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Teach Me Piano

Teach Me Piano

List Price: $79.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not compatible with Windows XP
Review: Beware!! You cant use this program if you have or upgrade to Windows XP! Voyettra website states that ther is no patch or download available. But, they do recommend spending the extra 29.00 to upgrade to the "Deluxe" version so that you can use it in XP. This is from their website... "If you're using Windows XP we would recommend upgrading to "Teach Me Piano Deluxe" on our website:" Very poor customer support. I guess Ill be buying software from another company from now on.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Beware Teach Me Piano will not run on XP
Review: Beware... I bought a new PC with XP and then "Teach Me Piano." Only to find out that "Teach Me Piano" will not install on XP, even though voyetra shows XP support......

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: worth every dime AND more
Review: Considering that piano lessons were quote to me at 14 a 1/2 hour for a beginner, this is a real value. Excellent graphics and instruction. This is the best computer program on the market for learing piano, as you will see confirmed all over the web. Very good for the older beginner. By the way, if you are inept at software installation, get help,....

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Error message when trying to re-enter program
Review: During the first chapter we quite enjoyed the software and learned the initial steps. Once we wanted to continue the next day we kept getting error message about the "SPW Font" not being available. Subsequently we spent several days to work this out but had absolutely no support from the manufacturer. It appears that some people were successful installing the program. Any hint would be appreciated.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good for beginners
Review: Having heard about this software in a number of web sites and/or books/magazines, I decided to give it a try. In my opinion, this is an excellent software *ONLY* for beginners. It has a very well designed user interface which is very easy to use. (A big plus if you're going to buy one for your children...) It starts out with how to place your hands on your keyboard/piano, makes you go through a number of hand stretching/finger movingexercises, and then shows the basics of musical notation, etc...

I must warn you though, if you've been playing the piano for some time (I mean, if you're above beginner level), do NOT buy this software, you'll get bored in about 2 hours.

The software comes with 75 songs to study/play. All songs are in MIDI format, and as you might have already guessed, you can download other songs from the Internet and let the software ''teach'' those songs to you. (You *will* use this feature eventually, because I think the 75 songs that comes with the software are not a good selection)

If you want, you can connect your keyboard and/or digital piano to your computer, and let Voyetra ''rate'' your performance.

And one more thing: Voyetra claims that the CD contains over 2 years worth of piano lessons. I find this statement a little too exaggarated. In my opinion, even novices can go through this CD in at most 3-4 months.

Summary/conclusion: Voyetra Teach Me Piano is perfect for beginners, do not bother if you're anywhere above the beginner level.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Teach Me Piano
Review: Having just purchased a used piano for my daughter, I decided to attempt to learn it also. At the age of 35, I didn't want to take beginning piano lessons so I purchased the above software, Teach Me Piano. When you consider the average cost of weekly piano lessons, this software really does pay for itself after a few lessons. I found it easy to use, however I would strongly recommend you only buy it if you have your computer relatively close to the piano in question. Laptop which you could sit on the piano would be preferable. The interactive portion of the lesson really requires a good quality microphone. You must be self-motivated to get anything out of this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great introductory piano lessons
Review: I am in my mid thirties and I had never played a musical instrument in my entire life. Two weeks after installing the software I am well on my way to playing my first complete song by devoting about 45 minutes every day to the lessons. Great software, and it does work fine on Windows XP and the MIDI interface of a Sound Blaster card.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly Recommended Training Software!
Review: I evaluated this software before giving it to a close friend of mine and I must admit Voyetra did a very good job at it.

Learning is done at a very gradual pace. You basically can start from scratch, learning how to read and play with one hand, the go on to two. This is done in three effective steps.

First, you learn the rhythm of the song or tune you want to play for the left hand. You just basically press any key with the left hand on the keyboard and master the rhythm. You do not need to play the tune. You just follow the metronome. You then switch to the right hand and redo the process again. Finally, you do it with two hands. At this stage, you do not learn the pitch, just the rhythm.

Second, you learn to play the tune (or pitch) of the left hand, but without bothering with the rhythm. This is done at your own pace. You just learn the notes. You then repeat this for the right hand, then both hands.

Third and last, once you have gone through the two previous steps, you now play the tune, again for the left hand only, this time following the rhythm. Then you continue on with the right. Then finally you are ready with two hands.

Basically, this gives a lesson of three steps (rhythm, pitch, rhythm + pitch), each done in three parts (left hand, right hand, both hands).

You can skip or repeat any of these steps as much as you want. You can also ask the software to do a demonstration for you of a particular step. The evaluation only takes into account your performance in the final step with both hands, and even here you can repeat the evaluation as much as you like (until you get a score of 100% every time; this is when you should stop bragging and go on!).

The software can be adjusted in its tolerance with three levels of accuracy (beginners, intermediate, advance).

All this is possible ONLY if you have a keyboard connected to your computer (no, there is none included with the software). Should you want to do it with an ordinary piano, be aware that this software does NOT use a microphone. Therefore, it is impossible for this software to evaluate your performance in this case. But it can still assist you (in a limited way).

Interlaced with the lessons are video clips of your instructor, Hugh Berberich. He is actually quite efficient and very friendly, and narrates the lesson quite well.

There is even a profile manager that allows different people to learn at their own pace. (WARNING! There is actually a small error in this feature, but please go to the technical support database at Voyetra's website, under "Power tips: multiple students", for more details.)

This software comes highly recommended to anyone who wants to start learning to those at an intermediate level of learning.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Juliard of software instruction!
Review: I have not found any other software this complete and easy to use. It teaches at my pace. I can review or repeat as much as I need for comprehension. The best on the market, at least right now.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst software EVER
Review: I was taking lessons from the internet FREE and decided to get Teach Me Piano with a gift certificate. This is without a doubt the worst software EVER. I installed and uninstalled it 3x. After muddling through the lack of any START instructions, I could play (I think) the beginning of the course until I exited and try to return later. Each time the software was "performing an illegal operation and will close" So unless you can spend the next year or so of your life while the software is working to learn the piano, forget it, you'll never get back in. I emailed the company 2x and have yet to get a response. So much for technical support. I have returned the junk for a refund. Thanks to..great return policies. I'll go back to FREE internet instructions.


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