Piano tutor for the Mac

May 13, 2009 12:58 PM

I'm after interactive piano tutor software for OS X (Tiger, 10.4.11).

My boyfriend is beginning to learn the piano and as he has no musical experience at all he is after some software that can help with the basics of learning sight-reading -- getting a better feeling for the relationship between dots on the page and keys on the keyboard.

We have an electric piano, a Macbook and have just ordered a MIDI-to-USB cable so should soon have them connected up - that shouldn't be a problem.

What he would like is software which is an equivalent for the piano of "Mavis Beacon"-style typing tutors: the notes are presented on the stave and when a piano key is pressed there is feedback as to whether it's correct or not. The feedback aspect is essential - he doesn't just want a sight-reading generator which can't feed back on accuracy.

The software needs to start at absolute beginner level. It doesn't matter if it's aimed at kids, he's not proud!

Happy to pay up to around £20 ($30) - though major bonus points if there's a free demo / trial before purchasing is necessary.

(I know that a computer program can't teach musicianship or technique, this really is just to get basic instinct for "this note = this key")

posted by Dali Atomicus to media & arts (3 comments total)

Have you looked in to the lessons built in to the latest version of GarageBand?
posted by eafarris at 5:17 PM on May 13

Try Jalmus. It's free!

There's also Practica Musica, but that might be out of your price range.
posted by kristi at 9:43 AM on May 14

Jalmus is perfect - got it up and working and he is practising right now. Many thanks kristi.

(For anyone reading this who is looking to use Jalmus on a Mac with MIDI input, you need to also install Mandolane to let a Java app recognize the MIDI input)
posted by Dali Atomicus at 8:10 AM on May 16