I have always wanted to learn to play the piano, but there was always so much else to do I never got the time to take it up.
When I took early retirement it was the first thing I chose to do. I started with some videos I found at the Online Piano Tutor, and after a few months banging away on my daughter’s old Yamaha plastic keyboard my wife was convinced I was serious about learning piano so she bought me a “real one” for my birthday.
I have it connected to a spare computer which allows me to have a “digital” tutor in the form of Musiah.
Created by Brendan Hogan, a piano teacher of almost 40 years it is, in his words, “a Software embodiment of him”! I actually find it works well for me as I can have my lessons any time that fits in with my schedule and reasonable value at £20 per month.
I had no musical skills to start with (some might say that is still the case!), and I have had to learn to read music as well as getting my hands to play two different sets of keys at the same time!
My goal is to be able to play Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is lesson #101 on Musiah, and I am a way off that yet! Perhaps I will get as good as this young lady (YouTube).
In addition to Musiah I have also found the following websites very useful:
- Andrew Furmanczyk – Piano Academy (YouTube)
- Alison Sparrow – The Online Piano Tutor and YouTube
-
Allysia at PianoTV
- Files on Titan:
/Archive_Jekyll/files/piano/…- Book “Piano for Beginners” (2014) [PDF]
- Book “Piano for Dummies” (2014) [PDF]
- PianoTV : Notes and videos from Level-A course, and her website
- “Learn To Play Piano” books from Alison Sparrow
- “Piano For All” video series
- Music Theory various books
- Music Scores various (MuseScore format)