Music lessons can become real expensive real fast. There should be an easier, less expensive but still effective way to learn piano right? Right! A young company called The One is launching a campaign on Indiegogo to bring its smart keyboards to the US. The first, The One Smart Piano, is an digital piano with 88 weighted keys; the other, The One Light Keyboard, is 61-key MIDI keyboard. Both keyboards integrate directly with an iPhone or an iPad “” although the iPad’s large screen works best.
Songs can easily be learned using the free app. The app has specific music lessons, but it also allows you to play learning games and download sheet music, for free if it’s in the public domain or for about a dollar if the music is from a current (modern) artist.
The keyboard teaches you each song using light up keys, which is already available on existing MIDI keyboards. The One however takes it a bit further, rather than just running the songs, the keyboards are able to stop at each note and wait for the learner to play it correctly. It also lines up with the iPad so that you know exactly where you are on the sheet music as well as the piano. This enables a theory teaching element as well.
There is a lot of debate around whether the light-up key teaching method is really effective but we have to say that the “The One Smart Piano” definitely brings this centuries old instrument squarely into the future.
Source: TheVerge
Follow Jaco on Twitter: @Jaco_vdWalt

