[nh2]

If you want kids to be excited about playing the piano, get a keyboard with light keys like the Yamaha EZ-300.

Combined with a learning software that can control the light (Synthesia, or the one from Yamaha itself, maybe also the one in the original post), it creates a huge amount of fun and motivation. Also works very well for adults.

Keyboards like this do not give you proper hammer-action piano keys, but it makes you discover you /want/ to be a pianist, cheaper and with fun.

(There are also a few hammer-action lit digital pianos but they aren't as fun, and already quite expensive.)

Also consider Synthesia's short list: https://synthesiagame.com/keyboards/info

(I'd get the EZ-300 over the PSR-EW310 listed there for that price class, I believe it didn't exist when that list was written.)

Pop in songs they like (e.g. Disney or Pokemon) from a MuseScore subscription for engagement optimisation ;-)

[mrbombastic]

Question from an adult because it seems like you have experience with some of these tools, I’ve been using SimplyPiano for a few months, which listens to notes you play and gives you feedback, and while it is satisfying to hear the music I can’t shake that I am not really learning just copying. For instance I can play some of the advanced songs in the app but I open a piece of sheet music and I am lost. Is there similar concern for synthesia?

[nh2]

Yes, the same concern exists for Synthesia. It teaches a significant amount of muscle memory.

But that is not such a bad thing:

* Muscle memory is part of the game, for any instrument (at least for the ones I know).

* Some of the muscle memory is transferable. For example, when you learn some chords on Synthesia, you can transfer many of them to other parts of the keyboard, also when you're not using the tool.

* For many people, motivation must come first. Learning a piece by muscle memory shows you that you can do it. Wanting to read sheet music naturally follows, from the fact that muscle memory is limited, and to play more stuff.

* Synthesia also teaches rhythm, which some people already have but others don't. You can learn rhythm because Synthesia shows how long each note is, and you can see it coming ahead of time.

* You should learn to read music notation in all cases. Learning the concept only takes 30 seconds: Remember where one note is and do the rest by line counting. The speed of reading will come automatically over time. Then for some songs, enable Synthesia's sheet note display and cover the falling notes from sight. It will show you whether you're reading it correctly. It'll be painfully slow at the beginning but improve over a couple days. It allows you to transfer over to just reading the sheets. Eventually that will become the more convenient way, as the need to download (e.g. from MuseScore and import into Synthesia) disappears; not that it's great effort, but eventually you can just browse easy pieces of sheet music and start playing the ones you like as you see them.

Tools like Synthesia help improve on some of the skill axes; use other methods for the remaining ones.

[mrbombastic]

Thanks so much! This is very helpful!

[ghostpepper]

I am an adult who takes beginner lessons from a teacher and he says with new students he often has to undo the “learning” from (sometimes years of) those apps - and it can often be devastating to the ego, especially for kids.

[fma]

Im trying to get my daughter (age 8) into piano and I see the same thing echo on Reddit while doing my research.

It's no different than picking up a ball and playing basketball on your own or tennis...or a simple coding book and making a CRUD app without all the best practices or Code Complete and your fancy frameworks.

I got the exact piano op mentioned on prime day for $150?. I have Simply Piano. My daughter will ask to play the "piano game".

Last summer I signed up my daughter for Ukulele class with a teacher. She barely touched outside what was required assignments.

Yes in the perfect world I have a real piano, with a real teacher who is great with kids who makes it so fun my daughter wants to practice everyday.

But I only have one shot to get her hooked and build momentum. IMHO passion comes first, then technique. Passion comes from having fun.