Mozart Made Easy
Piano Playing for the Musically Illiterate

By Jim Evans

Most of us have probably wished at one time or another that we could play the piano. You know — just to be able to sit down and tickle the ivories whenever we feel like it and play something that sounds remotely like music, rather than just one or two silly tunes that we learned to play with two fingers as youngsters. We marvel at people who can play the piano and envy them at the same time.

The ability to play the piano is generally associated with years of boring and repetitive practice — usually starting at a very young age — or with the talent of a prodigy. We probably rejected the rigidity of practicing for hours every week under the close supervision of a teacher when

we were growing up, and we probably didn’t think we had a musical bone in our bodies. We didn’t even imagine in our wildest dreams that we could be a prodigy, so any possibility of playing the piano seemed pointless by the time we became adults.

But a revolutionary new teaching system has made it possible for beginners of all ages — children or adults — to play music from the start. Called the “Soft-way to Mozart,” this computerized piano-learning software develops a musical ear, musical memory, eye-hand coordination and music-reading skills in the form of a colorful video game.

It is a game, but it is NOT a game.

“The program is designed to fully immerse students in the language of music through interactive computer software linked directly to the keyboard,” said Cindy Sorriano, adult instructor and social director for the nationally renowned McCullough Academy of Music in Rancho Bernardo, which recently introduced Soft Mozart in San Diego.

“It enables students to overcome the initial lack of skills while playing real songs on the piano.”

Created by Hellene Hiner of Houston, a Russian-born music scientist and piano teacher of more than 25 years, Soft Mozart is different from many other computer programs that mechanically translate classical piano lessons into electronic piano teaching manuals.

It immediately involves students in intensive — and enjoyable — practice from the beginning, skipping the usual lectures and explanations. Students can see marked results in as little as one 15-minute practice session a day, although 30-minute sessions are optimal for the average child. Like traditional methods of learning to play the piano, the more you practice — in this case, the more you play the game — the better you become.

“It teaches piano playing as naturally and easily as reading and is effective and affordable for everyone,” Hiner said. “It makes learning to play easy and fun, motivating students to continue their learning and enjoy playing the piano for a lifetime.”

The focus of Soft Mozart is on group learning because “group lessons, by design, allow several students to be working on different things but still be on the same level while the teacher monitors individual strengths and needs,” said Jeanne Deaton, lead instructor for the Soft Mozart program at McCullough’s academy. “They also alleviate the intimidation of the ‘on-the-spot feel’ of private lessons.”

Soft Mozart allows even the musically illiterate to learn how to play the piano, and children as young as 2 can learn to play quickly and easily while they are having fun.

Listening to someone else play the piano is therapeutic — playing the piano yourself is so much more. Chopin, Lizst, Gershwin? It’s not too late. For more information about this new advancement in learning how to play the piano, call (858) 613-3963 or visit www.howardskg.com.