PianoMarvel is an online piano method designed to help you learn how to play the piano at your own pace.
Its particularity compared to other solutions is that it can work as a complement to an actual teacher. As such, it is used in many music schools.
But it can be suitable as well for the individual learner.
In this PianoMarvel review, we will dive into the different aspects of these online piano lessons. You will know after reading this if it is the right fit for you.
[su_highlight background=”#f8ff01″]Note: as my reader, you can benefit from a 20% discount of your Premium monthly subscription by using the following link: https://www.pianomarvel.com?promoCode=guide2music[/su_highlight]
Table of Contents
What is PianoMarvel?
PianoMarvel is a web/iPad application that constitutes a quite complete and strong piano curriculum.
It is built upon a set of features to help you gain all the technical background needed through a wide range of lessons (100+) and exercises (1200+).
Furthermore, it gives you access to a list of 2000+ songs directly in the app. It covers a broad range of music styles, from classical music to movie songs.
To start with, take a tour with me inside PianoMarvel to discover its interface and the various features.
Features
This method has particularly interesting features such as:
- a “prepare” mode to work your techniques and songs.
- an assessment mode to check your mistakes and show you where you need to improve.
- a “chopping” and “mincing” system to learn songs piece by piece.
- a scoring system to keep track of your work and progress.
The addiction provoked by this feature helps to be engaged like in a video game! Except that your skills are developing directly in the physical world. Powerful if you have a gamer mind. - a dedicated sight-reading assessment system (Standard Assessment of Sight-Reading, SASR) to help you with this difficult aspect of traditional piano lessons.
- a note detection features which works if you have an acoustic piano using your device microphone or digital piano or keyboard through MIDI connection.
- You can set goals to keep you engaged with your learning.
- Teacher features if you have students.
- Competitions and Bootcamps organized regularly.
- You can upload new songs using MIDI files from Finale or MuseScore. Still in beta version, but it seems to work. This is a rare feature that allows you to build your repertoire.
How does it work?
Getting started
First, you have to create an account.
Free or premium: what are the differences?
As you can see in the following image, going premium gives you access to all the levels of the method, many more songs, and more.
[su_highlight background=”#f8ff01″]Don’t forget to get your 20% discount by using this link.[/su_highlight]
The method
It works in a rather traditional way, using technology to replace a physical teacher. Actually, it is designed to work as a tool for teachers as well.
Probably the closest to traditional piano lessons amongst all the online piano methods.
The workflow proposed by PianoMarvel is: (Video) – Prepare – Assess.
You first watch the video (if available) to get extra tips and see how it works.
Then, you start studying with the Prepare mode.
The Prepare mode waits for you to play at your own pace, ensuring you play the right notes at the right time.
Finally, you use the assessment mode to check how well you are doing and where you make mistakes. Like a real teacher.
The green notes are the correct ones and the red ones are the wrong ones. Easy and straightforward.
Each time you take an assessment, the application calculates a score that is stored in your dashboard so you can track your progress.
So going back and forth in these two modes, you improve gradually your skills, you learn this new song. You become a better piano player.
They also help you to be engaged with games and progress tracking features. Although the “trophy” you earn depending on your score may be more enjoyable to young learners.
Who is it for?
Is PianoMarvel for complete beginners?
Well, I think that it might be difficult for absolute beginners at first. You won’t have guidance on your posture, how to place your hands and fingers. But this can be learned elsewhere, on YouTube for example, or in our guide to play the piano.
Also, sometimes instructions are a bit short for complete beginners.
But otherwise, you can learn a lot and build a strong piano technique using this method, notably being good a sight-reading.
It will be very valuable to any music style, but more particularly for classical music or jazz.
If your aim is to play pop songs, you may not need to go through these lessons and go faster with other lessons (check out our article here).
Pros and cons
Pros
- A complete and strong traditional piano curriculum
- You will quickly be able to read music sheets.
- SASR features to become “fluent” in sight-reading.
- Scoring feature that helps you put in the hard work if you like gaming.
- Progress tracking system to keep you engaged.
- You can print out the songs you like to build your own repertoire, with songs you already learned.
- New features are added other time
- New songs added regularly to the library
Cons
- Instructions are rather limited. It is perfect if you have already some background or if you have a teacher.
- Videos are not always present and sometimes too short. Also, they are not always teaching anything, only entertaining (for example on the song Stomp, funny but is it helpful?).
- teaching quite traditional which may require more time to be able to play simple songs.
- the interface is a bit visually outdated.
Verdict
PianoMarvel is clearly a full-featured online piano method, capable to transform you into a strong piano player.
So yes, it can replace a teacher, if you get some complement, such as good posture, from other sources.
Honestly, the first time I saw the interface with the lessons I found it a bit outdated and I wasn’t so enthusiastic.
But when I started to use it, I quickly changed my mind and found it quite convincing and efficient.
One of my favourite.
You can try the free lessons and use the premium paid features for free for 30 days (unusual on the market!).
Give it a try at no risk!
Also, as a reader of my blog, you will get a special discount of 20% per month on the premium account if you use this code: guide2music or you can directly use this link.
If you want more information about other online piano lessons, check out our article here.
