Piano Wizard or Soft Mozart?

I still haven’t made up my mind as to which programme to go for and have been busy researching these two software products. The packages offered and the prices are quite different, so I have been trying to strip these of any bonuses or extras, however valuable they may be, to be able to compare the core of each method and choose the one most likely to work for LM, taking into account her strengths and challenges. If I can get down to the foundation of each programme, I can then consider everything that comes on top of it before making the final decision. I haven’t used any of the approaches, and my research so far has been purely Internet-based.

Both systems offer a step by step approach to learning to play the piano keyboard from day one and ultimately transition learners to reading sheet music. Both of them are much more than simple “piano simulation” computer games and offer beginner-level piano curricula. Neither of them is a substitute of a good piano teacher, but they can get you as far as understanding the written language of music, learning to hit the right note at the right time, and can actually teach you to play quite a few pieces, which, I guess, is a very good start, particularly if you can’t afford a teacher. This approach would be a great tool for teaching very young kids, those with language comprehension difficulties, or simply those who learn better by seeing and doing rather than by listening and speaking, as it provides the necessary visual support and does not rely much on music theory and verbal explanation.

Piano Wizard is a multi-level game which comes with various support materials, including detailed DVD lessons taking you to PW Academy, which lays foundation of music theory, dynamics and technique.

Soft Mozart, on the other hand, is, in fact, a series of multi-level interactive games, each targeting a specific skill necessary for playing the piano. It also comes with a one-year beginner curriculum, covering some aspects of music theory, solfege, harmony and performance.

The two parts of the packages, which appear comparable and which form the basis of the programmes, are the actual PW game and SM Gentle Piano module. Both games have a similar concept of rotating the great stave vertically thus showing how it relates to the piano keys. They both let the players focus on a specific line and, at the same time, encourage them look ahead. These two videos below, in my opinion, give quite a good idea of the steps involved in each respective method.

Piano Wizard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_o1vjXHGrc

Soft Mozart: http://www.youtube.com/user/lenkaolenka#p/u/9/6bUeNO6U7tI

As these videos show, both PW and SM start out at their most basic levels as simple matching games – you match colours (in PW) or symbols (in SM) on the stickers to those of/on the objects/circles reaching the focus line on the screen, which should be easy enough even for a very young child. Over the next few levels, they gradually transition you to the conventional musical notation. These two programmes, however, appear to use completely different support mechanisms, or, let’s call these “crutches” (not in a bad sense), which are gradually removed to allow independent “piano walk”.

PW relies solely on colours to represent each key and this support is removed after the game is flipped horizontally and the moving game objects turn into notes. Colour to colour match is very simple and would allow anyone to get started on the piano. The first two levels have a fun computer game-like appearance, with a variety of colourful backgrounds, which would be appealing to game-savvy kids who would not even realise they are practicing. In PW music keeps going whether or not you have hit the right key, to emphasise the idea that music indeed goes on whether you can keep up with it or not, and a note played out of time is not a correct note.

I haven’t, however, figured out how the game manages to get the learner over the fact that each line/space on the staff cannot be assigned one specific colour with the same ease as (all of) the keys of the keyboard, since there is no exact correspondence between the two. For instance, looking at the upper stave, A (“la”), which is assigned a specific space, would be represented either by a brown, or a blue (if flat) or a green (if sharp) note. Likewise, G (“sol”) could be a blue-coloured note too, if sharp, but it would not be in the same space on the stave, but on the line below. Unless I got it completely wrong (correct me if I did!), this would potentially confuse LM at Step 3, when the moving objects become moving notes on the actual stave and could make her transitioning to Step 4 (black and white notes) quite challenging. The programme, however, claims that learners, who reach that stage, stop relying so much on the colours and, presumably with practice, learn intuitively the underlying logic of music notation and how keys correspond to lines and spaces of the great stave.

SM, on the other hand, relies on a series of support mechanisms, which are gradually removed, as the game progresses. The stickers, with symbols representing notes (solfege or letters) and green/brown lines delineating the grand staff, are only attached to white keys. To the best of my knowledge, the beginner pieces do not involve using any black keys as they are written in do (C) major. The great stave is already prominent at Level 1, although modified and in a vertical position. Once you are comfortable with symbol to symbol matching, the symbols can be removed and you remain with either red (representing line notes) or blue (space notes) circles and match these to red/blue stickers on the keys, while having the green and brown lines on the keyboard as points of reference. These two steps are then repeated with the staves rotated horizontally after which, the circles become regular black notes moving on the staves towards the focus line, at which stage the appearance of the game becomes similar to PW’s Step 4. SM then goes one step further, to actually present all pieces in a static sheet format on the screen with green light highlighting each note as it is played. As for flats and sharps, these, if I understand correctly, are introduced in more advanced pieces by showing tiny black rectangles with flat or sharp signs to the left or to the right of the symbol picture suggesting that a black key to the left or to the right should be played instead.

Unlike PW, in SM the game waits for you to hit the note and will not move further unless you have succeeded, which allows you to be more in control of the music flow and to stop and think before hitting the keys.

Which one would be better for LM? I ask myself this question but I know the proof of the pudding is in the eating, particularly if this pudding is on LM’s plate, who has not followed the typical developmental profile, who may be challenged by what would be easy for a typical child, and, vice versa, could find very easy something a typical child would not. Additionally, both products will be different as to how they measure the progress and respond to errors, which I have left out of my research, since these nuances are difficult to appreciate and compare until you use the software.

Anyway, the good news for me is that it is possible to try both programmes before investing the precious dollars. SM offers free easily downloadable demos of all of their games, including Gentle Piano, as well as a free one-year curriculum. These should give a very good idea of the actual product as they are simply their much shorter versions.

PW, on the other hand, comes with a two-month (at least for BrillKids members) customer satisfaction guarantee, after which, if the product did not work for you, you can return the game and get your money back.

Since trying out SM seems to be an easier option, as I can start immediately and will not lose any shipping charges should I decide to return it, this is the programme I will start with. My aim is to try it over the following couple of months and see how far LM will be able to make with it, before "gambling" shipping costs on PW.

I see that this post has gone into quite an essay now, so I am going to stop here. Will be updating on our progress!