Piano Suite Premier 2.6

I have worked with this software program and others from Adventus extensively, but am actively seeking a replacement in my studio. Installation and set-up does not work well for most of my students. Tech support is not nearly as helpful as they advertise, in fact usually they just get defensive when you tell them what isn't working. Theory Thinker lessons are boring and move much too quickly for most children. Theory games are lacking to say the least. The picture is stuck in a little square box, has not been adjusted for widescreens. There is a latency issue that costs significant $ to overcome, no matter what sound card you use. Finger numberings are given over every note of each song, and often the finger numbers are wrong. They have changed a few notes here and there in classical pieces to get around copyrights. Composer's Corner is frustrating to use. Do yourself a favor and pick some different software. Children's Music Journey from the same company is much better for young children, I have used it with many children with success: better games, sequential lessons, nice graphics, but still with installations issues, glitches here and there and even greater latency issues.

[-- SETUP PROBLEMS --] I've tried to set this program up using a midi cable and two or three different computers. It was difficult to get the software to recognize the attached keyboard, even though it is midi compatible. [-- SOFTWARE IS LAME --] There are included games which have nothing to do with music or reading music. We weren't even sure what the games were for. [-- MUSICAL GUIDANCE --] The musical guidance is the reason we bought the software and it just didn't exist. We simply wanted something that helped us progress from one note and one key to many notes in many keys and it just didn't have anything like this. It just set up the songs and had you go. [-- INCLUDED MUSIC --] The included songs aren't bad. Lots of public domain stuff so no royalties are involved for software maker.

I had taken piano lessons for a while but found the expense and getting to the lessons a problem. Having a MIDI capable electronic keyboard and a PC, I figured this software might be a good investment. I'm happy to say that this program does just what I wanted it to do; I've learned to play better and am improving all the time. Here's what the program does for me. First, it can play the music so that I know what it should sound like when correctly played. Then, I can go through a piece of music a note at a time with the program telling me visually if I have hit the right key. I get a feel for finger placement. Then, using a metronome (with a counting voice or a tone) at a pace I set, it monitors my timing and shows me exactly where I held a note too long, or not long enough. The program does exactly what a good teacher would do by requiring you to play the right notes with just the right timing. You can isolate a part of the piece you are having trouble with and concentrate just on that bar or bars. You can print out the score. Mistakes are flagged and you see, by way of red notes, where you went wrong and in what way you erred. You will watch as your accuracy climbs until you have the piece mastered. That's all good! The problems are with setup and saving settings. No two screens look alike. You wander through all kinds of icons, buttons and color schemes that have no uniformity. What is that red light up there by the picture of a piano? Hey, it's a button I can press! The graphics design folks went wild and that confuses the user. Fortunately, for practice sessions you simply have the score displayed on a white screen with a minimum of clutter. When installing, obey the request that NO OTHER PROGRAMS BE OPEN. I found that unless I install this program with NO other programs running and then immediately install the version 2.66 patch (available from Adventus online) I would get unpredictable, annoying errors right in the middle of practice. A window would pop up telling me an error had been encountered and the program would crash. The program settings can be confusing, are not all on one screen and are not saved! You may take a while to figure out why you don't hear something when you should, or you do hear something you don't want to hear. You will eventually get it right and then discover when next you run the program that nothing has been saved. So, though you have set volume levels, muted instruments, set the metronome speed, etc, before, you have to set them all again. Talk about frustrating! All that is remembered is the piece you were playing in your last session and the record of how you performed. You should be practicing music, not continually telling the program that you want the same environment you had the last time you played. This is such a basic requirement for ANY computer program that I'm amazed Piano Suite got through quality control the way it is. I've been expecting and hoping for a version 3 to appear that will be ready for prime time but version 2.6 stays with us. So, I lead a loud cheer for the pedogogical part of this program, I don't know how it could be improved. People with knowledge and experience of music were undoubtedly involved and I am living proof that Piano Suite Premier teaches piano well. But the software programmers, please, would a SAVE SETTINGS, and a single graphics-free page to make the settings, be so hard to provide?

This is great for teaching novice kids on the computer. They enjoyed the exercises. It also keeps track of each individual student's progress. Great tool as part of a well rounded curriculum. Of course, weighted keys or a real piano is needed for adequate progress in building finger strength.