The Piano System - Learn Piano by Ear

The Piano System is a well designed DVD piano lesson course. It is produced by Railroad Media, a company that is well-known for there numerous high-quality DVD drumming courses. The running theme throughout the course is learning to play the piano by ear. The course does offer a wide range of piano instruction, but the primary focus is on learning how to play piano by ear.

With 3 DVDs, this course doesn't cover as much ground as the 14 DVD Learn and Master Piano course, but it still contains a decent amount of instruction. However, the high production quality of The Piano System certainly matches that of Learn and Master Piano. This, in addition to its approach on learning piano by ear and the instructor's teaching qualifications, are its chief virtues.

About the Instructor

The Piano System is taught and developed by Canadian pianist Nate Bosch, who has been immersed in music since a very young age. Nate is classically trained and spent five years studying at the Yamaha School of Music as well as the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music, where he reached grade level 10 for piano (which is very high).

He has experience performing with several bands, the current one being Blue Rain, as well as recording with artists such as Riley Armstrong and Randy Bachman. Nate also maintains an active schedule of teaching the piano through seminars and workshops. His style of teaching is methodical and precise, and always imbued with the patience and dedication needed to educate new piano students.

Course Content

The Piano System is comprised of over 9 hours of video instruction spread across 3 DVDs, 2 Play-Along DVDs, and 2 Play-Along CD's. It also includes 2 workbooks, and a few extra bonuses. The core of the piano instruction is contained within the main workbook and 3 lesson DVDs.

Lesson DVD's

The DVD's are region free and the lessons feature the use of well-positioned camera angles as well as animated keyboards (see screenshots).

• The beginner piano system DVD contains introduces you to basic fingering technique, the fundamentals of playing by ear, basic chords and progressions, the keys of C and G, using the pedals among many other topics. It does a good job of making you feel comfortable and oriented at the piano keyboard. Very quickly, the beginner DVD will have you playing you first few songs - something that is important for a new student because it instills confidence and a yearning to learn more.
• The intermediate piano system DVD builds on the essentials of the beginner DVD by providing an initial introduction to the basics of music theory and reading music. Lesson coverage includes reading piano notation, the theory behind scales and keys, more complex chord arrangements and progressions, and improvisation skills. However, the main focus is still on learning to play by ear and the music theory is taught only as necessary for understanding some fundamentals of music. This DVD also introduces the student to blues, country, and gospel piano styles.
• The final piano system DVD covers more advanced topics. This includes an in-depth exposition of jazz piano styles as well as rock and pop piano concepts. Time is also spent teaching you the very important topics of mastering your accuracy and speed, dynamics, rhythmic control, etc. Much of this DVD is focused on teaching you how to bring together, in a fluid and comprehensive way, all the elements you've previously learned.

The Lesson Book

The 65 page training book, which is professionally made with excellent illustrations and diagrams, is the counterpart to the DVDs. The workbook provides all of the essential material covered in the lessons. The written text is useful for study when away from the TV and piano. In addition, written explanations and diagrams often elucidate complex topics more efficiently than the spoken word.

Play-Along Packs

The Play-Along DVD's and CD's in the course contain 16 songs that give the student the opportunity to test the results of their practice and learning. On the DVD's the songs are performed and can be viewed in three different ways. First, Nate or the entire band plays through the song in its entirety at a normal camera angle. Second, the song performance is given an in-depth breakdown, whereby Nate teaches you how to play it yourself by guiding you through note-by-note. Thirdly, a multi-angle view shows Nate's performance of the song from 3 split angles.

• The first play-along pack contains a DVD featuring 8 songs from a variety of music styles. The CD from the first play-along pack includes the same 8 songs on this DVD with the piano track removed. This gives you the opportunity to fill in the piano part yourself after you have used the DVD to perfect your performance of the song.
• The DVD and CD in the second play-along pack follows the same teaching format as the first. However, it features 8 songs by Nate's 'Blue Rain' band.

Included with the play-along packs is a single workbook that contains the sheet-music for all 16 songs.

Bonuses

• A '12 Steps to Piano Playing' DVD is included with The Piano System course. It contains some basic piano lessons as well as an introduction to the instrument itself. Much this material is covered in the beginner DVD part of the course, so it's a bit redundant. When The Piano System was first introduced this 12 steps DVD was initially given out as a free demo to introduce customers to the course. Now, its simply thrown in a free bonus.
• A free download of one of Nate's Piano Clinic seminars. In it you'll find information about how the piano has changed his approach to music and more piano lesson tidbits.

Price and Guarantee

The Piano System sells for $97.00. They offer 3 and 5 month payment plans if needed. Using this option does add an additional $3.00 per month however. The Piano System is available to all international customers - all currencies are accepted and the DVD's are recorded "region-free".

The Piano System comes with a 90-day 100% money-back guarantee, giving you plenty of time to decide if it's worth the money.

Support

The company provides their phone and email for customer support. They claim to provide "unlimited" support, leading us to believe that you can call upon them with any questions or learning difficulties you may have.

Final Anlaysis

The Piano System certainly deserves to be ranked as one of the best piano instruction packages. In our opinion the video and teaching quality are every bit as good as Learn and Master Piano - it only lacks the community forum and the amount of lesson content, but then again it's a cheaper option. So, this would be a great choice if price is your deciding factor. In addition, if you want to learn to play piano by ear then this is the course for you. But, whatever your motivations, we doubt you'll be disappointed with The Piano System.

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