Basic advice re benefits of "midi " to a piano beginner please

[bobg]

I bought Mrs BG a digital piano for her birthday and was wondering whether there are benefits to her utilizing the midi link to a pc with some kind of learning software. All the advice I can find might as well be written in Chinese. Thanks all

 

[ColinJ]

If you connect the piano to a MIDI interface on your PC (available on many soundcards) you can get software to monitor what is being played so it can tell if the right notes are being played at the right time. I've seen that kind of software. Sometimes there are musical games to play to make practice more fun. For example - I saw a version of Space Invaders where the 'invaders' were musical notes and you had to blow them up by playing the right notes on the keyboard.

You can record what is played and replay it later to check for mistakes. Another thing you could do is to record one hand playing, and then play the other over the replay if playing both hands at once is too difficult at first.

Take a look at the MIDI website for more information.

 

[bobg]

Just the job, thanks Colin. The various midi related web sites I've visited rely don't make it clear what the benefits to a piano beginner might be. I'll google for software now.

 

[ColinJ]

This looks quite good for a start! Apparently this is the same software repackaged for less than half the price!

 

[bobg]

Thanks again Colin. She's been playing 2 hours a day for the last 6 months and seems to have a sound grasp of a lot of musical theory and can play some songs following the bass and treble clef using chords/ melody and inversions etc albeit a bit slowly so having read the reviews, that software might be a bit too basic. Maybe software that just allows her playing to be represented in music notation on the pc screen so that she can play it back it to "see" and compare what she's done with the original notation might be all she needs? Not sure I'm making his very clear, I'm better with bikes...

 

[colly]

I think 'Teletex45' of this very forum is a professional piano player or a teacher of piano. He might just be able to offer some help.

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks again Colin. She's been playing 2 hours a day for the last 6 months and seems to have a sound grasp of a lot of musical theory and can play some songs following the bass and treble clef using chords/ melody and inversions etc albeit a bit slowly so having read the reviews, that software might be a bit too basic.

Ah - I thought you had just bought the piano! Yes, that software does sound pretty basic.

2 hours a day for 6 months is very good - she must be keen!

Maybe software that just allows her playing to be represented in music notation on the pc screen so that she can play it back it to "see" and compare what she's done with the original notation might be all she needs? Not sure I'm making his very clear, I'm better with bikes...

This software might be of interest then. You can can download a trial version, and I notice that they have a 'recession discount' - if you feel that your finances would be too stretched by paying full whack, you can select a lower price! (That's a nice touch. Hopefully some better-off people do actually pay the full price!)

 

[bobg]

Thanks chaps for your help, I'll have a quick word with Teletex and check out Colins software. BTW, yeah she's obsessive about everything she does... speaks French, German, Spanish and Gaelic ands has now embarked upon Chtimi ( dont ask ) Wish I had all that free time...All I can do is ride a bike and not too far any more