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6 Best Piano Games
With the advent of gamification, or educational gaming, there are many more methods of learning the piano other than the traditional method of standard piano lessons.
Playing games makes learning fun and enjoyable! For both young and older students, learning the piano through games helps to retain focus while learning, provides a different medium for learning, and provides a stimulating way to actively learn for long periods of time.
With guitar hero, a video game that emulated actual guitar playing, an article was written showing how this game can actually help with learning the real guitar. Here is an article showing this:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/guitar-hero-guitar-player1.htm
Similarly, these piano games will surely help those who want to learn the actual piano. Concepts from these games can be transferred to actual piano playing.
This page will offer insights on the leading piano games, and show how these games are helpful in learning the piano.
Synthesia
Synthesia is like Guitar Hero, but for the Piano. (It was originally going to be called Piano Hero, but Activision didn’t like this and threatened to sue them.)
Using a keyboard with MIDI capabilities, you can learn your favorite songs in a unique way. Colored dots that represent different keys fall down from the screen, and you attempt to play the notes accurately once they reach the keyboard. Many users enjoy this game and say that it greatly helped them with learning piano.
Here is a video of Synthesia in action:
Synthesia also has a learning pack that has many features such as reading music with notation and other practice features. These features are very suitable for those that which to improve their sight reading and have different ways of practicing.
You can see the best sight reading app here with this video:
Piano Maestro by JoyTunes
This amazing app by JoyTunes allows you to use an actual piano to play the songs on the app! No cables or bluetooth connection is required! You can also use the built in keyboard as well.
Because you can play this on any piano, this app can become a regular part of practicing the piano.
This best piano teacher app contains over one thousand songs, and you can choose from the most popular songs and classical pieces as well.
This best piano learning app helps with sight-reading, playing at a consistent tempo, rhythm, and visualizing the keyboard.
You can also play games where you have to play the note names.
This app is the most recommended app for piano games. This will motivate any student of any age to practice the piano diligently.
This best piano app iphone and best piano app ipad can be easily played on the go with these mobile devices.
Piano Tiles 2 by Cheetah Mobile
Piano Tiles 2 is one of the most popular apps that you can get! With over 4 million downloads, high ratings, and good reviews, you can be assured that you will have a great user experience!
In this mobile app that can be used for Iphone, Samsung, IPad, and other mobile and tablet devices, you will possess an interactive piano learning device in the palm of your hand.
With this app, you play with four tiles that simulate piano keys that are being played. Choosing a song of your choice, you can use the four tiles to imitate playing the actual song.
While there are 88 keys on the piano, and this app only has four, there are still many things that can be applied to actual piano playing. Concepts that can be taught include rhythm, sight-reading, playing multiple notes, and sustaining notes.
An advantage that this app has over other piano apps is that you have to hold down the notes that are being sustained. This actually teaches you to hold down the notes that you want to have sustained, instead of simply letting go of the notes as soon as you play them.
Magic Piano by Smule
This creative app by Smule allows you to use up to four fingers to play popular and classical songs.
This size of this game is less than 50mb, so you can easily store it on your mobile device or electronic tablet.
The notes are positioned in a way that emulates actual piano playing. For example, as the pitch rises, you will play notes that go towards the right side of the screen, which is similar to playing the high notes on a piano.
You are challenged with this game to play notes accurately, in time, and together with the chords. With these challenges, you will actually develop your rhythmic ability, ability to play notes simultaneously, and association of notes and pitch.
This game is known for developing a desire to play the actual piano. If you have a young student or child that is struggling to practice the piano, playing this game will motivate them to continue practicing.
Piano App by Yokee
This piano app, which can be used on mobile devices, is a fun and exciting way to play and learn the piano! While it does not feature an actual keyboard while playing, it can teach you about relative distance and spacing between intervals, playing multiple notes simultaneously, and rhythm.
Listen carefully to the contour, or the shape, of the melody while watching the notes being presented in the video. As the melody rises, the notes go farther right, emulating the rise of pitch as if you were playing on a real piano. As the melody falls, the notes go towards the left end of the mobile device, simulating playing low notes on the piano.
While this may not seem like much, for a student of the piano, they will learn how to associate the rising and falling of pitch. As the pitch rises, you will play more towards the right end of the piano. And as the pitch lowers, you will play more towards the left end of the piano.
In addition, playing with proper rhythm is important, as playing a note with the incorrect rhythm will cause you to lose points. Teaching rhythm is extremely difficult and is not something that can be learned easily even in traditional lessons. The best way to learn rhythm is to experience it! Rhythm can be experienced through dancing, bobbing your head to music as you are listening to it, or playing a fun game such as this.
Playing games like this will also encourage the gamer to actually learn the song on a real piano. Being familiar with the contour of the melody will actually give you a head start with learning the actual song.
Similarly to Piano Tiles 2, this game cannot teach the piano like an actual piano teacher can. It can, however, create an incentive or a desire to want to learn how to play piano, and provides a head start for learning the piano as well.
Ozaki TAPiano
The game features 40 pieces by famous classical composers such as Beethoven, Bach, and Chopin. You will have to install “TinyBand” and buy AAA batteries for the keyboard device.
You are tested on your ability to play the notes on the screen accurately and with good timing. The more precise you are with playing the notes, the higher your score will be.
Some complaints with this game include the price and the size of the app on your device. The app takes up more than 800 mb.
While the notes on the keyboard are smaller than an actual piano, and you will not be playing the actual notes on the simulated keyboard (F,G,A,and B), this game does provide a fun platform for playing piano classics.
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