Piano Wizard

Early Learning Teaching Your Child Music
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From a home schooling mom

[i]I am a home educator of two wonderful boys ages 5 and 7. I have wanted to teach them music but felt intimidated by the whole thing. It has been 26 years since I have played a piano!!! I jumped in with both feet and we have not looked back. My boys ask to practice their piano and I am re-teaching myself as well. We are so thankful for this system. We are having a ball and reaping a harvest of benefits at the same time. My nephews came over to play one day and did not play with anything but the Piano Wizard the whole time. It is amazing how the children gravitate to it.

The set up was very easy and the videos make it a breeze to prepare for the lessons ahead of time. I also like the wash, rinse and repeat. I highly recommend this product. You will not be disappointed.
Ken Jasick[/i]

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This is another home school mom, who bought it for HERSELF. “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood!” (Tom Robbins)

[i]I have been a homeschool mom for 25 years now and this Piano Wizard is for ME! My parents came from Europe in the 50’s and couldn’t afford piano lessons for us. My husband and I made sure that all 6 of our children could play the piano…our eldest son after starting lessons with our church pianist then was accepted as a student at the Cleveland Conservatory of Music in piano (he also played trombone), our twins played piano and French horn, our next son reluctantly played piano, gave up on trumpet, and enthusiastically took up guitar and now bought a keyboard to compose etc. Our two youngest daughters 17 and 13 play piano and have the best rhythm of any girls in their dance classes.

So now it is MY TURN…after 25 years of paying for piano and other instrument lessons… and the thousands of dollars invested very willingly…but now it is my turn. And Piano Wizard is JUST WHAT I NEED. I set aside some time every day and love the applause when I complete a song… I sing as part of our church’s praise team and I want to learn to read music. It is never too late…and I love the format of Piano Wizard.

Thank you,
Sera Vpurlock[/i]

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Here is one that talks about what a bargain Piano Wizard Academy is with larger families

[i]Dear Chris,

I purchased Piano Wizard as a Christmas gift for my 4 children, ages 17, 15, 10 and 7 (I homeschool). Why? It doesn’t take long to realize that IF I had all four of them in piano lessons at the going rate of $65/month, I would easily surpass the cost of owning the Piano Wizard Academy program in after only 2 months of lessons! My 10 year old was already taking lessons at a music academy for $80/month, and I knew I couldn’t afford all my children to go. So far, my 17 year old loves this program. I was afraid he would think it was too elementary or childish, but being a computer whiz, he quickly downloaded all kinds of his favorite songs and can’t say enough good things about this program and its capabilities. My 10 year old has leaped ahead into the second set of lessons. She loves the song “Raining Cats and Dogs” and has been playing it at 300 speed, just for fun! She has been playing Beethoven, and the Star-Spangled Banner and is enjoying the challenge.

I think the best surprise of all was my 7 year old son. When his 10 year old sister started playing the piano, he wanted to play, too, but just didn’t have the know-how of when to go up or down on the keyboard. He would get frustrated so easily - he knew what note he wanted to hit, but didn’t know where it was on the keyboard. But with this program, he has already mastered 3 songs because it shows him what notes to hit and when. He is enjoying it so much, and I’m happy to see him get to make music along with the rest of his siblings.

I can’t tell you how much this program is worth every penny we’ve paid. You get so much for your money! Just the keyboard and program alone was worth it, but you threw in so many “free” goodies, I knew I was getting a lot of “bang for my buck”! I especially like how the lesson books are spiral-bound so the pages stay in place. I enjoyed the free teleseminar with you, Don and Delayna on Tuesday, and through it, I did learn several helpful things that I have been trying out on my kids with great results.

I plan to keep you posted on the progress of my children. I really dislike rating a program unless I’ve used it for awhile, but so far, I’m very pleased. My 15 year old daughter hasn’t tried it out yet, but once she does, I will let you know how she does with it. She’s the singer in the family, but her voice teacher says that she has to learn to read music, and I am hoping Piano Wizard Academy will help her enjoy that experience
.
Sincerely in SC,

Carol F.[/i]

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This parent’s results are typical, not extraordinary, in fact it is what we guarantee for you and your family.

[i]My children got their Piano Wizard during the holidays. My daughter (9) says “It’s amazing. Too good for words.” She has progressed to song no.6, and has shown unbelievable tenacity in practicing. We had tried to teach her piano from home before, using the Bastien books, but it just didn’t get off the ground. Now, after only 6 songs on Piano Wizard, she is able to go to her Bastien book and open to a page she has not seen before, and start playing. I am SO PLEASED.

My son (7) is on song no.4. He says, “It’s a bit tricky, but I like it”. (Okay, he’s the perfectionist in the family, so I am not surprised by that comment!) He is doing brilliantly, and picks up the tunes easily. This morning, for example, he started Song no. 3, level 1 at 8am. By 9am, I had given him his star for Level 5! He really can do it when he wants to.

Thank you for making it such fun. I am especially grateful that the practicing with the accompaniment is so easy on the parent’s ears. I have not yet asked the children to “give it a break please” because I had heard enough.

I love all the features, like tempo control, the different backgrounds, and the ability to adjust the volume of accompaniment, so the main tune can be heard more easily.

THANK YOU A THOUSAND TIMES.
Jenny Lynn[/i]

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Finally, rather than just post a link, here is the review submitted by Jed’s Mother May:

[i]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.

-May[/i]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VicL36hQgOM

I love his self esteem at the end. “I did great!”

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After following this thread and seeing the responses, I felt PW was the program for me. Here’s an auction on ebay for PW Academy:

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I think the program for children, that is being discussed here, is a little different. Here is the link to buy it.

the link provided by Ouroboros1 looks like PW curriculum for adults.

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I may be mistaken, but PW Academy has everything Premier does, but with some extra features and 50 lessons on 10 DVDs. This link compares them side by side:

http://www.pianowizard.com/#b4

(click on “More Info” tab)

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I have PW premier, which includes both easy and premier modes, and would absolutely recommend getting this over PW easy. It is only about $30-$50 difference between these two versions. I paid about $75 for it, including shipping, but have more recently seen it going for about $80ish on google shopping. I bought from Quality Toys and would recommend their customer service.

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My last post was truncated.
… I also got the impression that PW academy was for older children or adults.

Quote from PW website:

Piano Wizard ACADEMY provides a family with everything they need to seamlessly transition from the game to playing on a real piano. After stepping through the 4 levels in the game take the sheet music to a real piano and play the same song...

This tells me that you use the videos after the the game, not with the game, but I could be wrong. It will be several years before the LO’s are at that level and who knows what will be available by then. Myabe the next release will drive down prices of the older version, maybe used copies will be a fraction the cost on ebay, maybe you will be able to get the videos from the library.

Another thing to consider, I think it was mentioned that PW is becoming a BrillKids partner. So there may be discount coupons to watch for.

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HEADS UP TO EVERYONE THINKING OF BUYING, we are actively working on a special price and some bonus offers to Brillkids members. Should have that out by month’s end. I think you will love what we are putting together.

One question above was the age groups, and the differences between versions. Any of our products can be used by children as young as 2 or 3, if they know their colors they can play.

Finally, the main consideration between versions is your agenda. If it is music education, then the Academy is best choice by far, as that is its focus, and the videos show you how to maximize the musical experience, not just play a fun video game. We are actually phasing out the Easy Mode and Premier versions, and will not be selling either one with keyboards this Christmas.

As for the offer on Ebay, they are NOT an authorized reseller, and we cannot guarantee the condition or support product bought from them. Our offer will be better for Brillkids members by far anyway.

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isn’t it funny?
there is NO soft mozart on ebay
just because all the money invested in this progran, every penny of it, is not wasted, regardless of the price

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The person selling it on Ebay acquired the units under an agreement he did not honor. Nothing to do with quality or experience, everything to do with ethics and integrity. Not trusting him, I cannot say what he may have done to the product or excluded from the package, hence my disclaimer. I also do not know how he will treat clients of his. It was just a heads up to the people of Brillkids, and we will have a better deal for them soon anyway.

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money money money
always sunny
in the rich man world…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0z6r7_4fGw

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Speaking of money, how is your trip going? Did the email I sent you help prepare for your meetings? Let me know if I can help you in any other way.

Thanks

Chris

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I don’t understand… You volunteered to send me a copy of Piano Wizard and I had received a letter from you to someone to send it. What is it suppose to do with my meetings or plans?

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I sent both an email with attachments and the unit to the address you indicated. I will double check both tomorrow.

Usee mejin, bee.,

Chris

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I didn’t receive any emails with attachments :frowning:

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Thank you! I did!

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We have had some spirited discussion in this forum, with lots of curiosity and different points of view. We don’t shrink from that, we hope to learn from it and take the best ideas and bring those tools to our homes to help our children grow.

With that in mind, we shared a free report on “Is Music a Birthright?” that gives some perspective the challenges of learning music, and their roots, some of which was brought out in our discussions. SoftMozart has some similar, more in depth articles on the origins and challenges of traditional music notation as well. What I also added, to try and give some perspective of the range of approaches and choices, is a series of posts about the four common approaches to learning piano (up to now). Both Hellene of SoftMozart and I believe that our methods begin to shape a “fifth way”, but they were both developed in the context of the limitations of the others, trying to compensate for those gaps and yet leverage their strengths. Though each method has its advocates and champions, including Hellene and I for our own, and those advocates can be as we have seen quite passionate and compelling, NONE OF THESE APPROACHES IS PERFECT. We do strive to honestly “perfect” our process every day, with more and more knowledge, and this forum has been I think very fruitful in its exploration of the options. Here is my latest contribution to that conversation.

Below is the link to that section of the forum.

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/four-common-approaches-to-learning-piano-some-pros-and-cons/msg60967/#msg60967