5 Ways For Adults To Learn Piano Online
There are a number of important benefits associated with learning to play the piano as an adult. We're here to help you get started!
This educational blog comes from piano teacher and author, Megan!
Imagine emerging from your self-quarantine with a new skill, like playing the piano. Or, what if you had a really impressive new piano solo to show off next time you get together with your friends or family? There are a number of important benefits associated with learning to play the piano as an adult. If quarantine boredom isn’t enough motivation for you to start, think about these reasons to play:
- Improve mental health. Playing an instrument is a proven method of channeling negative emotions and minimizing anxiety and stress. Research shows a decrease in cortisol levels, which helps to manage anxiety. Studies point to piano playing as a way to improve self-esteem and decrease levels of depression, fatigue, and psychological distress.
- Stimulate your brain. The process of playing the piano requires a set of demanding neural and cognitive challenges, including deciphering notes on a page in both treble and bass clef, matching the keys under your fingers, and coordinating between left and right hands, all while noting the required tempo and variety of rhythmic patterns. The neuroplasticity in your brain is stimulated when you learn to play the piano. The brain literally forms new connections and re-formulates patterns. In addition, the process of playing the piano allows you to practice concentration and memorization. Research even suggests that playing piano helps to stave off the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Sharpen your aural skills. It may seem strange that learning to play piano could make you a better listener, but it’s true. As you learn the instrument, you will develop a musical ear, which enables you to identify and blend the sounds you hear and make. This will make your appreciation of music even stronger, with the added benefit of improved singing skills as you become more aware of the notes you are producing.
- Provide an artistic outlet. We’ve all had those times in our lives when words are not enough to express our feelings. In those moments, the ability to create music functions as a form of communication. Emotions can be expressed through piano, whether you are writing your own compositions or performing someone else’s.
- Improve dexterity. Piano training can be helpful for stroke victims, as it stimulates changes to the sensorimotor cortex, improving the quality of movement. Keyboard playing helps to improve manual dexterity, finger strength, usage of upper extremities, coordination of finger movements, and hand-eye coordination. Adults who learned piano also reported decreases in arthritic pain and overall improvement in fine motor skills.
- Increase versatility. Learning to play the piano is a skill that can improve your versatility in many other areas. The ability to play an instrument is a great skill that will add to your repertoire, but it may also encourage you to try additional new things. Piano is a cornerstone for learning music theory and picking up other instruments, so once you have mastered reading music and playing piano, you can turn your attention to learning others.
- Boost confidence. Playing the piano helps you to overcome shyness and self-consciousness. As you progress through identifying notes to playing a one-handed melody, to playing with two hands, and finally moving through the difficulty levels, you will gain the confidence to play for an audience. When they show their appreciation, your self-esteem will flourish.
If you’re interested in exploring this idea but don’t know where to start, you should consider learning piano online.
Learning to play the piano online is very doable in this age of distance learning. There are tons of great apps and programs available for learners of any level. Here are a few you could try.
Beginning Piano For Adults
Beginning Piano For Adults is my own online course that I created for adults who have always wanted to play the piano. I designed it to feel like you are showing up at my piano studio each week for a lesson.
Each lesson gives you just enough material to practice for about a week and an exact plan for what to do each day. But, it’s also super flexible for you to work at your own pace, so if you need to skip a week here or there, or if you want to do more than one lesson in a week, that’s possible too.
There are 8 lessons and you’ll learn about 25 songs from this introductory course. The course includes an eBook and backing tracks to play along with each song.
This course assumes you’ve never played piano before. Even if you did play the piano many years ago, this would also be a good fresh start.
For a one-time fee, you’ll have lifetime access to the course and you can complete the lessons at your own pace. The course is normally priced at $57, but Musicnotes readers can use the coupon code MUSICNOTES to save $30. Click here to get started.
Flowkey
Flowkey is an online app with piano tutorials for all levels. If you’ve never played before, flowkey includes a course for beginners that walks you through the basics. However, if you already have some piano skills and are just wanting to build your repertoire, you’ll find tutorials to match your current level.
When you’re learning a song with flowkey, you’ll see the digital notation as well as a pianist’s hands on a keyboard. A moving line helps you follow along with the notation and the keys on the piano illuminate so that you can see which keys are playing at any given point of the piece.
Flowkey is very interactive. You can isolate small sections of the music that will loop over and over so that you can practice with repetition. You can tell it if you want to practice one hand at a time, both hands together or at a slower tempo.
These are super effective tools for learning the piano. You can find a full review with more details of flowkey here.
Skoove
Skoove works similarly to flowkey. However, Skoove would probably be better for beginners or players with limited piano knowledge. In flowkey, the focus is on learning the song, but Skoove uses well-known songs to teach other general piano and music concepts. You’ll be learning songs, but you’ll also move through lessons that are very informational and helpful if you’re not sure how music works.
Skoove is a monthly subscription and you’ll have full access to 3 different levels of lessons. You can find a full review of Skoove here.
Simply Piano
Simply Piano is another great app for learning the piano. It has a more gamified feel to it than flowkey and Skoove, but it is just as educational.
Simply Piano teaches you to play music along with backing tracks and gives you instant feedback on how accurately you played it. It has 2 paths you can follow as you learn: piano solo music or chords. You can work through either track or both simultaneously.
Flowkey and Skoove can be accessed from computers, tablet and smartphones, but Simply Piano only works on mobile devices.
SmartGamePiano & SmartClassicalPiano
SmartGamePiano and SmartClassicalPiano combine interactive videos with a real piano teacher. While apps like flowkey and Skoove expect you to work independently, these platforms include access to a professional piano teacher to give you support, encouragement and motivation.
SmartGamePiano focuses on video game music taught by Sydney. In each video, she breaks music into small, bit-sized pieces while talking you through and demonstrating how to play the song.
If you’re more interested in learning classical music, Igor is the instructor for SmartClassicalPiano. His approach is very similar to SmartGamePiano, just focusing on a different style of music.
For both of these platforms, you can find parts of the tutorials on YouTube and the full videos and sheet music are available on the subscription site.
As you can see, there’s no shortage of ways to learn piano online. Try some of these options out and see which approach works best for you and your own goals.
If you’re not sure which to try start here:If you’re starting from scratch and need a teacher to walk you through all of the basics of playing the piano: try Beginning Piano For Adults.
If you already play the piano and are looking for tons of tutorials of all kinds of songs: try flowkey.
If you’re looking for a systemized approach to learning piano using simple, fun music: try Skoove or Simply Piano.
If you would like to learn video game music or classical music specifically and would like access to a dedicated teacher: try SmartGamePiano or SmartClassicalPiano.