The holiday season is in full swing. The decorations are up, the presents bought (or in the process of being bought) but there’s no reason why our apps can’t get the same love this holiday.
So, without further ado, I’d like to jump into the updates we’ve made to Piano Maestro for you this holiday season!
Holiday Songs & Graphics
You’ll be able to impress your friends and family with a bunch of FREE holiday songs to play! We also added some new ones to the mix for our veteran Piano Maestro players.
You’ll find 50 free (yes, free!!) songs in this category from Christmas to Hanukkah and even New Year’s too! We just added Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You” (because who doesn’t LOVE that Christmas classic).
Also available is the Christmas staple, “Jingle Bell Rock”.
The only thing missing is the ability for our app to make a strong cup of eggnog! We’ll try and work on that for next Christmas
The free holiday songs can be accessed from two places. As mentioned above, you can get there directly from the “Free Holiday Songs” button on the main menu as well as going to Library -> Songs -> and then choosing the “Free Holiday Songs” category.
Make sure to download the latest update of Piano Maestro.
Learning on your own? Don’t forget to download our free iPhone app, Simply Piano, and learn to play “Jingle Bells” in just 30 minutes!
iOS: Learning to play the piano can be difficult, and even moreso if you don’t have someone there to help you fix your errors and learn good tempo. Simply Piano can do both of those things, and all it takes is your iPhone or iPad. Best of all, it’s free.
Like many “piano-learning” apps, Simply Piano teaches you various pieces of music by essentially displaying sheet music in front of you to play, guiding you to the right keys on your piano or keyboard, and showing you the right order in which to press them and when — that’s all great, and not terribly unique, even if it works well. Where the app shines however is its listening feature. Simply put the phone down near the keyboard, and Simply Piano will “listen” to you play.
As you play, the app identifies what you’re playing and gives you feedback on how to improve. Maybe you need to pick up the tempo, or maybe you missed a few notes here or there — whatever it is, the app can give you a few tips, and encourages you to try again, all while it listens and tries to help.
Simply Piano is free, and available now. It comes bundled with a ton of songs to learn (including classical and pop songs you’ll probably recognise), and is geared to all skill levels — and keyboard types, so you don’t need a fancy piano just to use the app, any keyboard will do. Hit the link below to try it out.
Simply Piano helps you learn piano step by step, no previous knowledge required. It works with any piano or keyboard. Simply Piano is meant to teach people with little to no previous experience how to play songs and read music.
Run the app as you play and it provides real-time feedback as you progress through lessons. Just place your iPhone (or iPad) on your piano (or use your MIDI keyboard) and play, your iPhone will immediately recognize what you are playing!
The app slowly progresses from learning a few notes at a time to simple (and later, more complex) songs.
The app doesn’t let you skip ahead between lessons to maximize their effect. But not everyone has to start at square one. If you have some prior experience, you can indicate that the first time you use the app and it adjusts accordingly.
Vivaldi, one of the greatest baroque composers, has a very interesting story. He ran an orphanage in the 18th century in Italy that became famous all over the western world for its musically talented children. A lot of his pieces were written for specific children in his school. Vivaldi learned the violin from his father, and was trained as a priest. He was nicknamed “the red priest” for his red hair and was apparently somewhat sure of himself, having claimed once he can compose a concerto faster than it can be copied.
Vivaldi wrote over 500 pieces, most of which are lost today. He is considered one of the greatest musical landmarks in history, having inspired many composers that followed him, including J.S.Bach and others.
The O’Connor Music Studio has a copy of this app if you (or your student) would like to try it during a lesson.
I see great potential with this app and think it could be useful for you at home.
It’s a fun game that can be used with a piano, the iPad or it can be hooked up to an electric keyboard.
Piano Maestro is free for all OCMS students to use on their own iPads at home. Your student’s piano lesson books are most likely included to help the student learn the pieces – accompanied by a full backing track!
THE BLACK AND white keys move so fast it’s hard to tell if Jenny Lin is even touching them. Lin, a classical pianist known for virtuosic speed, is sitting at a grand piano in Steinway’s New York offices, as the rest of the room listens intently, focused on the keyboard.
No, she’s definitely not touching the keys. Not this time. Minutes earlier, Lin played a hyper-speed arrangement of George Gershwin’s “I’ve Got Rhythm.” The same song is playing now, except this time Lin hands are on her lap. It’s uncanny, really: The exact same keys are pressed, the exact same trills are heard, the same dynamics are present. It’s a little magical—or “almost scary” as Lin puts it—as though you’re witnessing a prodigious ghost mimic her every move.
It’s not a ghost, of course. It’s technology. Which, considering Steinway’s old-school legacy, is nearly as unlikely an explanation as a poltergeist. Lin is demonstrating the Spirio, Steinway’s newest and first self-playing piano.
When you buy a Spirio—not you, necessarily; they run upwards of $110,000—it comes with an iPad loaded with a Spotify-like app. This app communicates with the piano via Bluetooth, prompting the piano to play any one of the 1,700 songs recorded specifically for the instrument. New songs will sync every week. By itself, an iPad-controlled piano is nifty, if not exactly a technological marvel. What makes Spirio different is that it can play songs with an unprecedented level of accuracy and nuance.
Some of you have noticed that I am switching your students (or yourself!) over to Piano Pronto and may have wondered why.
It was one of the first “method book series” to be integrated into Piano Maestro, so some of the songs have already been worked on using this iPad app.
I am in a Facebook group with the author/composer and many other participants have said that once their students have started in Piano Pronto, the students “forget” the other books at home or in the music bag.
So, a simple experiment was started here and the same thing happened. Only the Piano Pronto book (Keyboard Kickoff) came out of the bag.
Then, another student got hooked, and another…
Even the young boys seem to love the duets, which are excellent at helping with counting and listening to other musicians.
A minor point but one that makes life easier for the teacher. All books are $10.00 (plus shipping) Other method books have varying prices in hard to find locations, some hidden in codes on the back.
Piano Pronto books can be ordered online at https://www.pianopronto.com/ and they are available at our local Music and Arts store in Oakton. If something is needed fast, digital copies are available to print (or add to the iPad)
If you would like to look through any of the books, just ask!
From the composer, Jennifer Eklund, on Facebook:
Let me give you my fast 5 “things that makes us different from everyone else”:
#1 – On the staff reading day one (I take what I call a “total immersion” approach to note-reading/learning – watch the webinar for the full scoop)
#2 – Aurally pleasing music from very early on. I challenge you to find better and/or more consistently solid arranging in another method series. I don’t wait 2 years to introduce 8th notes. The tunes used in the series are strong and familiar and therefore we can get to more of the fundamentals earlier in the lesson process. Students practice with confidence at home because they recognize the melodies and therefore progress faster.
#3 – All-in-one integrated books (i.e. there aren’t 4 separate books per level the most you ever need is the method and maybe one supplement book)
#4 – The material is age and gender neutral. Clean layout with no illustrations to distract.
#5 – We start teaching how to *effectively* practice from the get-go with our “Pronto Prep” sections that pull out the difficult portions of pieces *before* a student learns the piece.
Other less important stuff:
#6 – The supplements are rooted in my “pop/jazz” background so while the method books are very “classically-based” the supplements are full of pop-style stuff that really creates well-rounded students
#7 – I challenge you to find more varied/interesting teacher duet parts.
#8 – I’m actively writing/creating new items constantly. I really listen to my customers and am writing to suit the needs of the market. If you need something and I don’t have it odds are I’ll probably end up filling your request.
#9 – I stay out of your way as a teacher. The material is extremely flexible. I wanted to give you a solid curriculum that is paced thoughtfully and you can augment the series with all the tools available in your toolbox. You will not feel restricted in any way by the material.
#10 – You can SEE and HEAR everything before you buy. There is NO guesswork involved with shopping with Piano Pronto.
MaryO'Studio 