A starter guide or curriculum?

Oh boy I think we are going to have a lot of questions! I hope at least some of the answers are " in the box" or Hellene is going to be a busy lady!
I can also read music, well slowly, but with practice i am sure i can regain my speed, its been years, but I havnt played piano beyond figuring out a bar or two to help my daughter between lessons. Getting my two hands to coordinate is going to really stretch my grey matter! I figure in some areas I will progress quickly and in others I may take longer than my kids. I have been reading through the older forum posts and got a few ideas.
I shall check the mail box again today ( we are also waiting for report cards and class allocations for next year, so the mail is very exciting at the moment) Does anyone know how long it takes to arrive in Australia?

lzp11 wrote: Hellene - I am also interested how to work with a curriculum at different levels for different students. I have a young child, who will need to start at the simplest level and move very slowly. For myself, I am an adult beginner but I can read music. Whereabouts would you recommend that I start in the program? Once I get started then I can also upload some videos to help demonstrate where I'm up to.

The base feature of our curriculum and especially software is interaction and instant gratification. Software is built on very advanced algorithm that ‘feels’ move of every player and work with him/her individually.
I also built many gradual levels from elementary to very advance. I would recommend for you to open the Album ‘Favorite Classics 3’, close your eyes and blindly point at the list of the pieces to randomly select one. Try to play it on 5th visual presentation (simply press 5 on your computer keyboard)
If you will make no more than 5 mistakes and amount of time delay will be less than amount of notes played, let me know. Otherwise, go to ‘Favorite Classics 2’ or ‘Favorite Classics 1’ and do the same.
By doing that we’ll try to find your level in sight-reading and will build up from there.
Keep me posted on the results!

Another important thing you have to do: EXERCISES
Please, learn this one to pass on to your kids first:
softmozart.com/our-library/videos/9instr...ercise-hanon-1-.html

From my book 'You CAN be a musician' 'This is like the ‘ignition key’ for the car, namely the hand. Hannon helps to cover the space of the entire keyboard, using all of the fingers in turn. It gives the perception an important lesson: the ocean of keys isn’t so wide, and it is easy to swim in it. It shows how to move around in the space in circular movements, and how stretching the fingers helps to skip across a key in order to continue moving.

Beginners first play Hannon with stiff fingers, which is natural. The main assignment of this exercise is to ‘awaken’ the mechanics of the hand and to force every finger to work independently. It implements a simple guidance in its activities: "stretch, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven." Later, when the fingers have been properly worked out, kids easily place their hands down with rounded palms and play with the tips of their fingers.'
www.pianolearningsoftware.com/Book-You-C...wnloadable_p_36.html

Bossa wrote: Hellene - what is the best way to start. I have no music background at all. Is it better to learn a little bit myself first, and then start to teach my 5 year old daughter, or we can learn together? I have not received my CD yet, so I hope it would be much clear when I receive it.

You can start learning now. Start learning the exercise with your daughter! It is great way to 'open' your hands for piano technique:
softmozart.com/our-library/videos/9instr...ercise-hanon-1-.html

Let me know, when you will be done with it!

Also, download the first track of Alphabet Song and Cards here and learn how to place them in order: www.softmozart.com/teaching/how-to-get-s...it-for-yourself.html

All of this will give you a good preperation to start learning with the full version

Mandabplus3 wrote: Oh boy I think we are going to have a lot of questions! I hope at least some of the answers are " in the box" or Hellene is going to be a busy lady!
I can also read music, well slowly, but with practice i am sure i can regain my speed, its been years, but I havnt played piano beyond figuring out a bar or two to help my daughter between lessons. Getting my two hands to coordinate is going to really stretch my grey matter! I figure in some areas I will progress quickly and in others I may take longer than my kids. I have been reading through the older forum posts and got a few ideas.
I shall check the mail box again today ( we are also waiting for report cards and class allocations for next year, so the mail is very exciting at the moment) Does anyone know how long it takes to arrive in Australia?

I will always find time for you, even though we are experiencing very high volum of orders and 'busy' is not the word that describe my position now. But I am passionate and this Program is my life. So, I enjoy every minute of communicating with you!