TheVirtualPiano.com has awesome tools for music makers and songwriters. If you go to the website you see a piano, that has keys and also buttons. There is a book on the music stand of the piano than you can drag in order to flip the pages. If you do this, you will read the basic tutorial for the virtual piano. The reason why I like the virtual piano so much, is because the sound of the piano is excellent. So the sound encourages the user to play different notes and experience the pleasure of music. But what’s even better, is how the buttons on the bottom are like, Automatic Chords that one can experience and see illuminated on the keys themselves. This is a great boon because then one can learn the chords for future use. If you change the key signature then the buttons at the bottom demonstrate different chords. It’s a great program, and it looks like it requires Flash player to run.
If you play and automatic chord, then you can try and left click the keys in a way to viscerally get to know the notes in the chord. The combination of clicking, sound and visual stimulation all at the same time is genius that I haven’t seen implemented in such a complete way, using a virtual interface.
I’d really recommend this site for anyone of any age, the reason why is that music isn’t something that is just for people who have innate talent or gifts of tone or music acuity. Music is something for everyone, and to even explore the fun of creating music in such a casual and relaxed way could inspire someone to delve further. You would be surprised with how many people I know that don’t write music because they can’t play a musical instrument. The funny thing is, playing a musical instrument takes mechanical physical muscle memory skills. This skills take time to develop. But learning about musical theory and harmonics just requires listening and being observant. Actual music is more about being willing to undergo trial and error than it is about anything else.
When playing the virtual piano, I recommend doing it at first while using headphones. Because if you do that, then you won’t feel embarrassed if you play a discordant note from time to time. Who will know?
HERE is a link that will take you to thevirtualpiano.com
-Tyler