Alicia's Keys - VIRTUAL Piano Sample Library Review

This is a fantastic plugin. It works standalone and in your favorit DAW, such as ProTools. It sounds like if you were sitting at a real (good) piano. The light tones sounds like a real piano where the string almost have no sound, and the deep tones are really nice and deep.
My girl wouldnt play any other pianos cause they didnt sound real. Even ProTools piano (that is quit allright), werent good enough.
The folks from Native Instruments have done a fantastic job. Thumps Up.

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Product Description:
Together with Danish sample specialist Thomas Skarbye (better known by his company name Scarbee) and impulse response expert Ernest Cholakis, Alicia Keys has created a virtual piano that meets her professional standards and embodies the soulful sound that has become her trademark as a superstar. This is the piano sound that has helped Miss Keys win multiple Grammys and reach the top of the charts. ALICIA'S KEYS was sampled from her own playing, recorded in the artist's own studio under the supervision of her trusted engineer, Ann Mincieli. The instrument samples come from Alicia Keys' very own Yamaha­TM C3 Neo grand piano. This unique and highly-sought after instrument was built to celebrate Yamaha's 100th anniversary in 2002 and represents the very top of the Conservatory Collection line. The exquisite and unique sound of the C3 Neo were painstakingly captured by Thomas Skarbye, Kontakt script wizard Nils Liberg, and Grammy-award winning engineer Ann Mincieli - making this exclusive instrument available to everyone. Using vintage microphones and preamps and through detailed analysis of Alicia's playing, the team succeeded in capturing the warm, soulful and inspiring sound of the C3 Neo all the way down to the finest nuances. Alicia herself says, "I feel confident that we came up with the best virtual piano you've ever heard and I am excited to introduce it to you! Ann, Thomas and Nils are a brilliant team!" Great effort was put into making ALICIA'S KEYS as authentic as possible. Designed with incredible precision, and incorporating subtle details such as mechanical release noises, a specially developed sympathetic resonance and release system, and even the sound of fingers hitting keys (optional), this unique instrument delivers plenty of lively realism. So much in fact, that Alicia Keys herself used it exclusively on her latest album The Element of Freedom.

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Piano for Kids (Jewel Case) Review

This is a first-stage beginner's program with an excellent presentation.The cute characters provide a very good education about piano basics and how to play the piano.For the software version, screen animations provide a level of interest for kids.Recommended for age 6+, but I believe it could start younger for those that can read a little.The software version features printable sheet music, tempo adjustments, puzzles, games, and an option to download other free MIDI songs (but on Windows Vista with a broadband (cable internet) connection, this option did not work).SelectSoft/ArcMedia's website also did not produce a listing for free MIDI music downloads.If the download MIDI songs function works for you, this would be an excellent choice for long-term teaching.Piano for Kids (Jewel Case)Piano for Kids

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Product Description:
Meet Professor Rhythm and his staff: five cheeky characters who will open up the world of music and make playing the piano as easy as pie-ano. Children learn to readand play music with the help of an amazing magic piano that shows which notes to hit and when.
Features:

Adjust the tempo bar to match learning speed.
Left and right hand movements taught separately and together.
Watch the ladybug follow the notes as the tune is played back.
Look up musical terms in the glossary.
Well-known, recognizable tunes plus printable sheet music with finger positions and notes that kids can color.
Introduction to the basics of general music theory.
Puzzles, games and drag & drop exercises with fun sounds and animations to support the lessons.
The unique touch & click piano helps kids learn where the notes are onthe piano keyboard and the staff.

System Requirements for Windows

Windows 98, Me, XP
Pentium PC or faster
32 MB RAM (48 MB recommended)
100 MB free hard disk space
800x600monitor, 16-bit color
Windows-compatible sound card & speakers
2X CD-ROM drive (4X recommended)

System Requirements for Macintosh

Mac OS 7.5-9.2, OS X Classic mode
PowerMac or faster
32 MB RAM (48 MB recommended)
100 MB free hard disk space
800x600 monitor, thousands of colors
2X CD-ROM drive (4X recommended)

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eMedia Piano & Keyboard Basics Review

This is just the first one-third of their Piano and Keyboard Method package.It covers the basics of rhythm and reading music.If you're serious about really learning in this manner, you should probably just get the Piano and Keyboard Method version right away.If you're just dabbling and need some help learning to keep time and read music, this is a great place to start (you'll need a MIDI keyboard to get the most out of it).But if you already have a good sence of rhythm and know the basics of reading music, this wont offer too much.

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Product Description:
eMedia Piano and Keyboard Basics CD-ROM offers everything you need to learn how to play. Learn from over 100 step-by-step lessons with full-motion video demonstrations. Piano teacher Irma Justicia has taught at the renowned Juilliard School of Music. Learn from either the music notation or an animated keyboard. Songs include recorded audio, variable-speed MIDI and MIDI accompaniments. When used with a MIDI keyboard, you can get specific feedback on playing mistakes. Also includes a digital metronome and recorder.

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Piano Wizard Premier with Silver M-Audio Keyboard - Standard Version Review

I've had this Piano Wizard premier version for a year and a half now. My son has been practicing the piano 90 minutes a day with it. He is 8 years old, mentally retarded, and for the longest time I've had trouble finding something he could do. He could hardly even understand enough to appreciate toddler TV programs. The Piano Wizard is my son's first project of his life. It is an intuitive piano teaching system. You see the color dot on the screen, you press the corresponded colored key on the musical keyboard. The music's speed can be controlled so much that you can have it coming literally at a snail's speed such that even people with the worst reflexes have the time to find the right key to push.

That's how my son got started with Twinkle Twinkle, pushing one key at a time. There is no need to know how to read music at that point. However, music notation is still taught in the system. My video here shows my son playing the first level of a song, where the eggs go straight up exactly in the order of the layout of a piano's keys. This makes it possible even for him to figure out readily when to push which key. Once he's familiar with that, level two has the eggs going sideways, so it is a little less intuitive. Once my son gets the fingering down in level one, he doesn't have much trouble adjusting to level 2. Level 3 shows normal musical notes but still in the color system to indicate the keys. Then Level 4, which I show my son play here in the second half of the video, has just the normal musical notes. As you can see, my son adjusts to that rather well too.

The Piano Wizard premier version is extremely well designed with convenient features. You can set it so that it repeats any part of the song such that you play the difficult part again and again. You can stop the song anywhere and scroll it back to any other part and start right there. I use those two features all the time. It keeps count of how many keys my son missed and gives a score at the end, so I can just let my son practice while I do housework, then check the score to gauge his performance.

The easy level has 100 songs divided by difficulty into 10 levels. This video shows my son play a song in level 6. These songs have the fingerings already keyed in, which is another help for beginners. One can also input or edit any figuring easily for any song. It is also an easy matter to input ANY midi song into the Piano Wizard. I have downloaded free Disney and Star War songs and watch the notes go up inside the Piano Wizard. Learning to play them, however, is still a lot of work!

I use two keyboards with Piano Wizard: the one that came with the program, and a cheap Yamaha keyboard I bought around 6 years ago. Both keyboards work flawlessly with the Wizard in my XP desktop, but with my XP laptops sometimes the drivers fail, and out of the blue the Piano Wizard loses contact with the keyboard and I have to restart the computer to make things go again. But it is not a big problem for me.

The Piano Wizard with keyboard isn't cheap, but it's a lot cheaper than piano lessons. It is enough to get somebody going in learn to play at least up to medium level. I don't even know how to play the piano myself, and yet, by using the program, I have great fun teaching my son to play and watch him improve. I start him slow and gradually increase the speed until he can play at full speed. Who'd ever imagine that he could do this? And it takes me little time because once I get him going, he just practice until he gets good at it; I only have to supervise on occasion. Once you choose a speed, it will play again at the same speed until you change it, so it is really convenient.

In the end, this is easier than driving him to piano lessons even if you don't count the cost. When my relatives and friends watch my son play, they always exclaim, "Wow, you are doing so good with him!"

During the time my son's been playing the piano, his speech and understanding has also improved greatly. I don't know if the piano playing helped? But there is some evidence that music improves a child's intelligence. It's worth a try.

The Piano Wizard is an ingeniously designed system for somebody who wants to teach himself how to play. If even my son can do it, who can't? ( As long as one possesses basic motor skills and hand eye coordination.)

I highly recommend it to anyone.

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Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course, Duet Book Level 1 [Paperback] Review

This book is great for a teacher to accompany a beginner, but also for an intermediate student to learn the teacher portion. I teach two sisters and one is more advanced than the other. I was able to use this book with both of them and it was great! They could really enjoy working together and be equally challenged while enjoying a beautiful piece.

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Product Description:
As with all Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course materials, the Duet Books correlate exactly with Lesson Books 1 and 2. The duet parts are delightful accompaniments which serve to enhance the student's part. Adults will find the pieces fun to play, musically rewarding and very motivational.

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Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course: Christmas Piano Book (Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course) [Paperback] Review

I'm thrilled with the results I am achieving with Alfred's Basic Adult All-In-One Course.
Before starting this course I simply knew what a piano looked and sounded like let alone where Middle "C" was.

Be sure to buy the books with their CD's where provided. It's helpful to hear the pieces played giving one an idea of the appropriate tempo to achieve. Having mastered level one I'm now deep into level two including Broadway Hits, Christmas Song and Alfred's Basic Adult Jazz/Rock Course. I also use Alfred's Basic Adult Finger Aerobics. I've been going it alone now for 15 months.

If you are hiring a piano teacher to help you with this course he/she can guide you with regard to tempo along with much more I presume.

Remember this is the All-In-One Course.There are other and older Alfred's Basic Adult courses be careful to look for this specific course.

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Product Description:
These collections by one of our most popular composers are full of easy solo arrangements of favorite Christmas carols for adults who are studying Alfred's Adult All-in-One Course, Books 1 and 2.Each selection will bring enjoyment and inspiration to lift holiday spirits!

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