For those of you following some of the discussions on Piano Wizard, there is an update to Brillkids Piano Wizard Academy Offer, posted here for your convenience.

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/how-can-music-dramatically-affect-your-child's-development-and-lifetime-success/msg63964/#msg63964

For those of you following some of the discussions on Piano Wizard, there is an update to Brillkids Piano Wizard Academy Offer

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/how-can-music-dramatically-affect-your-child's-development-and-lifetime-success/msg63964/#msg63964

Audrey,

I just found "JD" online last night, it says he is 2 and this was his first song at the game. They are sponges at this age, but what you see on the video I have seen many times. As I said in other parts of the forum, we do not advertise below 3 because developmentally kids are all over the map, and you don't want people to feel bad if their kids cannot do it. There can be a lot of difference between 2 and 3 that is perfectly normal, and parenting is tough enough without putting pressure on ourselves or them to be better, faster quicker at everything. That being said, the cognitive development is both somewhat independent of age and subject to stimulation and influence, which most parents on this forum know. (Stimulation is one thing, pressure and anxiety another, we are for the former, soft styles of engagement and encouragement.) Because we have the Free Play mode that can engage even babies on their parents lap, and such simple ways to start the game with means of controlling and slowing things down, we feel that the issue is "doses" of music, in other words, through gameplay, a child may gradually involve themselves deeper and deeper into the music, most of this happening subconsciously. Actually, I believe even learning basic things like letters and colors can and usually are experienced by a child as "play", i.e., they are modeling and engaging in a game of call and response, seeking your smile as a reward for connecting the dots in their heads, as well as the pure joy of discovery for its own sake. We just wanted to emulate those common language and modeling interactions and learnings in a musical and still playful environment.
If you get the game, please share your experiences and joys with us online as well!

Thanks,

Chris

Audrey,

I tried to look up the "Casio Pixma" online and there is only a Canon printer by that name I could find. The  is, is it MIDI compatible? Most keyboards costing about $100 or more are, and you will find it written somewhere on the keyboard ("MIDI"). If you find the name of your keyboard is different, look it up online to see in the specs if it is MIDI compatible. If it is, it will work. You may need a special USB/MIDI cable if it is older and still has "MIDI" ports (penny sized round input holes in the back is a clue) but most keyboards now use regular printer style USB cables.

The game can be played by anyone that knows their colors. As for your 17 month old, I would use "Free Play" mode where the hitting the keys generate the game objects, so no matter what they hit they are seeing results. It is also a great way to help teach her the colors, if she doesn't know them yet, but we have seen lots of 2 year olds playing the game, and anything that gets them having fun on the piano at that age and getting to know the keyboard is great.
I just found this video online, and though he is not using the correct fingerings yet (in the game and the videos when he is ready) you can see he "gets it" and is enjoying himself on his first song. What a great way to start your music studies.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/UY5LYuaBZl4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/UY5LYuaBZl4&rel=1</a>

So, my opinion is that your daughter is probably ready or nearly ready to start, I believe their minds are growing so fast at this age that music can only help them and delight them. I personally love that age, their personality begins to emerge, they walk and talk, and now can begin to play music!

Enjoy,

Thanks

Chris

RenaissanceMum,

Sorry your piano teacher feels that way, but it is not uncommon, plus they usually are unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with computer software, and certainly usually don't know Piano Wizard Academy.

As for the keyboard size, we have two ways to set that. One is the set up wizard in the opening menu, which asks you to play the lowest key and highest key on the keyboard, so it can "measure" the size of your keyboard (it goes from 1 to 7 octaves), then it defaults to the same size "visual keyboard" for the game. In other words, if I have a 4 octave C to C keyboard like the M-Audio we ship with most units, it will detect the range to be 49 keys (4 x 12 keys per octave, then 1 more to double the starting note of the last octave), and it will set the display keyboard to the same size. However, many times you want to see a different size keyboard than you physically have, either to zoom in and make the game objects larger (less keys, more room for each key, bigger on screen keys and game objects) or zoom back and see the 4 octaves in the context of a larger keyboard view (active keyboard range is highlighted, the keys outside of your actual range are grayed out.

ALL of this can be reset and played with once you click on Premier Mode and go to the Keyboard Tab. From there just click on Help and it will walk you through the various options.

So, you can just choose to input 3 (F to F) octaves, 4 (C to C) octaves on your full size keyboard, and it will just show that range in the game play as active, and match the visual display to that.

Again, a long explanation, much easier to understand looking at the help files or video demos of Keyboard Set up,

(http://www.musicwizard.com/includes/showObject.cfm?objectType=MultiMedia&noPadding=1&displayMethod=display&objectID=30)

but the answer is the keyboard sizes are completely adjustable to fit your needs and keyboard.

Thanks

Chris

Here is a "grid" view of music, that is the heart of the Piano Wizard Academy technology. This is NOT a screen shot of Piano Wizard Academy, but another manifestation of MIDI technology and how it can illuminate musical elements in different ways. Plus it is an amazing movement from the "Thanksgiving" quartet of Beethoven. You can see the mind of Beethoven in living color, and it is a great starting point to move toward understanding music notation, which is a less intuitive and more obscure way of representing the same music.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Gxmhpaq6I4E&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Gxmhpaq6I4E&rel=1</a>

Enjoy!

Thanks

Chris

[At what age do most children start using your program?]

Thanks Chris for your in depth replies - it's most appreciated.  I have a few more questions if that's ok.  (I am a piano teacher but am mostly interested in this at the moment for my 2 year old daughter).

To what level does the game go up to?  I understand you gradually switch over to the standard music notation - how long does that process normally take, and what level of playing are the students up to when that happens?  I understand it will depend on a lot of things, including the child's age when starting.

Thanks again.

Fiudo,

Because there are a lot of questions about age, I am reposting some earlier replies, with some modifications for you.

At what age do most children start using your program?

CHRIS- We do not advertise because developmental issues are so variable at that age, but we have had two year olds play the game fine, IF they know their colors. Sometimes the game is a fun way to learn them. That being said, there is a "Free Play" mode that we use with even new borns, where whatever they bang on the keyboard produces colored game objects, but this is mainly to get them associating music with play with the parents, and again, to help play to learn their colors. It sounds like she is either ready or will be shortly, in weeks or months. For me this is exciting because it is in the formative stages of the brain, and we know music helps connect those synapses so well. You may not be able to move to the next levels or off the game entirely as fast, but she can learn songs on levels 1 and 2 and go back to levels 3 and 4 and off the game later. Learning the songs and playing is one thing, that develops the brain, but learning to associate music notation with what she knows is the first stage to full literacy. Make sense? Can't hurt and she will only have fun. My daughter was 2 when we got the first prototype, and I witnessed her move from 2 colors ("I just like pink daddy") to the full range of colors and keyboard on a single song. She was helping me play Pachebel's Canon in D, (just pink and brown daddy, to help you) and I got busy and she didn't want to stop, so I watched, and she suddenly "got" the keyboard and moved to the next color, the next, etc. I slowed down the tempo and watched her move from 12% correct (just two colors) to 87% correct in one session. Those moments are magical, it is like you see their brain and consciousness grow before your eyes, when they connect the dots. So basically I would say give it a go, if she is not ready yet sounds like she will be there soon, and you can learn the colors together with the game.

Do you think my daughter, with her little toddler fingers, would be able to use this keyboard with PW? Or should we get a child-sized keyboard first so that it won't be too difficult for her to press the keys?

CHRIS- We used to sell a smaller "mini-keys" size keyboard, but the kids always want to play on a "real" size keyboard after like a month, so the full size keys will be fine. It is actually easier for them to find the larger keys, and the early fingering is for little hands on full size keys, so no problem. In the Piano Wizard game play mode the pressure on the keys is not important, but in Free Play she may need to play hard to hear it.

In your (or Don's) experience, how long does it usually take a child to transition to reading normal sheet music? How about an adult?

CHRIS- OK, this can vary, but in any case far faster than normal traditional lessons. Kids do best, then athletes (quick reactions, hand eye coordination) then adults, then musicians (to much thinking at first, they are translating while they play, but after they get the hang of it the zoom past the others) then some seniors who have minor motor and coordination issues. THEY ALL SUCCEED, but at different rates, and require different kinds of coaching or encouragement, perhaps just a different pace or tempo. We try and create an environment of fun and not competition, and that works wonders. As for your daughter, as I said above, she may hold back from moving to the sheet music or notation stages, or may astonish you. I had a 3 year old demoing the game for her parents, and she got to level 3 no problem, (color coded notes) and I figured that was that. I then just showed the parents the options of showing the note names and she blurted out "ABC!" I asked if she knew her ABCs and she did, and we took her to level 4 with no colors, just black notes with the letter names, and she did great. We were all stunned, because this was 15-20 minutes from zero, i.e., it was her first time with the game.

How do you move the children through the different levels off the game to reading sheet music?

CHRIS- This is where the simple star stickers come in. They want to please, and when you actually take the star stickers and reward them for level 1, then level 2 (on the sheet music page) they now WANT to get another star. Again, we circle back if they get tired or frustrated at any level, and try it again, holding out the reward and encouraging them to try. A GREAT technique is to simply do the next level and ask for "help", i.e., left hand, right hand, or even just one key, that gets them seeing it is not tough at all, and soon they are kicking you off, saying you are "messing me up" . .. Again, when you treat it like another level of the game (Can we get to 5 stars?) they go with it. I made the mistake of telling my son I would give him a dollar for each song he would learn on all four levels. In one week I owned him 16 dollars, and he was 10! My wife complained, but it showed what he could and would do! So be creative, but they absolutely will play more and longer if you play with them and listen, and encourage and reward them. Not hard to understand, but with the game, you actually CAN, and that is very cool to experience new music with your kids.

Hope this answered your questions and more. A 2 year old's development can very widely with no reason for concern, (especially if more than one language is spoken in the home), but exactly because their minds are developing so rapidly we think it is a great time to introduce music, and they will surprise you how quickly they "get it".

Thanks

Chris

RenaissanceMum,

The challenges with traditional lessons are that even if you have a great teacher, will they practice? And if they do, how do they know they are hitting the right notes at the right time? That is where a software solution can help, it can make the practice fun, or at least give them some sense of accuracy and progress. We designed our system to be used by parents, non-music educators and piano teachers, in that order of priority. What I mean by that is we wanted to empower people to be able to move forward without being an expert. That being said, we put extensive notes next to every song for music teachers to reference so they can "get" the particulars of that lesson without watching the whole video. Finally, the use of MIDI means that many, if not most other piano methods can be found or come with MIDI files, and so songs your music teacher chooses can be put in the game and practiced at home as well as using the curriculum that came with the Piano Wizard Academy.

Some of this will depend on the teacher you choose or have, are they flexible, open? If so, they will likely embrace the technology's advantages and complement the product with things only a human being can teach, i.e., the art of music, which is what they really trained for and want to teach anyway. If they are rigid and/or PC phobic, they may not leverage the game explicitly, but your child can always search for songs himself as well, or just use the game to learn and practice in parallel. Time on the instrument is key, and so anything that gets them practicing is a huge difference maker. I believe we learn "holistically" in other words, there is no one "conveyer belt" of learning that fils in all the blanks, we actually learn in many ways, and those complement each other to give a more complete 3 dimensional (or 8 dimensional) understanding of the thing we are learning. For example, singing teaches us things, that finger exercises cannot, improvising gives depth to performance of written music (Bach and Beethoven were famous improvisors) etc.

Short answer is, yes, you can do both, and no, it will not "hurt". The most hurtful experiences in music are not different approaches, but judgment that makes people feel small and inadequate and want to quit. That can come from the teacher, from siblings, parents, friends, and music is a delicate flower in most people that needs some protection from that, especially early on. That can come with any approach, it comes from people not usually the actual educational angle, and I urge you to cultivate an environment where experimentation and the freedom to make mistakes and express themselves without ridicule is encouraged and appreciated. Even though we were young adults in Don's group piano classes in college, I remember him making sure the classroom was a sacred place, a sanctuary for us to be free to express ourselves and explore.

Good luck!

Chris

Fludo,

There is no "book" system for Piano Wizard Academy that does not include the software. The interactivity, feedback, and ability to vary the interfaces is at the heart of the advantages of the system, plus it is structured like a game so the kids like to practice. By using MIDI, you also can use virtually any digital keyboard and thousands and thousands of MIDI files are online to download into the game, so it is actually a huge advantage. What we tried to do was leverage the advantages of both software and human interaction, with the Piano Wizard Academy, so rather than just a game, we added a 100 song curriculum, 50 video lessons (guides for the parents) of the first 50 songs in the curriculum and the sheet music. This curriculum was created by Don and Delayna Beattie, and they have about 50 years of piano pedagogy experience between the two of them, and would never be involved in something that they did not believe in wholeheartedly. I have posted videos of them elsewhere you can find. You must understand, Don and Delayna were already successful, innovative and inspiring teachers before they ever got involved on the curriculum side, but they saw a new value the game could bring that their years of teaching, an area they like most teachers had always struggled with, the twin devils of reading music notation and student practice away from the class.

Again, in two years of group piano classes with no prior music experience, Don had me playing Bach fugues, decades before we ever developed the game or collaborated on the Academy curriculum and videos. He was already a genius level instructor fresh out of college, and I just ate it up, and he changed my life. His approach, attitude, commitment all inspired me and led eventually to me creating this game to better address an area I had never mastered, reading music notation. To have him years later rejoin me later and collaborate to complement the game's strengths with his and Delayna's depth of practical piano teaching instruction was a kind of miracle and perfect circle for me. So while I have only my own tortured (other music teachers) and unique (Don Beattie) music and language learning experiences to draw from,( that ultimately inspired the game), I also have decades of Don and Delayna's teaching experience embedded in the Academy curriculum and videos, and that is why it works together so well.

A longer answer than perhaps you were looking for, but I wanted to give some depth to the conversation and share my experience with Don and Delayna, and give some idea what they bring to the table. It is also why I am so pleased they will be participating in the bonus monthly teleseminars for Brillkids customers, so people can get to know them live. This is another way we try and complement the strengths of the game and learning system with real teachers you can touch base with and consult while your family learns. I guarantee you will fall in love with them both.

Thanks

Chris

[Monkey see, monkey jam.]

I have mentioned these things before, but I thought this summed it up better.

Monkey see, monkey jam.


My background is in music and linguistics, but I am fascinated by how people learn, and convinced that music can and should be a birthright to all people. Here is the first of a few essays on different modes and styles of learning.

Modeling is one of the primary ways we learn, and being able to mimic in real time is a huge help, so any videos that let you play, sing or dance in sync help because you can anticipate and coordinate with the visual cues to play on time. This is a very natural pathway to learning. When I did my thesis work in Brazil, I studied very complex sacred African rhythms, and only by watching and mimicking (modeling) could I learn these complicated pieces.

I found anticipation to be the most vital clue, I could see the beginning of the movement and time my hitting the drum more exactly with theirs. In fact, visual cues abound in music making when you look for them. Think about the mirrors in dance classes, they are not just there for form but for people to be able to visually track the timing of the others and coordinate the rhythm of their movements.

Dance is the mother of rhythm in most cultures, the first experience most people have coordinating and timing rhythmic movements. The great piano player Professor Longhair started out tap dancing as a child, kids in Brazil samba in their diapers, it is a great place to start, and so pay attention to the visual cues.

Most people look at music as primarily auditory, but the visual is obviously extremely helpful in the learning phase. There are several reasons that make sense to me for this.

A) Many people are visual learners, either partly or predominantly.

B) You cannot hear a sound coming, in other words, by the time you hear the sound you are too late to join. Same with smell, taste, touch, all are senses that don''t have a sense of anticipation. Only sight lets you see something coming or be able to "visually entrain" on a beat, dance move, target, etc.

C) Visual information is much more complete, for example how someone plays the congas, with the palm, on the edge, bouncing off or slapping to dampen, etc.  So in addition to when, we see how, and usually we can see the context as well.

Given all these advantages, it is surprising that people do not leverage the visual cues more when learning music. Even a deaf person can learn to play music just using visual cues. The only area they would really be challenged is dynamics, but even that they could detect from hand movement.

While Beethoven did not learn music while he was deaf, he did conduct and continue to teach well after that, relying no doubt on visual cues primarily to keep track and correct.

Open your eyes and see the music all around you, then just follow the leader. You will see an instant burst in competence.

Thanks for the feedback and comments. We usually supply extra stickers, if you have lost them, please contact me and we can send you some more.
 
I understand why you hoped to save money if your husband could teach them, the question is usually time. If he is as busy as me it is tough to set time aside. The idea of the videos is to empower you to be able to encourage them at any time and move them along with your coaching and encouragement. Your husband's insights will of course be a great plus and encouragement to them, but the real secret is time on the instrument, and practice, so I invite you to consider getting the Academy, you will see your sons blossom in ways the game alone could not accomplish. We have a package for registered users that is just the Academy without the keyboards or software that is also discounted for Brillkids members. Let me know if you are interested or contact Mary Menger, our office manager, and ask her about it when you ask for more stickers. ([email protected]) Make sure to mention Brillkids and tell her I said to send you the stickers for free.

Thanks again for the kind words, and may your boys prosper and thrive!

Thanks

Chris

Except with Free Play the colored objects come up from the bottom as he plays, so he can hit yellow and produce yellow (G). It can also be set to notation view so colored notes come out of the right side as he plays.

Have fun, that is my favorite age!

Thanks

Chris

Kelly,

So far all of our updates have been free updates, but if we come out with a new version there may be a nominal charge, say $19.95 or $29.95 to upgrade, but that is 6 months to a year away at best. The keyboard we include is what is called a MIDI controller, and it is universal for all MIDI programs, so yes you could use it for your own songwriting and composing as well.

18 months is such a great age, as a person trained in developmental linguistics I find is so fascinating as they now begin to walk and talk, and you can literally "see" them think and understand new concepts. As I said, if they don't know their colors, Free Play mode can be a fun way to learn with them.

Thanks

Chris

KL,

Thanks for pruning our forum garden, I actually find myself lost in the threads sometimes, but enjoying myself along the way.

Chris

Hellene,

There IS a way to disagree without being disagreeable. I had solfege through Don's work for 4 years, along with Kodaly, and looked at "fixed do" solutions when I sang in a choir in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and felt, and still feel, that it has the same strengths and weaknesses of music notation. In other words, if you leave out the sharps and flats (white keys) it is a simple place to start, but as soon as you begin to sing in other keys with sharps and flats, or modulate, you begin to find the limits of the system, and the confusion begins, in other words, it leads you right into the bushes where people get lost. Also, in the US, solfege names (do, re, mi) are not the primary way to describe the musical alphabet, and we did start here, not in Europe, so we started with what was familiar here. Her question was if we would be supporting solfege in our game, and perhaps I gave a larger than necessary explanation of the challenges of using ANY system of note naming, which is at the heart of the simplicity of our system. We simply don't address it at first. We teach them music. Not the "grammar" of music, or even the names of the notes. Music. Sounds they can play instantly and perfectly. We don't have to teach them the colors, they know that. Only later do we introduce the note names, notation, finger numbers, etc.  Why "note names"? Again, starting in the US we went with the convention here. Just as I can learn the solfege names in a sitting, so can people learn the alphabet system. What I don't have is any sacred attachment to nomenclature, nor am I in any way a musical snob about the "correct" descriptions. These are conventions, like languages, and are either useful or not, clarifying or not. When it comes to music, I am not an aristocrat, I am a peasant with great love and appreciation of music. I am also Irish descent, and we are an irreverent bunch.

The examples in the posts above point to the dizzying array of "names" or ways to describe a scale or note, (and they cite at least 6 total approaches to solfege alone), and we learned them all interchangeably working with Don, because he treated them as spokes of the wheel of the song, the more ways you "knew" the song the better you knew it. Different angles and viewpoints on the same piece of music, some more common, others more clear, all shedding some light on the relationships or tying you back to conventional terms and language. That repetition through variation is at the heart of our programs approach, one variation we left out was the use of solfege, because of the kinds of frankly silly postures some people take on "which" solfege is correct, and we felt it would only confuse at this stage, and least within the game. Our program leverages song very well, but it is not a professional solfege training tool, and we again treat it like a tool, not a be all end all solution, so add as much solfege as you wish, but these are the questions and challenges you will find on that path. These are the kinds of extras we intend to introduce to users through our teleconference bonuses, where they can ask questions live on things that we understand but are outside the scope of the game and the coursework.

I did look at your article and suggest it as a resource to anyone wanting to learn more about solfege, as I would recommend the Wikipedia link I supplied. (I find your comment about the "Dark Ages" funny because that was when solfege started, but I digress. . .)

Once again, I suggest that you share your knowledge and approach in as positive a light as you can, and let it speak on its own merits rather than attack something because it is "not yours" or "different", and assume that is is therefore inferior. It is "different" but that is its appeal, it breaks new ground and defrosts some of the frigid attitudes and practices that have kept us bound for too long.

For example, a different response to my post might have been . . .

"Chris,

I found your posts on solfege very interesting, My experience is that you CAN introduce it very easily, and here are the ways to do that, and the positive effects I found with using that approach . . .. Here is how we use it with SoftMozart, etc., etc., etc."[/i]

In this way you can contribute, instead of demean, be an expert and teacher, instead of , well, whatever this is.

We just disagree on some things, and frankly are in alignment on a lot more than not. Your characterizing our disagreements of approach as somehow dangerous, selfish, greedy, smooth talking are not fair or true. I think our disagreements are INTERESTING and STIMULATING, and we should be passionate, but not mean. Once again, I invite you to speak passionately, clearly, deeply about what you have, and if we discuss different approaches, lets do it with respect and appreciation of someone else who is trying to bring music to the world.

Thanks again,

Chris