Piano Lessons Review

Piano Suite Premier is based on the idea of continuous feedback. The software constantly guides you with an interactive tutor, letting you correct your mistakes before they become bad habits.

Designed with the beginner in mind, it features automatic page turning in the songbook, speaking menus and over 500 songs. From pop to blues, national anthems to classical, the song selection has something for everyone. It also comes with a notation facility, allowing you to quickly and easily create your own music without any knowledge of music theory, just by playing on the keyboard.

Main features include:
* Piano Player – practice with audio-visual feedback
* Theory Thinker – lessons and exercises in notation and sight-reading
* Composers Corner – compose, edit, and print music
* Games – fun ways to reinforce learning
* Personal Profile – performance tracking for dozens of users
* History Happens – biographies of 150 famous composers

Product Details

If you are a complete music novice, you would start by using the Theory Thinker feature to master music fundamentals. It is laid out as a series of simple tutorials on topics such as hand positioning and music reading, followed by exercises. Each exercise gives you audio-visual feedback, with a detailed report at the end, allowing you to quickly identify and correct your mistakes.

If you have had some previous playing experience, you will want to dive right in with Piano Player. It has many options to tailor your practice to your skill level and playing style. Again, detailed reports are provided at the end of each practice.

The Composer Corner lets you play your own music, have the computer notate and play it, edit it, and finally print it to share with others. You can also save it to the Piano Player module for later use.

There are several games to help you practice your playing skills and, if you’re interested in music history, 150 biographies of famous composers.

Suitable For

This course is suitable for beginning and intermediate level piano players, and all ages. Young children may require adult assistance.

The software is available for the following versions of MS Windows:
* 98
* ME
* 2000
* XP (Home and Pro)

Positives

1. Interactivity – What really makes Piano Suite Premiere stand out from the crowd is its spotlight on interactive feedback. Each program module has in-play audio and visual feedback and provides a detailed end report that tells you exactly what went wrong and how to fix it.

2. Control – Unlike many programs that preselect practice passages, Piano Suite Premiere not only lets you pick the passages, but you can select any bar for practice with a single mouse click.

Negatives

1. Progression – Although the program claims to take you well into intermediate play, the lessons don’t really progress much beyond the beginning level.

2. Multi-media – The program does provide you with extensive audio and visual feedback, but the multi-media aspects are very weak compared with other programs of this type.

Price

The price is a bit above average for the features, but not unreasonable.

Software Only – .95

Software and MIDI Keyboard Bundle – 9.95

Recommendation

Piano Suite Premiere is well suited for the self-learner, as well as the traditional student. Its student progress tracking feature is useful in an educational environment.

Although it lacks the flashiness of some other programs, it is a good choice for beginners of all ages who prefer a simple, clean interface.

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