Download Piano Lessons Videos
Nevada Biernat
I have been fortunate to have experimented with technology to deliver online piano lessons over the past decade, but due to my teaching responsibilities at Stephen F. Austin State University, I haven't had the time to devote to developing a true online piano curriculum. However, I have had the pleasure to write articles and give presentations at various music teacher conferences to demonstrate what is possible with the technology, and hopefully what I share can inspire them to develop their own online piano lesson materials.
With close to 120 online videos, the Hoffman Academy offers a progressive series of lessons to address the 21st-century piano student to view and consume at his or her own pace and leisure for free. Let me repeat that: all of the piano lesson videos on his website are available to view for FREE. In fact, I believe all of the videos are hosted on the Hoffman Academy YouTube channel which makes it easily viewed on computers, mobile devices, or even internet-connected televisions. Many might be skeptical on how good can these lessons be if there isn't even a charge for it. However, the website has links to donate to the Hoffman Academy. Hoffman is able sustain this business model by tying the videos into his method materials which are sold on his website as online downloads of PDF pages and MP3 albums. Yet, students will still find plenty of educational value in the Hoffman Academy videos even without purchasing the method materials.
Regardless of how effective the video lessons are, I think it's important for the parents to stay active in their children's music education and not have unrealistic expectations of the videos doing all the work for them. Parents can easily learn along because the Hoffman Academy videos have clear lesson objectives listed down with the titles and "what you'll learn". Most video lessons are limited to about 10-minutes in length which is fine to address short attention spans of online learners. Although some of the more advanced lessons can go close to a half-hour long. In my own experience, I've found even shorter 4-5 minute videos to be even more effective in keeping students engaged.
Some teachers and parents may be dismissive on the effectiveness of the online lesson experience. However, it only seems natural to me for something like the Hoffman Academy videos to shake things up. Joseph Hoffman has obviously put a lot of time and effort into this project, and he has the educational background and experience to be taken seriously. In addition to playing music on traditional notation, Hoffman also includes lessons on singing and ear training which are an essential part for developing the whole musician. Check out his "Copy Cat Ear Game" below in Piano Lesson 106:
Hoffman's overhead camera view makes the video lesson content engaging and easy for students to play along or imitate with what was demonstrated. Other lessons also include clear views of musical notation to encourage students to develop musical literacy instead of just relying on imitation by ear and rote.
Another innovative feature of the Hoffman Academy website is the virtual "recital hall". Traditionally piano teachers get students to play on stage in recitals and festivals to give them a tangible and meaningful goal for their practice. Since this is an online environment, the Hoffman Academy has a section of their website devoted to feature submitted video performances by students who take the online lessons. Hoffman reviews the videos and chooses the ones to be featured on the website based on the students' accuracy, fluency, and posture. This is a very 21st century way of making students feel they've made a significant accomplishment when their video is posted for a large community of learners to watch as they please.
In summary, the Hoffman Academy has probably one of the most comprehensive collection of video lessons for beginner piano students. They move in such a progressive and logical manner that it brings true legitimacy to online piano lessons that are often dismissed as not being as good as "real" traditional piano lessons. Hoffman takes full advantage of the medium to present easy-to-follow lessons that will draw parents into making music education a significant part of their child's upbringing. The biggest disadvantage of the Hoffman Academy video lessons is the lack of real-time interactivity with the teacher where the student can get immediate feedback on whether they are playing correctly or not. However, this can be filled in with engaged parents who should monitor and oversee their children's progress at the piano to fill this void (Parents should play this active role in traditional lessons too!). I also have a feeling that Joseph Hoffman will continue to develop the academy's website to address some of these shortcomings with possibly web apps or even computer and mobile device applications that can give the lessons an even greater level of interactivity for the students. We see it in other online courses. So why not in online piano lessons as well?
I can't teach anyone piano to any advanced level (you'll need a teacher/lessons at some point), but I hope these lessons help people get started and help parents find out if their children are even interested in learning the piano. That way they don't have to commit to paying for piano lessons and waste their money if the child is not motivated. Parents can use these free lessons for starters, and then, if the child is progressing and is interested, they can sign the child up for piano lessons.
I have been playing guitar for few years, and there are alot of different channels that show you for example a simple concepts that you can apply to your playing after watching the video, music theory channels, technique oriented channels and etc. So far I didn't really find anything like that (maybe except Pianote) for piano playing. What channels would you recommend to a beginner, or a beginner that knows quite a bit of music theory?
When you first sit down at a piano keyboard, it can be a bit daunting. In front of you, there are 88 keys. Some are white, some are black. Whenever you are beginning something new, it is helpful to have a starting point. The starting point for learning to play the piano is a single note, Middle C. In this lesson, I'm going to take you from playing that simple note to playing a short chord progression. Don't worry if you don't know what a chord progression is right now, I will explain it a little bit later.
For now, sit down at your piano and find Middle C. The video will show you where it is at. From middle C, I am going to show you how to play a complete C Major Scale. The C Major Scale is an easy one because it consists entirely of white keys. So, let's just play the white keys in order, starting at Middle C. The note directly to the right of Middle C is a D. As we continue moving to the right we play E, F, G, A, B and then finally return to C. That last C is an octave higher than Middle C. This collection of notes is the C Major Scale. The scale doesn't need to begin on middle C, it can start and end on any C on the keyboard.
But playing the piano is more than just your right hand. Now I am going to show you what to do with your left hand. As you play a chord in your right hand, play its root note with your left. The root note is simply the note that the chord is named after. C for a C chord, F for an F chord, G for a G chord, etc. Play a C note with your left hand and simultaneously play a C chord with your right. Now an F note with your left hand and F chord with your right. G note with your left hand, G chord with your right. When we put chords in an order like this, we are creating a musical phrase. This particular type of phrase is called a chord progression, because we are progressing through a serious of chords. C-F-G-C is what we call a 1-4-5 progression. I'll explain what that means in the next video, so stay tuned!
On your journey to learn to play piano, there are many skills that are better learned through watching. That is why we have put together over 300 training videos that go along with the Piano Marvel lessons and songs. Songs and exercises that include a lesson video will have a video link just below the song title in the music view.
Piano Marvel has an ever-growing number of video lessons to accompany songs and exercises. We also periodically update our videos to showcase the newest Piano Marvel features. You can always see our latest videos on our YouTube channel or on our Facebook page.
The video lessons have a high production value, with overhead keyboard views, displayed staff, and highlighted keys just like in many paid online methods. Josef has a clear, enjoyable way of teaching, and the comments are overwhelmingly positive.
The earliest beginner lessons are arranged into playlists in order to help students progress logically, and Tim goes the second step of dividing the playlists into three levels. However, after this stage, the lessons have not been organized into any sort of order other than the order in which they were posted.
For those who prefer reading their lessons to watching them, these websites present a solid option. Web pages also lend themselves better to a structured lesson plan than YouTube channels, so there is no guesswork in what to practice next.
The lessons are text-based, with images and audio files to demonstrate the concepts on the piano. The starter and intermediate sections deal almost entirely with theory, reading music, and technique rather than teaching pieces, but students should be able to apply concepts learned in the lessons to external music.
Zebra Keys is an old-school site that provides 50 beginner piano lessons free of charge. The lessons are divided into four levels: preparation, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each level is further divided into lessons on songs, chords, music theory, improvisation, and technique.
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