tools.

I've been using Synthesia to learn to sight-read piano sheet music. I know the temptation is to simply mimic the placement of the fingers and repeat until you learn the piece. My goal is to sight-read any piano score. I have the sheet music visible and do not look at the keyboard on the screen. I have the program set to not move on until I hit the right note.

Any suggestions on programs? Any suggestions on how to use Synthesia (for me or my goddaughter)?

 

[puckhead]

I don't have any answers, but I've been trying to get into the piano a little bit and will be keeping an eye on this thread for any recommendations.

 

[GimmedaBall]

Yo puckhead.

‘Adult Piano Adventures’ is a hard-copy piano book by Nancy & Randall Faber.
I checked with the piano instructor at the community college and this is the book for her course (the class has been canceled due to Covid).

A review of the different method books on Youtube:

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There are lessons on YouTube that cover every single piece in the ‘Adult Piano Adventures’in addition to several other popular books and their associated lessons. Gale Wolfe has lessons on almost all the method books. Yikes. If you want to purchase one of the method books, place the order via the Gale Wolfe website. He gets a ‘finders fee’ from Amazon and it is a way to repay him for all his freebie lessons.

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeSnI-BmRMkxURGZ7nHtzQ
(Scroll down to the Fabor (spelling error) for the lessons)

Piano with Beth has all the Faber lessons as well:

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The author of the book Randall Faber has some videos as well.

I downloaded all the Gale Wolfe lessons for ‘Adult Piano Adventures Book 1’ and burned to a DVD. Sent my Book 1 and the DVD to my goddaughter. She’s only 9 but twice as smart as I am so I think she will do fine. She’s really motivated and loves the piano (she’s right-brain, LOL). I’m on to Book 2.

 

[puckhead]

Thanks, Gimme!

 

[GimmedaBall]

One of the hardest things to accomplish is syncopation between the left and right hands. It is even harder to do when you include the feet. Note this artist’s focus on the middle of the keyboard and then moves to the lower register and finishes with a nice flourish on the high keys.

Jerry Cheetah Lee Lewis

 

[GimmedaBall]

Great website with free piano lessons and free sheet music of the arrangement. Step-by-step how to play. In Spanish—so you can study your language skills as well:

Nacho Pozo Piano

Great website with finger-style guitar arrangement and free TAB sheet music to download. These are not step-by-step lessons but will require that you watch the performance and coordinate with the TABS. A bit more work but the pay-off is some great fingerstyle play.

Tony Rowden Guitar

Both sites are heavy on Beatle music for those who want to learn some of their classic tunes.