Reviews of Musicware Piano for Windows

PC Magazine, July 1994, Circulation 1,003,720
 **** "Excellent" Rating
										
Sure, when you were a kid 
piano lessons were a 
loathsome thing, but now 
you wish you knew how to 
play.  Those who played 
second base instead of 
Chopin can now take 
advantage of Musicware 
Piano for Windows, a self-
pacing instructional system 
that makes it possible to 
learn to play the piano 
while sitting at your PC.  
       While other systems 
stress the fun or 
performance   aspects   of  
playing, Musicware Piano 
takes a more structured 
approach.  It starts with the 
basics  and   builds   skills    
from there.  Here,  the  
basics  means
learning the keyboard, the  
positioning of the hands, 
and the concept of rhythm.  
The software also provides 
instruction in music theory, 
notation, ear training, and 
sight reading.
       What makes Musicware 
Piano such a good teacher 
is the on-screen, immediate 
feedback it provides.  For 
example, when you're trying 
to play a piece of music in 
rhythm, you follow the 
rhythm line, matching the 
length of your notes to that 
of the ideal line displayed 
on-screen.
       Course One of the 
Musicware  Piano system  
covers
the entire first year of piano 
instruction, with more than 
200 lessons in all.  When 
you're ready to move on, 
you can purchase more 
advanced courses for 
$99.99 each; song packs 
are also available.
       If you have a 
multimedia PC and MIDI 
keyboard, you have no 
excuse for not learning how 
to play.  Musicware Piano 
won't have you playing 
Beethoven the first time you 
load up the software, but it 
will teach you the skills you 
need to make music for a 
lifetime.



Windows Sources, July 1994, Circulation 350,000
"Thumbs Up"
A Windows Piano 
Teacher on a Disk
       Musicware Piano for 
Windows won't put piano 
teachers out of business, 
but it does make practicing 
a lot more fun.
       In a typical exercise, 
Musicware plays a 
sequence of notes on a 
staff for you to repeat.   If  
you  do  it  correctly, 
you get positive feedback.  
Make a mistake, and you're 
given a few more chances 
to try again.  The program 
will then help you focus on 
the specific problem.  
Musicware provides an 
environment similar to 
language tapes, using a 
listen-and repeat approach 
for integrated sight and ear 
training.  Musicware  
provides  a 
MIDI cable and supports 
most sound cards.
       Musicware Piano for 
Windows gets a "thumbs up" 
from me.  It won't teach you 
how to use the synthesizer 
capabilities of your MIDI 
keyboard, but it will teach 
you how to read and play 
sheet music.



Multimedia and CD ROM Now, September 1994
"I could fill five pages singing 
the praises of this package.  
Learning the piano is 
something I have always 
wanted to do, but never 
having the patience to pick 
up a book or the spare 
cash to call in a teacher 
has left me tuneless. 
Piano is a delight to use.  It 
offers the smoothest 
learning curve I have ever 
experienced in an 
educational title.  Questions 
are fired at you from 
previous lessons in a unit to 
keep you thinking and with 
so many human touches 
like the 
changing congratulatory 
comments, it all feels 
worthwhile.  Great, super, 
well-done Musicware . . . for 
a year's supply of music 
lessons, it's a steal."  
"Fantastic.  I haven't 
enjoyed a piece of 
educational software as 
much in a long time."