One of the most popular online piano courses out there. But what does it actually offer?
Oversimplifying, there aren't but two kinds of learners. Not just for piano but for everything. From piano, to cooking, to gardenry, to whatever you might imagine. Yeah, some prefer to get classes online while others like to learn face-to-face, others like learning at their own pace and others would rather get an organised schedule. You can make as much little distinctions as you want to. However, most learners can be easily classified in two categories: Those who are willing to pay for their studies, and those who would rather not.
Why am I making such a dramatic and probably unneeded introduction? Well, the reason is pretty easy to see. Despite the internet is full of free content for people to download and learn how to play the piano, many learners still prefer to take paid courses in order to get a more advanced approach to their learning.
Let's be honest. Considering the usual goals people set to themselves when trying to learn piano online, free resources are clearly enough to achieve them painlessly. Clearly some technical aspects like hand-positioning can't really be learned by watching Synthesia tutorials, but taking into consideration the fact most people would already consider themselves experts if they managed to play all "Summer of '69" chords with a similar tempo to the original, most surely Chordify will get them where they want to sooner or later.
Success in learning, as in almost any human activity, depends mainly on expectation. And the expectation most people have regarding their piano "studies" isn't really something difficult to achieve with enough practice and commitment.
In the recent years, nevertheless, the internet has became full of various paid courses on almost any subject, that claim to be able to teach anyone the abilities a face-to-face teacher would, despite asking a way lower amount of money.
Internet courses tend to have a series of advantages and disadvantages compared to live education.
First of all, internet courses are way cheaper than normal ones, basically because:
-Competence is cleaner online, clients can choose virtually any course and aren't bound by geographical barriers.
-The same course can have limitless students so each student contributes less to the teachers global income than in real life when every client makes the difference.
-The teacher doesn't work as hard, and the service is factually less personalised and, to a certain degree, less foolproof.
Clearly, internet courses have notorious disadvantages. If you aren't positioning your hand parallel to the table when playing, a live teacher may notice instantly. An online course, however, would keep your hand 60º to the floor until you started feeling wrist pain.
Of all this huge industry, pianoforall.com would seem to be the gold standard of piano courses. According to its website, pianoforall.com offers:
-Interactive ebooks
-300 step-by-step video lessons
-1000+ audio lessons
-Dedicated e-mail support
All this for the price of 80 dollars (with a 38% discount) incluiding lifetime updates.
Just by looking at the numbers one may realise this course is really aimed at those willing to have a serious go on piano studying. Adding up more than 1300 lessons, pianoforall.com offers the same amount of classes as one would get going to class 3 days a week for 8 years!
It's important to consider pianoforall.com also holds a 60 day renewal clause, which you may claim whenever you want.
pianoforall.com is also proud of a series of statistics pretty worth mentioning.
pianoforall.com has been bought by more than 450,000 people. However, only 3% of them have asked for a refund. This satisfaction rate is, for most traditional academies, something even unrealistic to dream of.
The seriousness of pianoforall.com can be proven just by seeing the size of its content. More than 10 ebooks adding up to hundreds of pages just can't be dissappointing.
pianoforall.com also comes on a unique all-in-one package you may download in any of your devices, or can even be sent as a CD ROM.
The concept of pianoforall.com is in fact pretty simple. As technology advances, learning can be transformed in order to be more efficient and smart. Using pianoforall.com, you get to watch lessons and can simultaneously practice with them as many times as you would like to. These lessons feature digitally generated content which helps you to visualize better.
pianoforall.com appeals at making you learn enough basics in order to sound right from the first days. This is really important, considering most traditional academies will require a couple of months for you to start playing actual songs instead of simple études.
pianoforall.com tries to combine play-by-ear style with reading music sheets. This is a relevant advantage, as most people learn to play-by-ear by their own means because nobody actually teaches them to identify the sounds they are playing.
Another important aspect to consider is the e-mail support one may recur to anytime in order to get any needed help.
Probably the most remarkable feature of pianoforall.com is its approach. Most traditional academies are clearly focused towards goals most people just don't have anymore. Sure, some decades ago one wouldn't take a piano course to learn how to play rock or blues, but would be trained to be able to play the classics. After all, no one was willing to pay in order to play pop songs. Nowadays, notwithstanding, most people have a different view on studying music, and therefore teachers should also give a more modern focus to their activities in order to meet better the expectations of the music players of tomorrow. pianoforall.com, as a recent and innovative resource, is purportedly designed in order to teach students to play what they want to.
And this happens not only because of pianoforall.com focus on composition and improvisation, but because of the fact students don't learn the basics using meaningless old songs, but start playing what they want to from the very beginning. And this is an undeniable strength online courses have. The teacher understands its clients needs, and will do as much as possible to make their studies meaningful and interesting.
pianoforall.com aims to teach by changing the way students see its instrument. Robin Hall (the course creator) asserts piano is one of the easiest instruments to learn, basically because it makes extremely easy to visualize its patterns and how it works. And this is pretty true. When learning guitar, for example, one must learn new chords more or less by heart, because there isn't really a logical arrangement of notes. However, when learning piano chords one just can't get wrong which notes form each type of chord. Piano is designed in order to be a logical and straightforward instrument, with an intentional linear design. Therefore, when learning to play it one shouldn't focus only in general music theory, but also on how the instrument actually works in order to simplify the learning process. Hall tries to make students understand how a piano works and is designed in order to be able to really get into what they are playing and not just repeating things out of their memory.
As a closing paragraph, I would like us all to read what pianoforall.com proudly shows as their star testimonial:
I AM TRULY AMAZED AT THE PROGRESS I HAVE MADE IN THREE DAYS!!!!
David Morgan , London, E6, UK david244@idnet.com
“Hi Robin, Never thought I would say this I thought I had tried every method when it came to not only learning to play the piano but understanding the method.I am truly amazed at the progress I have made in THREE DAYS !!!!
I have the benefit of being able to play but never to the standard I wanted and trying so hard to find that elusive sound, I have spent many hundreds of pounds and a lot of time with scales and all this entails and progress was so slow but I would not give up, it turned out to be very challenging and at times it felt like a battle which has gone on for ten years.
I read the reviews on your website and was very dubious as all this seemed too good to be true and claims made seemed very similar to so many others I had read and tried, but I did buy and your system just blew me away and I have been glued to my piano since downloading the book.
Thank you for putting the enjoyment back and I have made more progress with this method in 3 days than I had in 3 years. I have already started on book 5 and will complete the set I just cant get enough of this type of learning, and of course apply all I learn from you to all the numbers I have tried and failed to get 100% right. You have remedied this and I am so pleased to have found someone whos claims are more than justified.
Your style is so easy to follow and the video along with the sheet music and the audio, no one could ask for anything more. Many thanks and I will write again in about 6 weeks by which time I am confident with your help I can at last enjoy what I love doing and that is just to sit and play my piano. All the very best. David Morgan.”
(Later update) “Hi Robin, with pleasure use whatever part of it you wish, thank you for such a brilliant format just finished a 6 hour stint and getting on brilliantly you have refreshed everything and proving to be much more effective than even a face to face tutor. It’s hard work but as I enjoy this so much and at last getting the answers I am over the moon. Feel free to include my name and email address and should you wish I have included a snap. All the very best, David”
(Later update – after buying book 6) Hi Robin, can’t wait to get my teeth into this one and for that matter all of them, it really is all I have said in the past and more, this formula is foolproof, as long as you have the motive to carry on, the joy of this is each lesson/page spurs you on, the sky is the limit. Brilliant stuff speak soon, you are a fantastic teacher. Anyone doubting this should try it. All the very best David”
In conclusion, is pianoforall.com a good online resource for piano learners? Indeed it is. Is it, however worth buying? It depends. pianoforall.com is, as any paid learning content, aimed at people with serious goals who actually desire to sacrifice part of their money in exchange for a better learning. Take a minute to think on whether your interest on piano is actually worth your money: if the answer is yes, one can't recommend it enough.