CANADA - During the first CMEA Arts Symposium in Sydney, NS, I met with the creators of a new software product called "Piano Suite". The company came to the symposium with the goal of showing off its new product and getting some feedback on what they had accomplished so far. With the changes that were made on the basis of these meetings and obviously other comments from elsewhere, the company has placed into the market an exceptional product. News came just the other day that a new updated version is now being shipped which is consistent with the authors' wish to offer the very best that they can.
There are other "learn to play the keyboard" programmes available. What then are the key elements that make this such a good choice. First the concept of "Suite" is developed in a similar way to that of the now well-known Lotus or Corel or Microsoft Suites with word processing, database, presentation and number crunching products all combined together with a common "face" to the client. In the case of the "Piano Suite", the product contains not only the learn to play the keyboard module but also a large and thorough module on music history, as well as theory thinker and a large database on the lives of countless composers and finally a section of musical games. In the Premier edition there is also a "Composer's Corner".
The CD is sold also with a small keyboard to attach to your computer. The instructions for getting the "Suite" up and running are excellent and include exactly how to plug in the keyboard. My installation went without so much as a glitch. There are also instructions on setting the screen resolution to get the optimal result with the graphics in the program. While this is fine for the "Piano Suite", it is not so terribly great if you happen to run on a different (usually higher) resolution and must reset and re-start each time you want to run the "Piano Suite". On the other hand you can run the programme in a smaller frame than full screen with no difficulties at all if you are resistant to constantly changing the settings for your computer. (I am!). The Suite includes a MIDI tester to check whether the keyboard and sound card are really working correctly.
You can choose to copy the graphics to your hard drive or run them from the CD. Here each person will have to assess the speed and space requirements but it is nice to have the choice because there are a lot of graphics.
The graphics are exceptionally well done. You open to the login screen where you are asked to enter your user name and password. This means that many students can use the programme and teachers have access to "report cards" for each student. Students have access to only their own report cards. I could find no information on the maximum number of users that the software would support but my guess would be a rather large number. Once a user name and password are defined for a file, all aspects of that file are locked from tampering by anyone without the password. There are two versions of the software, a regular edition and a premier edition, which has the additional teacher accessories. Be sure to get the full meal deal!
Once logged in the user is presented with the main screen where you click to move into any of the modules including the learner profiles where the "report cards" are stored. The piano player section is the most unique and requires the most "learning". Once selected, you are presented with the set-up screen where it is possible to set the level of repertoire, select specific pieces, select the size of the notation, select either right or left hand or both, select the metronome setting and select repertoire by category. The repertoire list is long and it is possible for the teacher to add songs as well. The metronome can be set to various useful sounds as well as many not so useful ones since the whole instrumentarium of the sound module is available. You can also set whether you want a 1, 2, or 3 bar metronome lead in, the pitch and volume of the metronome sound. One other nice feature is your ability to determine how many beats before the end of the on-screen notation you wish to "turn the page".
Many songs on the piano player have words which you can select to display or not. You then can preview the material or click and perform to the notation. At the bottom of the screen, on top of the keyboard graphic, the pre-set options can be changed with a click of the button. You are able to mark sections to repeat and you can select one of the two styles of learning. The first -- "wait for note" requires you to get it right before you can move on. The second "notes and timing" records your performance and analyses your performance against the "right" version. Both methods worked well for me. There is also a "virtual keyboard" available on your computer keyboard which is useless in learning to play the standard musical keyboard. Altogether the whole teaching module works extremely well and comes highly recommended. The most important feature is the high degree of self-directed control you have over each and every element of the programme from repertoire to tempo to instrumental sound output. This means that a student is never locked into a learning style or speed that is incorrect for the learner's needs.
Because the keyboard is a MIDI device, the sounds that are produced can be set to any instrumental patch that is available on the sound card or synthesizer. Students using the basic setup with the keyboard supplied by Adventus and a SoundBlaster card will be very limited but if you are using a more advanced keyboard or sound module it will be possible to use many sounds. Here again the strength of the software is the ability to self-select. While it is not important to be able to select many unusual sounds, there are times when using harpsichord or other more typical keyboard instruments such as clavichord or celeste might be quite interesting. Another interesting feature is the ability to set the right hand to a different sound source than the left hand. You can also select the octave in which the centre of the keyboard will sound. This is a useful feature in a short keyboard if you want or need to play very high celeste parts. You also can select the appropriate keyboard setting for the number of keys on your keyboard. The default is a 49 key system.
One important learning feature of the piano player module is the ability to select smaller sections of the music to hear and to practise. This is easily accomplished by clicking the "mark bars" button. You then can elect to show only the selected bars for repeated work.
The next module to discuss is the "Theory Thinker". Contained within this section are significantly more interesting and useful things than just a few tidbits of music notation. There are movies about the piano itself - where it got its name, what makes it sound the way it does and many more. There are also sections on looking inside the instrument as well as tips for posture and hand position.
Another good feature is that the software keeps track of the topics you have visited before and you can jump to the newest topic with the "Daily Director". You can also set the skill level for the exercises. Most exercises are also linked to pieces in the Piano Player so you can jump back and forth from practising a piece to the theoretical issue presented by the piece. There are graphics showing the correct hand and finger positions for each piece as well.
Then there are the games. What software would be complete without the fun stuff too? In this section you will find "Key Quest" used to develop a familiarity with note placement on the keyboard and "Keyboard Note Search", an expanded version of the same sort of exercise. "Word Play" challenges you to spell words on the keyboard and there are other exercises for placing notes on the grand staff and treble and bass cleft. These all seem to work as intended. The old standby "Concentration" is even here with the challenge to match word with musical symbol.
The "Composer's Corner" allows the recording of your own composition on a single track at a time. You can save the piece in MIDI format and listen back as well as save it to the custom library which will allow someone else to learn it in the Piano Player. This allows various members of a class to share their compositions both as sound sources to listen to but also to let others learn to play pieces by other members of a class. Much of the grunt work is built into the program. You create a name and select a time signature from a drop drown list. It will serve most teachers - even 12/16 time is on the list. Then you select a key signature and assign a level of difficulty. You can put your song into a category from the list used in the Piano Player and identify the smallest note value in the composition for automatic quantizing. You can also set the metronome speed here as well. A recording screen appears and you simply play in your song. After you are finished there are simple editing tools available for touching up the composition. You can even add a picture to the title page of your song.
The next section to discuss is the "Personal Profile" module. Here you can select to report on all activity from today, last three days, last week, last two weeks or last month. The software will create reports for the theory exercises as well as the Piano performance sections. The "Piano Practice Report" allows you to view the evaluations on every piece you have practised during the period selected.
There are other features which will allow you to copy files here and there to other disks to share with teachers or others elsewhere or to E-mail to a friend on a distant tropical island.
One of the most impressive sections is the "History Happens" where you can find a historical guide to composers and performers. The list is very extensive and includes performers of all instruments, not just the piano. The composer biography bank is excellent and each composer has a picture that appears for each entry.
One of the nicest touches with this section of the software is that it uses a very familiar web browser look and feel. If your students have ever visited the web they will instantly be able to move around in this section of the "Piano Suite". The biographies tend to be sized according to importance as well which means you will find a significantly longer entry for Bach and Mozart than for Pachelbel or Hindemith all quite reasonable in my view.
Then to finish off there is a super game, "Grand Staff Battle". Kids will get into this in a big way. You play the part of "Mr. Semi-tone" and try and stop the invasion of monsters led by the evil "General MIDI". Again there are many settings to make the levels appropriate.
Altogether the creators of Piano Suite at Adventus have manufactured a splendid collection of software. My praise goes out on a number of general fronts. I like the way you can customize the program easily and virtually instantly. I like the idea of being able to add tunes that might be of some local interest to a student or teacher. I like the fact that the thing actually runs so far for me flawlessly. I like the thoroughness of the "package" and appreciate the care that has been taken to include many things that other programs have tended to ignore in their quest for market quaintness. I like the quantity of material housed on the disk. This is really a big product and a good product.
- Dr. Brian Roberts
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