Soft Mozart news: Improved version of software!

[andreasro]

Here's the latest news from Soft Mozart inventor and developers. YAY! An upgraded version is here!
I don't know about you, but I'm very excited! May recital is coming, more and more children, teenagers and parents start using it and share their experiences. I bet this year is going to be even more people going to the next level in learning to play piano.
If you follow the threads on Soft Mozart forum you see that the number of early learners taught at home is growing all over the world.
I'm very thankful to Brillkids team for creating Brillkids forum! It's because of this forum I've found great EL materials, guidance, friends and lifetime opportunities (later added: both for my kids and me). 


"IT'S SOFT MOZART – ONLY BETTER
You can get yours starting
MARCH 31, 2013

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO LIKE:

1.   All the piano pieces for performance, sight-reading and ear training are listed by levels of difficulty. It will make your learning experience more enjoyable and structured.

2.   More piano classical and contemporary pieces: ‘Green Sleeves’, Debussy ‘Clair De Lune’, ‘When All The Saints’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘The Banana Boat Song’, ‘The House Of The Rising Sun’ and others.

3.       More visual support for beginners and intermediate students. We marked the space between the third and fourth lines blue; our new piano key guides match the changes:


All the customers with Windows version 2_5 Ind and Group will be able to receive the upgrade remotely through Skype or email exchange.


Special offers and prices:
1.     Our active Soft Mozart learners and promoters will receive up to 100% discount for the new version 2.6
All the candidates will be reviewed and approved by our PTO after their written requests (please, send the request to [email protected])
2.     New customers, who will buy our software before MARCH 31, 2013 will receive our new UPGRADE and piano key stickers as a bonus free of charge (Subscription or Perpetual *Windows only!*)
3.     Our existing customers will be able to receive the new 2_6 version upgrade for $150 (please, look at our article about scholarships to have a chance to reduce the price : https://www.pianolearningsoftware.com/Scholorships_c_37.html )

Beginning March 31st, 2013 our new pricing schedule is as follows:
6-months Subscription - $199
12-months Subscription - $299
Perpetual Version - $1,199

Please take note if you are considering an upgrade soon.
We believe that every child, young and old, should have a chance at music literacy. We are confident that Soft Mozart is the best and easiest way to bring music education to everyone. But we also understand that sometimes finances can get in the way. That is why we encourage every student to apply for a scholarship.

The better you learn - the less you pay."

[Tamsyn]

Is there going to be an index in this one?  Navigation has been my biggest frustration with it- going back and forth between my kids' different songs.  I'm glad they are updating it.  Soft Mozart is neat, but the current version is very, very dated.  This is good news, thanks for sharing!

[sonya_post]

Tamsyn, I am pretty sure these updates are for making improvements immediately. I would look for a completely updated interface and other changes to come in the next couple years. I am really excited about Hellene plans for the future.

[andreasro]

Tamsyn,
Please write any suggestion you have regarding the software here: http://www.softmozart.com/forum/5-suggestion-box/ It's the right place for talking about upgrades.
The Soft Mozart forum is like a big family where the mother is taking into account everyone's ideas for the best of all.
Hellene is always happy to hear what the Soft Mozart users have to say.

[Mela Bala]

The upgrade looks great.  I have to admit I've had Soft Mozart for over a year now and have not started yet 
In light of this upgrade, the many success stories and how happy everyone's kids are on videos I have seen I am positive we will start before my previous target in June. 

Of course my first step will be to catch up with everyone on the Soft Mozart forum. 

[andreasro]

The upgrade looks great.  I have to admit I've had Soft Mozart for over a year now and have not started yet 
In light of this upgrade, the many success stories and how happy everyone's kids are on videos I have seen I am positive we will start before my previous target in June. 

Of course my first step will be to catch up with everyone on the Soft Mozart forum. 

Come on! Seriously? I've been waiting for you to play me some songs you love! Why do you keep me waiting so long? 
Dear Mela Bela, why wait till June, unless it's a problem of space or else related?
Go for it now, while everyone is sleeping

The idea is not to catch up. I wish you find your own pace, play the songs according to guideline credits for each month or just play songs you love to practice.
Enjouy yourself and your family by playing piano! It will be one of the most rewarding things!

Hugs,
Andrea

[Mela Bala]

Thanks Andreasro,
That's just what I needed a friendly push towards undeniable success using Soft Mozart.  I've been telling myself using tuning forks and Little Musician are good enough right now... But right now could be learning the complete act of playing the piano instead of preparing...
No excuses for my past behavior even though we've been busy with 3 foreign languages I don't know, math, science, art, brain gym, yoga, the music we do, classes he attends etc.

Out of curiousity how often do you have soft Mozart lessons per week? 

[Tamsyn]

We push for it every day, although it doesn't always happen.  All of my life I have heard that it is better to practice 15 minutes a day than 2 hours once a week. Well, with Soft Mozart especially, I have learned that it is okay to only have a 5 minute lesson.  We don't start our kids off reading "Green eggs and ham".  It's too long and would be above their head.  I think that's why a lot of kids have burn-out when they start lessons- they aren't ready to practice 30 minutes a day, and their parents feel like they are wasting money on lessons of their kid doesn't.  But it's okay to start small, and in fact, I recommend it.

Right now, for SM, I have my kids play whatever song they are learning once and the "Guess key note" game for a few minutes.  My older kids are ready for more now I think, so I've been easing them into it.  Even so, they practice less than 10 minutes a day and I'm satisfied with that.  We are also doing LMs lessons every day, things from "The Solfege Train" (I better use my own product!  ), and music exposure in some of our other educational videos like tweedlewink and YourChildCanDiscover.  Overall that's about 20-30 minutes of music a day.  I know others are doing more than this and they are getting better results than me, but my kids are progressing well and I am satisfied with that much for now.  My daughter actually does more than that on her own, but I don't require it.

Nothing is wasted.  When you choose to do one thing, you aren't doing something else.  You're doing some amazing things with your little boy so don't beat yourself up because your 2-year-old isn't playing minuet in G yet.  There's still plenty of time. 

[sonya_post]

Tamsyn & Mela,

I agree with you. You can only do so much. We spend a LOT of time on music but I have a house of kids music obsessed. We aren't learning any foreign languages but my haphazard attempt at Latin right now. So, you can't do it all, nor should you. While I believe EL is good for kids, I don't believe that it is the only thing they should be doing. Far from it. So, you have to pick. I chose music not languages. Or rather, my son and Miss C, chose music and I just follow along.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Please tell me this upgrade allows users to import their own midi songs for practice? I have not read so much online, but am crossing my fingers that I missed it somehow. That is the one feature we are really, really waiting for!

[Mandabplus3]

Sorry TMT it won't do that yet. That little awesome pice of upgrade is expensive. Hellene is working on it but its not there yet. That is the one upgrade I need also. Same reasons as you, so they can practice their lesson music in a fun way and can play things they love and recognise.
The upgrade does list the songs in order of easy to hard which is useful and has a few extra songs included.

[mario]

I plan to start using Soft Mozart in the last quarter of this year. Until there I want to buy Little Musician first and also a keyboard with MIDI cable. Anyway, I'll leave here a question:

I have a simple Casio Keyboard, with no MIDI, but with lots of fun and irresistible things for my 19-month toddler. So far it's almost impossible to make something with. He just goes to DEMO button and start dancing with the music. Or he changes to the mode were you have electronic music being played along with your notes. I always think that this will change with time. He used to to the same with iPad Home button. Nothing more existed on iPad for him. Now he can find an app he wants anywhere. Also, it was impossible a month ago to make a session of LR without having him trying to reach the mouse. Now he gets concentrated on the lesson.

Is it the same with those hundreds of buttons on keyboard? Or perhaps, would you recommend a simple electric piano with MIDI and no hundreds of buttons? I can't spend too much on this. I'm considering this one, that in my country costs only 4 times more:

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-Series-PSRE233-Portable-Keyboard/dp/B004W94LEQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1365003032&sr=8-3&keywords=yamaha+keyboard

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Mario-

I would probably just get craft and rig up a (wood?) "cover" that slides over that part of the keyboard if it can be done economically. Just like the home button covers for ipad. Or, wait it out until he loses the fascination.

[linzy]

This is the one we bought: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0059ZVQ22/ref=oh_details_o04_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a little more expensive, but it is a great deal and has 76 keys. We are very happy with the sound and quality. I think just playing with your baby on the keyboard for a few minutes each day, maybe playing and singing do, re, mi, fa, so while playing and letting baby hit with one finger. Will help to teach more purposeful playing.

[Mandabplus3]

I can't remember how many keys you need for softmozart ( stop by and ask on their forum) but basically any cheap keyboard will do the trick for the first few years. There will come a time when you will want to buy an electric piano but I wouldn't start there when teaching little kids. It needs a midi or a USB option. You can cover over the buttons on some keyboards. My kids can't get to the fancy buttons on ours because the laptop sits right on top of them!
I also think its important to remember that at the moment your child is punching the buttons because they don't have anything else to DO with the keyboard. They don't know any songs or have anything to practice. Once they have some routine and guidance they will play less and practice more.
I agree with starting your child early and working on simple scales or walking up and down the keyboard so they can learn to push one key at a time. Even better if they can learn to use more than one finger or more than one hand at the same time!  but any time at the piano is developing familiarity and pitch.

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