Another 3 year old playing the game. See also the new section on Special Needs Families and Music

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q-zCbGUGU9U&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Q-zCbGUGU9U&rel=1</a>

[Jed's Story]

Jed's Story

The continuing story of Jed.

Jed is a severely retarded (his mother's words) 10 year old boy whose mother has shared his Piano Wizard Academy experience with us over the last 2 years. Her son's language abilities and IQ at 8 years old were about that of a 2 year old when he began working with the game, according to his mother. She comments later how much his comprehension and language abilities improved, and wonders whether Piano Wizard Academy helped make that so. To see that kind of improvement and development well after the normal window of language acquisition has passed is probably a great testimonial to the power of learning to play the piano and how it stimulates the development of the brain. We are only at the beginning of understanding how Piano Wizard Academy could universalize the benefits of music and music therapy for special needs populations, as you will see below.

(NOTE: Terms like "Mental Retardation", "MR", or or "mentally retarded" are sometimes considered old-fashioned, even hurtful because of abuse and distortion of the terms, but they are the scientific terms that the mother uses without shame. She is not a native speaker of English, so this nuance may not have occurred to her, but like her, we mean nothing derogatory at all using these terms, and hope no offense is taken. We have sometimes substituted more common terms like "special needs" or "mentally challenged" to avoid sounding too harsh or offending anyone inadvertently.)

May first posted this review and video of her son that she had previously posted on Amazon.com, but we did not see it for almost a year.

Excellent teaching tool for my retarded child, September 11, 2008

My 7 year old is severely retarded, with an IQ of about a 2 year old. Three weeks ago, my mother suggested I teach him to play the piano because she watched on TV some special needs kid who can't do much else but was gifted at the piano. So I looked for piano software and found Piano Wizard, hoping that it will work for him.

I highly recommend this software to anybody wanting to learn the piano, especially kids. The Wizard has just a bunch of songs, from easy to hard, that you can choose to learn. My son likes the song Twinkle and can somewhat sing it, so I started him with that. The normal tempo for the song is 86. I cranked it all the way down to 10 so that the notes were coming at a snail's pace, and then I pushed his finger down to strike each note and told him to hit the right color note like the one on the screen. He is able to distinguish colors. After a few minutes, he got it! He was playing only with the right hand, but he got it! That was so exciting for me.

A few days later I added the left hand successfully, then I slowly cranked up the tempo. I didn't think he would ever make it playing at normal speed, but anything he can do is good, he can do so little! His reflexes are not great, and I can soon see that he isn't just one of those mentally challenged persons who is gifted at the piano. But, after two weeks of working with Twinkle, he can now play it at the normal tempo and 100 percent correct! He is merely playing one note at a time, but the Wizards offers an accompaniment option that plays really cool background matching music that makes it a lot more fun. So, my son is sounding pretty good now. ------

Then I started him on a second song called Big Ben about 4 days ago, and in it, he has to strike two keys with two fingers simultaneously, twelve times, to simulate the clock chime. Well, he learned the notes, but he just couldn't get the two fingers to work together. It got to the point that when he gets to the part, I would push his two fingers down together to show him, then he can do the other eleven times by himself. But then, when the song starts again, I have to show him again. Yet, after three days of this, he suddenly got it yesterday!

I have my son practice an hour a day. He seems thrilled at the sense of accomplishment. He could not have learned it the normal way, given his language problems, so the Piano Wizard definitely enabled him to do something he couldn't otherwise. It is EXTREMELY INTUITIVE in its teaching method. You have the color coded keyboard, the fingering number options, and the note name option to help you learn to read music. It turns piano practicing into a video game, teaching you strike the right key at the right time. (Striking the wrong key or at the wrong time makes no sound.)

-----I highly recommend this software to anybody wanting to learn the piano, especially kids.

Sincerely
May

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/SITYnDyD0eY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/SITYnDyD0eY&rel=1</a>   

Our first communication from Jed's mom (May) was after we switched out a keyboard that was not working anymore. He was 8 at the time.

Dear Mr. Keith of Piano Wizard,

My son, Jed, age 8, is severely retarded with difficulties in language comprehension. It would have been impossible for him to learn to play the piano the normal way.

The Piano Wizard, being so intuitive a method, makes it possible for Jed to know when to push which key without having to understand spoken instructions. He's been practicing for 8 months now and has learned to play the first 30 songs. He has even learned to read a little bit of music.

Thank you for creating such a wonderful product!

Sincerely,
May

After receiving this moving letter, and later when I stumbled on the first review above, I reached out to her, and we began a correspondence via email. For the sake of full disclosure, May did provide a couple of suggestions, and had some misunderstandings about how to use Piano Wizard Academy. But I reached out to her and addressed her concerns, and we began a dialog. She told me that review was old, and she had already figured some of that out and would update it. She shared more about his journey and progress in our emails, which she said I can share excerpts with you. (my bold on her comments) Here are some excerpts.


Dear Mr. Salter,

I am most happy to hear from you. Piano Wizard is a fantastic product, one of the best I’ve ever bought and definitely the best thing I’ve ever gotten for my son.

First, I must apologize for some of my inaccurate comments on Amazon. They were made when I first bought the program a year and a half ago. I have since discovered the options in the premier version that you mentioned and have been using them to great benefit; unfortunately, by then I had forgotten what I wrote on Amazon and therefore never went back to update my comments. I was planning to do so soon, however, as my son has gone light years past that Twinkle song I showed him playing. He can now play multiple, various notes on both hands in Level 6 and 7, an accomplishment I never imagined that he could ever reach. . .

Although my degree is in math, I have had a small amount of computer programming, enough for me to appreciate the efficiency and careful planning of the Piano Wizard. It is rather complete as an entire course of piano teaching. The Special Education group accounts for 10% or more of the school age children, and the parents there are desperate to take anything that can help because their options are so limited. Seeing a normal child play the piano is great; seeing a retard child play is like witnessing a miracle! Friends and family who have seen my son play have exclaimed to me, “You are doing so good with him!”

I count myself lucky that your product is out exactly when I need it. Ten years ago it would have been impossible for my son to do any such thing as to play a piano. I hope the best for your company. If nothing else, the Piano Wizard has definitely empowered our lives – for my son to learn music, and for me to watch him learn and improve and get more out of life. That is ultimately the most satisfying part of being a parent. . . .

I finished watching all ten of the DVDs. I enjoyed watching them. It is obvious that they are top rate piano teachers. The enthusiasm Don has towards music and the Piano Wizard is delightful and infectious. I have picked up many good points about piano playing and teaching as well. Don and Delayna teach with an easy style that makes me feel right at home. Their attitude convinces me that music and the piano are a worthy subject to pursue, and that it is all great fun.

The teachers obviously have infinite patience with children. (I must confess, my style of piano teaching consists mostly of “SHUT UP AND PRACTICE!”) I am learning to take it a bit easier. I also notice that I should pay more attention to matters such as rhythm and legato, as well as developing a love for music.

Right now, for example, my son is practicing 12 songs at a time for 2 hours a day. (Being severely retarded, there isn’t much else he can do.) First, he plays these 3 times each: Old Blue, Old Man Tucker, Simple gifts, Happy Anniversary, On Cap Cod, Joy to the World, Colorado. Then he reviews the following songs by playing each one time: Away in a Manger, This Train, Over the River, Sarah Mae, When the Saints Go Marching In. It might be true that a normal child’s language is established by the age of 7, but in Jed’s case, that’s when he started learning to talk. He spoke his first word at 6. That was also when he was potty trained. At first, he could pronounce words up to 2 syllables. For example, he could say, “butter,” and “fly,” but not “butterfly.” He got better and better. Now, he can speak sentences, though not necessarily complete ones, such as “Can we go to Dairy Queen?” or “Want to play Xbox!” . . . .

A few months ago, Jed impressed me. I was talking to my husband, and I said, “Jed is playing a song called Composition in C Minor, which is in level 6.” Jed immediately yelled out from across the room, “No, Mama! It’s Composition in C Major!” And he was right. I was amazed that he heard what I said, understood it and recognized my mistake, and corrected it properly. What’s amazing is, that’s the first time he gave any indication of understanding other people’s conversation. So that was a grand moment of my life.

May

May followed up by submitting this Amazon.com review and video. Look at the progress and accomplishment, this is about after a year I believe .....

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/VicL36hQgOM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/VicL36hQgOM&rel=1</a>

My son has been practicing the piano 90 minutes a day. He is 8 years old, mentally retarded, and for the longest time I've had trouble finding something he could do. He could hardly even understand enough to appreciate toddler TV programs. The Piano Wizard is my son's first project of his life. It is an intuitive piano teaching system. You see the color dot on the screen; you press the corresponded colored key on the musical keyboard. The music's speed can be controlled so much that you can have it coming literally at a snail's speed such that even people with the worst reflexes have the time to find the right key to push.

Who'd ever imagine that he could do this? And it takes me little time because once I get him going, he’ll just practice until he gets good at it; I only have to supervise on occasion. Once you choose a speed, it will play again at the same speed until you change it, so it is really convenient.

In the end, this is easier than driving him to piano lessons even if you don't count the cost. When my relatives and friends watch my son play, they always exclaim, "Wow, you are doing so good with him!"

During the time my son's been playing the piano, his speech and understanding has also improved greatly. I don't know if the piano playing helped? But there is some evidence that music improves a child's intelligence. It's worth a try.

The Piano Wizard is an ingeniously designed system for somebody who wants to teach himself how to play. If even my son can do it, who can't? (As long as one possesses basic motor skills and hand eye coordination.)

I highly recommend it to anyone.

I recently reached out to her again, after almost a year, and she sent me this (my bold)

Hi Chris,

It's very nice to hear from you. In the last year, I have heeded your advice and put Jed through the sheet music and playing on a real piano that is not plugged into the computer. He took to it without much trouble, to my surprise. We finished all the sheet music you sent us. Jed can look at the sheet music and play the entire piece with no extra help, though I don't think his understanding of the music notation is complete. It's more like the sheet music serves as a mnemonic for him to play. I know he knows somewhat about it, but he need more practice in the matter of music reading to be truly able to read it. I haven't been pushing it very hard. We are just moving along steadily through the Academy. The point is, he can play on a real piano without the piano wizard now, something he couldn't do last year when you wrote to me.

Right now, we are at the Circus Song. That's song #99. One more song and he will have finished the Academy, and he just turned 10. My original plan was for him to make it through the Academy by the time he's 18, and my husband Dave even expressed doubt that that could ever happen. Nowadays, Dave just watches Jed play Jesu Joy of Man Desiring with great admiration and asks me, "You think I can do that if I practice?" I tell him that that piece of music is harder than it looks. He says, "It looks hard enough to me!" And he says he might take up Piano Wizard too because "what doesn't want to be able to play the piano?" Dave is a plumber, see. I never knew he's the piano playing type.

I do plan to gradually teach Jed to be able to full read music, and it is looking totally doable. I bought a lifetime's supply of sheet music with midi files and fingering, from easy to advanced levels, from VirtualSheetMusic.com for a small sum. Jed has already started on this 100 piece drill. So, I'm all set. I am very proud of myself that I found the Piano Wizard for Jed. What an amazing software! I am getting so much out of it.

I am more than happy to do any publicity event you need to promote the Piano Wizard. It's good for the average piano learner, but it's a life saver for the special needs community because they can't do it any other way. The normal way of teaching the piano has too steep of a learning curve for a child with mental retardation. Please do feel free to share my story in any form or call me if you like. My number is --------------. If I don't pick up, please immediately redial 2 more times. I'm home most of the time.

And I can certainly make videos. I've been thinking about updating my videos on Amazon. I can make some videos about how to use the Piano Wizard with special needs kids too. And thanks for the name of the person. It is helpful for me to meet other people in my similar situation so that I can get ideas on more ways I can help Jed.

May


WOW. We cried when we read this, with pride and gratitude that our Piano Wizard Academy was able to reach someone and help transform their lives so profoundly and so beautifully, with joy and accomplishment.

By the way, the 100th song is Beethoven's 5th Symphony arranged for 2 hands. We have about 50 more songs that we have developed for an advanced version of the Academy, that we are sending to her, should keep Jed busy for about a year. I told her not to worry too much about Jed's reading, it is a matter of conditioning and subconcious absorption, that we don't need to understand the theory and logic of a QWERTY keyboard to type. If the theory helps, let's use it, if not, leave it for now. I also suggested she have Jed try and teach his father to play piano, to challenge him to articulate what he knows innately, starting with song one from book one, "Your Dreams".

Finally, May created this wonderful video showcasing Jed's astounding accomplishment as he moves from the game to a real piano.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/fqFk2n8wGfU&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/fqFk2n8wGfU&rel=1</a>

Our first and primary method of learning is by doing. Jed's ability to learn Bach and Mozart at this level shows how intuitive and natural this style of learning can be, and he was not even able to take advantage of most of the cognitive and theory support in the Piano Wizard Academy videos. He clearly delights and takes pride in his abilities and skills, and there is no limit for him.

Our dream is to make your musical dreams come true. How lucky are we to be able to share dream with the world?

This new approach to learning music that just may be the golden ticket to unlocking your child's inner potential and joy, and it is easier and faster with better results than anything you have ever seen before...and can save you thousands and thousands over the lifetime of the product. But beyond the savings, what was it worth for May to see her child blossom in ways she thought impossible a few years ago?

Please share this with anyone you think might benefit.

Thanks

Chris Salter
CEO and Founder
[email protected]

All,

Let me start by saying I am happy, and not at all surprised to find that Soft Mozart works. I have never said anything negative about the product, or the person, and have great admiration for both. All I have ever said was what ours did, and that it works too. As I have said before, a lot of anxiety and hand wringing about this choice is overblown, either one will be better than almost any other choice out there, and there is proven success with each. Their similarities are deeper than their differences, and the hope of both is that these tools serve as training wheels and people can move on their own to deeper learning without them, once they "get it".

We recently received some moving letters and videos from a special needs parent in particular, if you wish to see someone with severe challenges overcoming them and playing Bach on the grand piano a couple years later, go to http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/special-needs-music-learning-andor-therapy/.

There are minor clarifications to make about our product if I wished, but they are not really relevant to the point I want to make, which she makes for us. She says, "In conclusion, I have to say choosing between the two products was not an easy decision and big thanks to Hellene and Chris that we can have this choice."

Exactly. Let's celebrate the fact that we have great choices, and our children can now learn music and grow dramatically without the trauma and frustration of the past. And I congratulate all of you for recognizing how important music is to your children's lives, and to their success.

Thanks

Chris

Hi Chris

I've been following a number of threads about various methods of teaching music with great interest.  At 22 months, my DD is too young at the moment for the PW or any other method of teaching a musical instrument, but I am looking ahead and wondering at what point we might consider starting something like this.

I'm interested to hear how many of the successful students / customers you have had through the programme were very young children.  By this I mean aged 2, 3 or 4 (and ideally I'd like info for each age group).  At this age, they may be less able to concentrate to follow instructions or comply with the rules of a game unless they are really very simple with very limited possibilities for 'cheating'. 

Are there any specific strategies or tips for the younger child?  I know you mentioned that your software does all the work for the teacher, but it may be possible that an older child with a better conceptual idea of how to follow a computer game would be more able to take advantage of the learning within the software and that parents of younger children would need to be a lot more involved in supporting the child to keep them on track.

I am reposting an answer (modified for you) as this is a question we get quite a bit in this forum. The game can be played by anyone that knows their colors. As for your 22 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 them the colors, if they don't know them yet, but I 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 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 child 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! You playing will stimulate them to want to join in, as the saying goes, "kids will do nothing you say, and everything you do".

Enjoy,

Thanks

Chris

Isa,

Here are the links again, I got them from Vinny's email to you.

Not sure if PC or MAc was needed, so
here are both links
 
PC:

http://www.pianowizardacademy.com/bonus_gifts/PianoWizardChristmasLiteSetupWindows.zip

MAC


http://www.pianowizardacademy.com/bonus_gifts/PianoWizardChristmasLiteMac.zip

Again, this is not the Academy, it is a sampler of what our newer graphics will look like, and was a bonus gift for our current customers. If you want deep life long learning then the Academy is what you need. A model car will not take you to work every day, but it is nice to play with.

As for the approach of having the game waiting for them to hit the right notes, no, we will probably never institute that, because as I said it is not a real problem for people that actually play the game. You can slow down the tempo to 1 beat per minute if you wish, anybody can succeed with the game as designed. As I said, it is actually a great thing that the kids move on to the next challenge in the game rather than "stop the music", which of course is then no longer music. I understand that certain video games do that but they do not teach music, only gaming. Our intent is different.

If you believe that that game feature is essential for you to purchase the system, then it is not a fit. I know it is not a true issue for children from thousands of customers and thousands of hours demonstrating and sharing the game, in fact the scrolling helps them look ahead and get in the flow rather than stop to be perfect the first time, but kill the experience.

Bach said, "I just hit the right notes at the right time". The right notes at the wrong time is not music, it is typing, playing in sequence but not in time. Playing with others in rhythm is one of the great challenges of teaching music, and our game does it very very well. Does that make sense why we wouldn't add a feature that undermines one of our core strengths as a teaching system?

If there are other issues you have, other concerns, please share them as well, but on this we actually are very comfortable this is a non-issue, especially once you try the game.

Thanks

Chris

Dear Chris,

I received it this afternoon! I don't know it will takes nearly 1 week to mail to HK. This is the first time I buy a product from USA.

I have one suggestion. After people make the order, your system will send an email to customer for order confirmation. In this email, you can mention something like 'normally, it will takes around ?days to deliver the order...'

You know, when I make the order through Internet, I really want to be sure someone is handling my order.

Thanks again!

Regards,
Yvonne

Yvonne,

Again, glad you got it and yes an international shipment will of course take longer than domestic, but our email system is fixed, sorry for the snafu. About half of our tech support around Christmas is people emailing asking when will they get it, and normally our emails go directly to them so they can track it, but as I said, we just changed fulfillment centers and the autoresponder no longer had the correct email. Thanks again for your patience, it actually helped us catch a potential problem and resolve it not just for you but anyone who orders it. As it turned out, the order went out without a problem, just had the normal delays of a holiday weekend, so it was just the communication link we had to fix. This forum is a unique environment, our normal tech support process is quite smooth, and once Myko had your info he was able to track it down pretty quickly.

Thanks

Chris

PS I reposted your email and my response here so people can follow the conversation completely.

[They rarely get less than 75% on their very first try!]

Isa,

I emailed you back on the link and so did Vinny, so check your junk mail folders, but as I said in my email, those are merely sampler downloads  of our new game engine, and NOT of the full PIano Wizard Academy package, in fact it has less than 5% of the functionality of the PWA. That is why the Academy 2.0 version is at least a year away, because the Academy has so much more depth and flexibility. What we have for people who want a music education solution is the full Piano Wizard Academy, and it is more than enough to satisfy.

That widely acclaimed product is what has the innumerous awards, videos, testimonials and reviews, plus the 60 day guarantee so you can try it in your home are the only ways you will really be able to judge if it is right for you and your family.

As for the scrolling by, you are correct that it does not stop, but incorrect to assume kids quit when they miss a key or even a bunch of them. The new notes coming are new opportunities to succeed, and the kids just "jump back on the horse" instead of stopping. They rarely get less than 75% on their very first try! Normally in traditional piano lessons if they get lost they are really lost (abstract deciphering rather than natural reading) and need to start over, but here they just move on and continue playing, much as a real musician in a band, orchestra or accompanying the choir cannot stop when they miss a note. The other thing to understand is that the curriculum is carefully designed so they build on success, starting with a 2 note song, the a 3 note songs, a 5 note song, etc, until the 100th song is Beethoven's 5th Symphony arranged for 2 hands. And they can always stop and play one hand first, then the other, slow the tempo down, there are a hundred ways to adjust and simplify a song, so this issue of the notes not "hovering" (which they can't in a real performance or the music stops") is never an issue. The parent, teacher or child can at any time freeze the game (hitting "escape" or "p" for pause) and map out the upcoming notes or even scroll ahead and figure out exact fingerings and strategies, for the most complex pieces out there.

Isa, this works, and we can think about each feature it till the cows come home, but the proof is in the pudding, and in your home with your child. If it doesn't we buy it back, but our return rate is ridiculously low, and mostly when the computer they put it on is hopelessly obsolete, or they never opened and installed it and applied the videos. We don't have any interest in shipping product that will not find a home, we pay for the shipping back, how could we make money that way?

There is nothing that will guarantee this will work for you except our guarantee. But we have overwhelming proof and testimonials that it has worked for thousands and thousands of families, and not worked a little, but a lot, and it has generated amazing spontaneous feedback and results, which we have shared with you here and at the link to the Brillkids offer.

We offer this guarantee, the videos, the reviews, the testimonials, the bonus songs, all of that, because we know this seems too good to be true. As did the first word-processer, then the first Macintosh, as did the first browser, as did the first power lawn mower, the first Walkman. This is what they call the "innovator's dilemma", that people cannot wrap their heads around something that is truly ground breaking, and so keep thinking "what's the catch".

Here's the catch. You have to actually try it to truly see how effective it is for you. We are all different, no one thing will satisfy all, but I know if you give a sincere effort at just following the simple video guidelines and letting the game do the heavy lifting and teaching, we have a 98% chance it will be a huge success and blessing in your home. We think those are great odds.

I look forward to hearing of your family's success, or we will buy it back.

Thanks

Chris

Isa,

Please send me your email so I can connect the dots for you.

Thanks

Chris

Yvonne

We tracked the shipping, as we hoped it has arrived in Hong Kong as of the 25th, so it should be in your hands soon. I will PM you the tracking info, and email it as well. Sorry again for the delays, but you did help us find some quirks in our system, and we will still re-reimburse you for the shipping.

Enjoy!

Thanks

Chris

PS Please let me know when it arrives.

Yvonne,

I found out your package was delayed shipping till perhaps last Tuesday (Monday was a holiday) because of a snafu in our new fulfillment center (state of the art, huge center, really big deal for us, but we have been setting it up in February for the first time). I am trying to track down the correct tracking info now, but don't have that info now, hopefully I will by the end of business today. (It's noon now).

In the meantime I have asked Mary to reverse charges on the shipping portion of your order as a courtesy for the confusion. We have since corrected the [email protected] email issue, which as I suspected was part of the old fulfillment system that was disabled inadvertently in the shift. If we find out there are other issues or delays we will reship and expedite another package to you, but we suspect it should arrive shortly given what we learned today. It seems between both the obsolete email address and the delays in in the shipping of the new fulfillment center your order was hit with a double whammy, and for that I apologize, but we will make it right. Expect a refund on the shipping portion to Hong Kong of your package, and as soon as we have info on the tracking, we will either let you know or take corrective action at our expense.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, new systems sometimes come with new quirks, and we are working them out.

Sorry again,

Chris

Yvonne,

I just forwarded it to him.

Thanks

Chris

[I don't have your email to give to Myko]

PS

Yvonne,

 I don't have your email to give to Myko, so I can't have him forward you information, you need to email him. I will get the bad email taken care of, thanks for pointing it out to me. Again, his email is [email protected] or [email protected]

Thanks

Chris

Chris,
I received an auto reply email after place the order. The email subject is 'Thank you for your order' and sent by Allegro Wizard Group Multimedia DBA Music
[email protected]
At the bottom of the email it mention this contact email.

I am quite disappointed with how your company handles the order.
I place the order at Feb 18, already 6 days ago. I receive only an auto reply email right after place the order. It just acknowledge receive of the order.
I only want to know when will I get my PW.
I just sent to the mentioned email addresses again. Hope can get a reply soon!
Thanks!
Yvonne

Yvonne,

Thanks for telling me where you got that email address, we recently changed web systems and that may have been accidentally abandoned in the move. The reason I gave you Myko's email is he can address your issue very quickly, he is the head of tech support and has access to all the shipping info, etc. What you may not realize is he does not monitor this forum, so you asking me here means I have to ping pong in the middle, when I happen to see there is a question here on the forum, when a straight email to him gets you an answer fast. I see him perhaps once a month, we talk once a week, and email as needed, he is very competent. We have tech support department specifically to handle questions quickly and easily, they have systems and tracking that I do not have, so I was trying to get you to the right person.

That being said, I am copying him because he will need to track down that abandoned email address and either modify the email or make sure that goes to a live person. I apologize for the confusion, but I was trying to get you an answer fast by giving you his email, and asking you where you got that one that bounced.

You should hear from him tomorrow. If I am not mistaken, you are overseas, correct? Did you pay for expedited shipping and expect it sooner? (It is the 23rd here). It also depends what time the order comes in here whether it ships immediately or the next day.

I understand you are anxious to get your Piano Wizard Academy and start playing, and we will track it down and get it to you as soon as possible.

Thanks

Chris

Yvonne,

Please send an email to either [email protected] or [email protected]. I don't know where you got that other email and doubt it is valid. If you can tell me where you found it maybe I can get it corrected.

Enjoy the product!

Thanks

Chris

[we do pay for the shipping back, even on international orders]

PS: NO costs for us involved with the Suzuki lessons because given by a friend... how lucky for us!

Dear Cris,

I am very interested in buying PW. I don´t mind spending" all that money" IF MY DD likes it and it will make her sit more in front of the piano (she has started Suzuki 8 weeks ago and so far doesn´t want to sit in front of the piano outside the lessons, but what if it doesn´t motivate her?

So your answer to the question "Who will bear the shipping costs if I need to send it back within the time frame that you offer (was it 60 days?) is very important. . . .

Thank you very much in advance!
Kind regards,
ISA

ISA,

Thanks for reminding me, I did confirm our policy, we do pay for the shipping back, even on international orders. Fortunately for us the rate of returns is very low, so even those costs don't hurt us, in fact he said he has had only 2 returns internationally since he started over a year and a half ago, and they were incompatibility issues (one had Windows 2000, a notoriously difficult operating system for games). Sorry for not getting back to you sooner on that, I thought that was the case but did not want to confirm without talking to him. We actually have a superb tech support and customer service department, I rarely have to get involved, and we often get very nice responses from the people they deal with.

As for the Suzuki lesson, we find this often, that no matter how good the instruction, the real progress is in the practice, and since they don't have the teacher there, they feel unmotivated and unsure if they are even doing it right. Unlearning bad practice is no fun either. This ultimately is the core strength of our game system, is they love to practice and the game feedback tells them on the fly how they are doing. You may be able to incorporate both, as the Suzuki books may be in MIDI format somewhere, in which case she could follow along. What you will find though is they make much faster progress with the game and she will probably outstrip the lesson structure they have for her in Suzuki. In any case, if you do them in parallel, please keep us in the loop how it goes.

Thanks

Chris

PS Because this post is relevant to others, I am going to copy it on the general forum as well.