well guys my little brother's b-day is coming up and although i'm away at college i'd like to get him something worth while.

i'm buying him a MIDI keyboard and would like to buy some software for him to learn the piano with midi keyboard. he's turning 14 so nothing too childish.

i'm curious if anyone has bought software and been extremely happy with it...

i dont know any good software for learning how to play the piano...

but did you mean you want him to learn music theory or actually play the piano? because those are two different things in my opinion

a midi keyboard is fine for learning music theory...but not that effective for learning how to play the piano...although there are keyboards that attempt to emulate the feel of a real piano, nothing comes close to the actual thing

i would start him on a real piano first...as well as teach him music theory...then a midi keyboard

quote:

Originally posted by qiushiming i dont know any good software for learning how to play the piano... but did you mean you want him to learn music theory or actually play the piano? because those are two different things in my opinion a midi keyboard is fine for learning music theory...but not that effective for learning how to play the piano...although there are keyboards that attempt to emulate the feel of a real piano, nothing comes close to the actual thing i would start him on a real piano first...as well as teach him music theory...then a midi keyboard

well yes & no.

i'm buying an 88key keyboard so he'll have the availability to learn the "real" thing. i'm not going to buy him a 500lb piano just to emulate the exact same thing for 5lbs and some software.

he can learn theory and basic physical manipulatin of the keyboard at the same time.

I started out learning to play on a 49 key casio midi keyboard and it was fine for the first 2 years (I was younger that your brother, though). An 88 key semi-weighted keyboard should do him great for the first couple of years, but an additional sustain pedal would complete the package. I can't point out any good learning software packages, though...

If he gets really into it, then after 2-3 years he might insist on a real piano, so ask your parents first

I was learning on a yamaha clavinova for the first 5 years back in the 80s. later I got a schimmel. I still use the clavinova as a midi-keyboard