Disklavier

Do you consider a disklavier as a good piano to learn on?  Is all of the electronic wizardry a help or to a hinderence to a beginning player? My daughter is 6 years old.

In short, it is an excellent piano. The electronics are unintrusive and do not interfere with normal piano playing.

However, it is the electronics that will set the piano apart. For your sanity, when she is learning her trumpet voluntaries and getting those scales correct, the quiet mode is a godsend.

With the right help from you or someone older, recording pieces so that she can practise hands separately is a great learning facilitator. A co-operative piano tutor could also record a piece as they would like her to learn it and she could listen to the recording while practising.

The tone generator could be used to make learning the piano more fun for a child, and allow her to be more creative than with a traditional piano. 

Another feature, Smartkey or Cuetime, has great potential, but has only been a gimmick feature in my experience. The facility has yet to be fully exploited to enable learning, but has the potential to make learning more fun, interactive and an immersive experience.


--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "splabdoobie" <beardr@...> wrote:

>
> Do you consider a disklavier as a good piano to learn on?  Is all of the electronic wizardry a help or to a hinderence to a beginning player? My daughter is 6 years old.
>

Other features, which have yet to be fully implemented are:

• PianoSoft plus Graphics. This consists of a piano piece similar to the Smart Key pieces, but with the addition of either the actual score or a display of the keyboard indicating the next key(s) to be played. Unfortunately, this format only exists in the demo songs which come with the piano at the moment.
• Remote Lessons. This isn't on general release yet, but it has been demonstrated in the US a few times. It consists of an additional piece of software you can load onto the Disklavier and which allows Disklaviers in different locations to talk to each other, i.e. with the addition of a laptop and webcam, a teacher could provide interactive lessons to pupils anywhere in the world (provided both parties have access to a Disklavier Mk IV). This function works with more than 2 just Disklaviers, so you could have an entire class of pupils scattered all over the world, all taking part in the same lessons.
  
  athomik
  
  On May 22 2009, Mark Burby wrote:
  
  >In short, it is an excellent piano. The electronics are unintrusive and do not interfere with normal piano playing.
  >
  >However, it is the electronics that will set the piano apart. For your sanity, when she is learning her trumpet voluntaries and getting those scales correct, the quiet mode is a godsend.
  >
  >With the right help from you or someone older, recording pieces so that she can practise hands separately is a great learning facilitator. A co-operative piano tutor could also record a piece as they would like her to learn it and she could listen to the recording while practising.
  >
  >The tone generator could be used to make learning the piano more fun for a child, and allow her to be more creative than with a traditional piano.
  >
  >Another feature, Smartkey or Cuetime, has great potential, but has only been a gimmick feature in my experience. The facility has yet to be fully exploited to enable learning, but has the potential to make learning more fun, interactive and an immersive experience.
  >
  >
  >--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "splabdoobie" wrote:
  >>
  >> Do you consider a disklavier as a good piano to learn on? Is all of the electronic wizardry a help or to a hinderence to a beginning player? My daughter is 6 years old.
  >>
  >
  >
  >
  >
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Good morning, everyone.


On May 22, 2009, at 10:45 AM, athomik wrote:

> Remote Lessons. This isn't on general release yet, but it has been  
> demonstrated in the US a few times. It consists of an additional  
> piece of software you can load onto the Disklavier and which allows  
> Disklaviers in different locations to talk to each other, i.e. with  
> the addition of a laptop and webcam, a teacher could provide  
> interactive lessons to pupils anywhere in the world (provided both  
> parties have access to a Disklavier Mk IV). This function works with  
> more than 2 just Disklaviers, so you could have an entire class of  
> pupils scattered all over the world, all taking part in the same  
> lessons.


Remote Lesson, unfortunately, has not been released, and Yamaha has  
not actually promised to release it. And, it only works with Mark IV  
Disklaviers. It is, however, a very fine program. I have used it  
extensively and successfully.

If this concept has appeal, considering adding a laptop, webcam, and  
Internet MIDI from TimeWarp Technologies:

www.timewarptech.com/Pages/Products/InternetMIDI/InternetMIDI.html

Internet MIDI links any two MIDI keyboard instruments together over  
the Internet. When you play one keyboard instrument, you  
simultaneously play the other.

This can be very effective with acoustic pianos that have MIDI, such  
as the Disklavier. The program works with digital pianos as well.

In addition to connecting the instruments, Internet MIDI provides an  
animated on-screen keyboard with keys, pedals, and velocity meters so  
that you can tell visually what is going on during the performance.

By sending MIDI data over the Internet instead of audio, you avoid the  
unfortunate audio compression that is imposed by Skype and other video  
conferencing programs.

Internet MIDI works very nicely with Skype. For example, you can set  
Internet MIDI to mute the Skype microphone automatically when student  
or teacher is playing. And you can use the keys or pedals of your MIDI  
instrument as triggers to lock the microphone into the "on" position,  
switch between multiple local cameras, or switch between multiple  
remote cameras.

I am a co-author of this program.

Regards,
PianoBench


www.georgelitterst.com
www.timewarptech.com

Thank you all for the thoughtful comments! 

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "George F. Litterst" <PianoBench@...> wrote:

>
> Good morning, everyone.
> 
> 
> On May 22, 2009, at 9:06 AM, Mark Burby wrote:
> 
> > Another feature, Smartkey or Cuetime, has great potential, but has  
> > only been a gimmick feature in my experience. The facility has yet  
> > to be fully exploited to enable learning, but has the potential to  
> > make learning more fun, interactive and an immersive experience.
> 
> If these general concepts have appeal, take a look at adding a laptop  
> and Home Concert Xtreme from TimeWarp Technologies:
> 
> www.timewarptech.com/Pages/Products/HCX/HCX.html
> 
> Home Concert Xtreme works with Standard MIDI Files, such as those that  
> are available with the various teaching methods. HCX will display the  
> piano part on the computer screen, follow your playing, turn the pages  
> automatically, play the accompaniment tracks using your Disklavier's  
> tone generator, and more. You can find a video demo here:
> 
> www.timewarptech.com/Pages/Products/HCX/HCXVideoDemo.html
> 
> Using a Mark IV, you can connect the instrument to the laptop with a  
> simple MIDI cable. You just need to install the Yamaha USB MIDI driver:
> 
> www.global.yamaha.com/download/usb_midi
> 
> If you have an older, full function Disklavier, you'll need to use a  
> USB MIDI interface.
> 
> I am a co-author of this program.
> 
> Regards,
> PianoBench
> 
> 
> www.georgelitterst.com
> www.timewarptech.com
>

George,

I don't suppose thre is any way to use Home Consert Extreme with a Yamaha Playback series disklavier?  I don't suppose there is any way that Home Concert Extreme can figure out when to turn pages on the computer screen...

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "George F. Litterst" <PianoBench@...> wrote:

>
> Good morning, everyone.
> 
> 
> On May 22, 2009, at 9:06 AM, Mark Burby wrote:
> 
> > Another feature, Smartkey or Cuetime, has great potential, but has  
> > only been a gimmick feature in my experience. The facility has yet  
> > to be fully exploited to enable learning, but has the potential to  
> > make learning more fun, interactive and an immersive experience.
> 
> If these general concepts have appeal, take a look at adding a laptop  
> and Home Concert Xtreme from TimeWarp Technologies:
> 
> www.timewarptech.com/Pages/Products/HCX/HCX.html
> 
> Home Concert Xtreme works with Standard MIDI Files, such as those that  
> are available with the various teaching methods. HCX will display the  
> piano part on the computer screen, follow your playing, turn the pages  
> automatically, play the accompaniment tracks using your Disklavier's  
> tone generator, and more. You can find a video demo here:
> 
> www.timewarptech.com/Pages/Products/HCX/HCXVideoDemo.html
> 
> Using a Mark IV, you can connect the instrument to the laptop with a  
> simple MIDI cable. You just need to install the Yamaha USB MIDI driver:
> 
> www.global.yamaha.com/download/usb_midi
> 
> If you have an older, full function Disklavier, you'll need to use a  
> USB MIDI interface.
> 
> I am a co-author of this program.
> 
> Regards,
> PianoBench
> 
> 
> www.georgelitterst.com
> www.timewarptech.com
>

Good afternoon, everyone.


On May 27, 2009, at 8:45 AM, lowdebt4me wrote:

> George,
>
> I don't suppose thre is any way to use Home Consert Extreme with a  
> Yamaha Playback series disklavier? I don't suppose there is any way  
> that Home Concert Extreme can figure out when to turn pages on the  
> computer screen...
>

Home Concert Xtreme will turn the pages automatically when playing a  
MIDI file in "Play File" mode. In this mode, the program does not  
expect any interaction from the soloist, who can play or not play what  
he sees on the screen.

Most of the time, though, people use Home Concert Xtreme in "Play &  
Follow" mode, in which the program tracks the progress of the soloist,  
outputs the accompaniment in an musically coordinated way, and turns  
the pages.

Play & Follow will not work with a playback-only Disklavier because  
the instrument does not generate MIDI output when you play the keys.

Regards,
PianoBench


www.georgelitterst.com
www.timewarptech.com