PianoHead

by Spinapse

Product Features

• Fun, efficient and effective tool for learning music theory
• Builds automaticity for note recognition, scales, intervals and key signatures
• Addictive, game-like format with clean, easy-to-use interface
• MIDI keyboard compatible
• Worldwide scoreboard with monthly competition for the top players

Product Details

• ASIN: B000IW6YXM
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 19, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,000 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #45 in	Musical Instruments > Recording Equipment > Computer Recording > Software > Instruction
  #73 in	Software > Video & Music > Instrument Instruction

Product Description

Product Description
This easy-to-use software product teaches fundamental music theory skills in a fun, game-like format. Explore self-paced practice areas for note recognition, scales, intervals and key signatures. A practice-and-play interface helps you learn through repetition, feedback, and increasing levels of difficulty. When you're ready to move on, play the PianoHead Challenge, a game that combines all of these skills in 16 challenging levels. An online scoreboard lists the top scores of players from around the world. PianoHead is not a replacement for a piano teacher or music education books, but it is a powerful supplementary tool for solidifying the foundational skills required to read and perform music.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Piano Head Rocks!, October 12, 2006

By	Claire E. Marshall (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a Win/Win product for teachers and students. With over 30 years experience, and a large studio of successful students, I can attest that Piano Head taps into the quick visual perception both honed in today's youth by video games, and required by successful music readers. Kids are further motivated by the challenge to appear on the Worldwide Scoreboard, which entices them to practice their note and interval recognition to the desired level of automaticity. I have many students who have leaped to a higher level of understanding and enthusiasm for playing the piano, as Piano Head has lifted them beyond the mundane level of "hunt and peck". At a time when national studies show that a large percentage of piano students drop out after two years of lessons because they cannot read music, I cannot recommend this product highly enough!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, September 7, 2007

By	Ken Neth "neoscribe" (Sacramento) - See all my reviews

This is a must for piano students and music majors alike! The authors did a fantastic job of making the entire experience intuitive. It was totally easy to install. You don't have to read a single manual to get going. I don't think I've ever used the 'help' feature, nor do I know if it HAS a help feature.

This product can be best thought of as a game that is divided into lessons. Each lesson is a variation on the same game with varying degrees of difficulty. The objective is to get the best score you can. After a few minutes of playing the first lesson, I could actually close my eyes and play, and still scored high!

I only found two draw backs. It runs hot on my laptop - I suspect this may have something to do with the way the graphics are managed, or perhaps the game loop - it eats 45% of the CPU on my dual core machine. The other issue is that I was hoping my MIDI keyboard would work with it, I'm not sure if I misinterpreted the literature, but, even so, I still find significant value in the lessons anyway.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Playing Creates Confidence, November 7, 2006

By	Kym Myrick - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pianohead has been a great addition to regular piano practice time. One student in the family has a strong ear for playing and she is having fun getting to know her notes and intervals better. Both students are encouraged by the knowledge gained through the game and the confidence earned. We strongly recommend it for others that are learning and playing the piano as it creates another dimension to learning that may not be achieved through just practicing on the keyboard.