Key Skills for beginners and everyone in the early stages of learning to play
Whether you're a beginner or you've tried learning before, Keyboard Coach gives you everything you need to know so that you get the most out of your keyboard. With the help of Keyboard Coach keyboard lessons you'll quickly master the essential skills necessary to enjoy a whole new world of music making.
Plus: Real-time Cues, Track Mixing and Accompaniments and Practice Loops
Keyboard Coach contains over 150 inspiring lessons that will make learning to play lots of fun. The lessons are divided up into five levels and within each level there are five modules. Each one is dedicated to a different aspect of keyboard playing. This helps you learn a wide range of skills and adds variety to your day to day learning.
Play Tunes Play great tunes in Pop, Dance, Rock, Country and Classical styles. Learn to read music notation, rhythms, signs and symbols.
Play By Ear Boost your music-making potential by developing the ability to learn and play songs by listening and watching.
Play Solos Learn to play impressive solos and develop good hand co-ordination. Find out how to get the most from your keyboard and master all its onboard features.
Cool Songs Apply all the skills and techniques you've learnt and enjoy the excitement of performing cool songs by famous artists.
Cool Band Trax Discover how to play with other musicians. Play lead lines, string pads, riffs and solos, and experience the buzz of playing in a band.
Map Page
When you enter Keyboard Coach the first thing you see is the Map page.
On the Map are 25 modules spread over 5 Levels. Each module has a number and a title, e.g.: 6 | Notes, Rhythms and Tunes.
To get the most out of Keyboard Coach, we suggest that you complete all 25 modules in order. Start with 1 in Level 1 and work through each Level. As the Levels get higher, the lessons become more challenging.
Play Tunes modules teach you how to read music and how to translate what you read into playing tunes on your keyboard. You'll also get an insight into keyboard playing technique and build up good skills in your right hand.
Later, in the Play Solos modules, you'll develop some of the tunes into solos that you play with two hands.
Learning to read music opens up a whole world of printed music encompassing thousands of songs. It's a great skill to have and it will last you a lifetime.
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Play By Ear
These modules show you how to learn and play tunes without reading music.
You'll learn by copying and listening and by recognising patterns of keys on your keyboard.
In the Cool Songs and Cool Band Trax modules, you'll apply this skill to learning some excellent songs that would be too difficult to learn by reading music.
Learning how to use your keyboard as a music-making instrument without 'needing the music' is a valuable skill to develop.
Play Solos
To play solos, you play a tune with your right hand, and chords with your left hand, both at the same time. This is quite difficult when you're a beginner.
Your keyboard has features like Single-finger Chords and Auto-accompaniment that are designed to make playing 'hands together' easier, and Keyboard Coach uses these to the full.
These Play Solos modules will help you to develop good hand co-ordination skills and a repertoire of solos that will be lots of fun to play.
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Cool Songs
As a beginner it's often difficult to learn really good music because you haven't yet developed the skill to play them, and your music reading ability is still limited.
Because Keyboard Coach breaks down difficult music into small, easy to learn sections and teaches you how to learn and play by listening and watching (see Play by Ear), you can attempt difficult music earlier.
These Cool Songs modules will show you how to play two impressive songs where you will sound more like an advanced player than a beginner.
Cool Band Trax
In these modules you'll learn how to play keyboard in a band.
As well as getting familiar with different types of keyboard part, like string pads and lead lines, you'll learn how to blend into a band and how to come in and drop out in the right places.
You'll be able to perform the parts you learn with a full real audio band track that is missing the keyboard part.
You'll feel a bit of healthy pressure when you play with the band but you should enjoy the experience.
Contents Page
When you click a module on the Map, you reach a Contents Page that lists all the song titles and lessons contained in that module. You will also see a smaller version of the map in the top right hand corner to remind you of which module you are working in.
Music Coach is an interactive feedback feature that tells you whether or not you are playing the correct notes.
When Music Coach is activated and you perform a song from the course, the notes you play will appear on the on-screen Keyboard and be marked as correct or incorrect on the score.
Music Coach is designed to evaluate your performance once you've worked on a piece of music with the Mixer, On-screen Keyboard & Roll.
However simple a piece of music may be, playing it formally with Music Coach will help you build up a sense of performance.
If you ever get the chance to play with other people or perform in front of friends, Music Coach will have helped you to become familiar with the slight pressure you experience when trying to play something from beginning to end without stopping.
Percentage
At the end of the performance you will also receive a percentage score, in this case 87%, which will show how well you have performed the piece overall.
Connecting your Keyboard to your Computer The Keyboard Coach course is designed to be used with or without the Music Coach feature activated.
However in order to use the interactive Music Coach feature, your portable keyboard needs to be MIDI compatible and you will require a cable to connect it to your PC
A score is a piece or written music. It tells you which notes to play and provides information about beat, rhythm and other aspects of music.
Scores are explained in a Music Reading Crash Course and they are used throughout Keyboard Coach. You are shown how to read music and how to translate what you read into playing tunes on your keyboard.
Keyboard Coach scores are also interactive! You can click a note on the score to make the Mixer, Video or Audio start playing from that note.
You can also define a section of the score that you may want to work on in detail.
Left-click on the note you want to start with and right-click on the note you want to finish with. Arrows will appear showing your selection. You can then Play, Play & Loop, Rewind or use the Slider to control your position within the section.
Keyboard Coach contains over 50 expertly shot video sequences that bring to life the skills and techniques that will help you to become an accomplished player.
You can watch full screen and in slow motion, and loop any sections that you want to see in detail.
Please note that in order to use the interactive Music Coach™ feature, your portable keyboard needs to be MIDI compatible and you will require a cable to connect it to your PC.
