Can you learn to play piano with computer piano lessons? What kind of piano software and music theory software do you need when you learn to play the piano?
Actually, you don't need any software to learn how to play the piano at all!
So why do I still recommend it?
You can not learn to play piano well from using piano learning software alone- but as a complement and resource; it may keep you practicing in times when your self discipline might be waning...
And if it is fun and challenges you in different ways- why not?
So keep it real- use piano software as a tool, but don’t rely on it for all your needs when learning to play the piano.
Let's take a look at what piano software, music theory games and other music learning software can help you have more fun while learning to play:
Types of Piano Software :
There is a great variety of music learning and piano software available today.
Piano lesson software. A good piano software has an all-in-one approach consisting of piano lessons, theory etc., that also interacts and tells you what you did wrong- at least with regards to note reading- and even score you after each try! You need to have an electronic keyboard or a digital piano connected via MIDI to a computer for this. E Media's Piano and Keyboard Method is one of the best.
Better yet is to use a piano lesson course package. This is in my opinion more effective for learning to play the piano since it contains DVD’s, CD’s and written material plus that you can use any piano or keyboard. The most complete video instruction course for learning piano is
Learn and Master Piano.
Music theory software. Music theory software focuses mainly on teaching you notes and how to read music. As pianists we are lucky, since the piano keyboard is more often used as a tool to understand the notes than any other instrument, so good for us! A very good music theory software program is for example Music Ace. This is the favorite in my studio for learning about music theory from scratch.
Here is a great music software that makes learning the notes on the piano easy and fun both for adults and children!
Ear training software. You can find good software for ear training- it helps you practice to hear pitch, intervals, chords and scales and modes. When I started my own music studies (not sooo long ago…: } , we used cassette tapes of recorded segments of music, a pencil, lots of eraser and plain staff paper. I still think that is a great method- but with software I believe you can actually learn all the fundamentals much faster. My recommendation: EarMaster 5.
Integrated software with music history, music theory, simple notation etc. This kind of software is a fun complement for further enrichment of your studies. Unfortunately this is an area that has basically disappeared since the 90's. What happened to all the fantastic multimedia CD-ROMs? You can try to find second hand - but I am really disappointed to see this fade away. Try: Discovering Music CDrom
Music notation software. Could be rather costly. Here you need to decide what you really need, and for what reason you would want to write music. If you would like to develop skills as a composer, really great quality music composition software is a good investment. If you like to just doodle a few notes for fun, an integrated program with a simple music making software as mentioned above, might be more suitable. Examples of great quality music notation software are Sibelius First Softwareand Finale PrintMusic 2011.
Music recording software. I use a very simple program; Sony Creative Software Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 - 2011, to record from my Clavinova digital piano to my computer, and then burn to CD’s. It is simple and super easy to learn and I am really happy with it! For a great all-in-one music recording, music creation and notation program, check out: Finale PrintMusic 2011
You can not learn to play piano well from using piano learning software alone- but as a complement and resource; it may keep you practicing in times when your self discipline might be waning...
is one of the best.
. This is the favorite in my studio for learning about music theory from scratch.
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, to record from my Clavinova digital piano to my computer, and then burn to CD’s. It is simple and super easy to learn and I am really happy with it! For a great all-in-one music recording, music creation and notation program, check out: 
