Learn and Master Piano - Lessons on DVD

Learn and Master Piano represents the best in dvd piano lessons - by all accounts it's the highest quality piano course on the market. The most impressive features are its production quality, the comprehensive amount of lesson content, and the highly qualified piano teacher. Everyone, from students to piano professionals, sings this course praises.

But, we would expect nothing less from the company that produces the course - Legacy Learning Systems. From their studios in Nashville, Legacy Learning Systems has produced several outstanding music education courses - including ones for guitar, bass, and drums. For each, they employ professional artists and experts that are well respected in their fields. The numerous awards won by the company for educational excellence are a testament to their high quality.

About the Instructor

The instructor, Will Barrow, is a Grammy Award winning pianist with an impressive resume. His early pianist years were spent in NYC, playing in Broadway orchestra pits and clubs, doing studio work, and teaching at Long Island University. During this time he also earned his Masters from the Manhattan School of Music. Will was also conductor for two national touring companies, co-wrote the off-Broadway work From My Hometown, as well as co-produced an album for alternative country guitarist Rosie Flores.

He has performed and recorded with many artists from a wide range of music styles, including jazz siblings Eloise, Ronnie, and Hubert Laws, disco diva Vickie Sue Robinson, R&B singer Freda Payne, rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson, gospel great BeBe Winans, operatic soprano Karen Parks, and country singers Suzy Bogguss and the Gatlin Brothers. His professional experience also includes many performances at jazz and music festivals across the globe and at the prestigious Lincoln Center. His Grammy was awarded in 2005 for his work on the CD Beautiful Dreamer - The Songs of Stephen Foster. Will still tours actively and regularly teaches in the Nashville area.

Course Content

Learn and Master Piano covers a lot of ground, providing the student with everything they need to become a well-rounded and competent pianist. It assumes no prior knowledge of the piano and begins with the absolute basics, those with prior piano experience can skip ahead to more advanced material. Instead of presenting endless drills and exercises, this course presents everything in an engaging way and will have the student playing recognizable songs very early on.

Furthermore, unlike many piano learning products that are disjointed and unorganized, this course is structured in a seamless fashion. Its lessons are presented in a logical and complementary way that naturally progresses the student towards a greater understanding and mastery of the piano. While covering a very wide range of topics and piano styles, it doesn't get bogged down in any single one, nor does it gloss over any topics in a cursory fashion. Will has a knack for knowing exactly which issues or questions a student will have trouble with and, right on queue, addresses them with perfect timing. The course consists of 14 DVD's, 5 Jam-Along CD's, a lesson book, and a student web forum.

The DVD's

The DVD's are region free and can be played in any country. They make up the heart of the course and contain 2 sessions each. These sessions contain the important lesson material and are broken down into the following sections:

• Lesson Instruction: These are the segments that contain the lesson material, which is taught and demonstrated by Will.
• Lesson Nuggets: Various, but highly important, topics that are interspersed throughout the sessions. At later points, Will often revisits and delves into these topics more thoroughly.
• Workshop: These are practice assignments meant to reinforce and test what you've learned in the session. These are completed with Will at the piano, walking the student through.

All of the sessions feature excellent camera angles and use an animated keyboard to clearly show what the instructor's hands are doing (click on the screenshots and video tabs above for examples). The lessons also incorporate great diagrams and charts that are clear and effective. The first half of the course introduces the piano and then covers basic music theory, scales, the major and minor modes, basic chords, and playing techniques. The last half of the course spends a lot of time on piano styles such as blues, jazz, pop, classical, etc. as well as covering more in-depth topics like harmonizing, dynamics, advanced chord constructions, and advanced music theory. However, these are only the main lesson topics covered; there are many more, all of which receive a thorough treatment from Will Barrow.

Lesson Book

The richly illustrated 104 page lesson book contains all of the songs and exercises from the video portion of the course as well as more instructive material for learning to play piano. This allows you to study and learn when not engaged with the video lessons.

Jam-Along CD's

The 5 Jam-Along CD's contain the 120+ songs that are presented throughout the course. These songs are performed by a live studio band and are recorded both with and without the piano track, allowing you to fill in the piano part. The tracks can be played back at three different speeds so you can slowly work your way up to playing at the correct tempo. This is a pretty impressive feature. Playing with a group of musicians as opposed to playing piano solo really encourages the excitement that comes with making music. Once you perfect the piano part and are able to play the piece along with the rest of the band you'll get a huge sense of accomplishment.

Member Support Forum

Included with the course is access to the members only forum, which is quite active. This is something that most probably never think of when choosing an at-home piano course. Any student is bound to encounter difficulties in the learning process and Learn and Master, instead of leaving you high and dry, accounts for this need by providing a community forum. In it, you can learn and share with other students, get help with confusing lesson topics, etc. Will Barrow takes part in the forum too, offering piano advice and assisting students with their learning.

Price and Guarantee

Learn and Master is listed for $249, but it is so often on sale for $100 off that the real price is $149. From time to time they have previously viewed copies, which sell for $99. Legacy Learning Systems also lets you opt for a 3 month payment plan if your budget is tight, although this does include a $4.00 fee for each of the 3 months. International customers are welcome, as the DVD's are "region-free", and all currencies are accepted.

Learn and Master comes with a 60 day 100% money-back guarantee. It's doubtful that you'll be dissatisfied with the course, but if you are they'll issue a full refund with no questions asked, minus the shipping fees.

Final Analysis

Learn and Master Piano really is the ultimate piano lesson package. We can't complain about anything, except the fact that you have to wait for it to arrive in the mail. The thorough and well-balanced lesson presentations, the top-notch production quality, and the instructor's excellent credentials put Learn and Master in a class of its own. Of course all of these things make it more expensive than other products, but value is the key and we think the course is worth the expense.

With that said, we wouldn't recommend it for an advanced pianist.  Although an experienced pianist would definitely learn some new things from the course, this wouldn't be enough to justify the cost. However, for the beginner and intermediate piano student it is perfect and remains our number one recommendation.

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