How to Use Piano Marvel With an Acoustic Piano
There are three ways to use piano marvel with an acoustic piano.
- Microphone assessment
- Self-Assessment
- PNOscan
We pulled off a magic trick at the MTNA 2023 conference in Reno, Nevada. Dozens of pianists took the Standard Assessment of Sight Reading (SASR) on an acoustic piano. I loved to see the confused look on some of their faces as they puzzled over how the piano knew what notes they played. Then, we unveiled our secret; a PNOscan was installed on the conference piano in order to assess their performance with perfect accuracy.
Dr. Bryan Chuan set the 2023 World Record with a SASR score of 1877
There are pros and cons to some of these options that I will highlight for you below.
PNOscan
This is the most professional solution that will give you a perfect assessment. PNOscan is a strip with 88 laser lights that is installed under the keys. I have two pianos that have PNOscan, and I am completely sold on this unit. It gives perfect feedback and does not interfere with the action of the piano at all. It essentially transforms your acoustic piano into a digital piano so you can interface with technology. To learn more, visit QRS Music Technologies.
Microphone Assessment
In Summer of 2023 Piano Marvel will release the microphone assessment feature. This will allow you to use Piano Marvel with an acoustic piano. For you tech savvy people who can't wait, you can test this feature now on beta with an iPad or iPhone. Below is a video on how to access the beta version of Piano Marvel and how to use the microphone assessment. While it is currently only available on iPad and iPhone, is being developed for computers and Android devices as well, but there is no release date yet for those devices.
Using the Beta Version of Piano Marvel with Microphone Assessment
Self-Assessment
In June of 2023, Piano Marvel is planning to release Self Assess with SASR (Standard Assessment of Sight Reading). The SASR is popular, not only because it is a great way to test your sight reading, but also because it is the best resource for practicing your sight reading. You have thousands of songs at your fingertips that are right at your level. It is a pleasure to play through randomly selected excerpts of music from a variety of genres. The length of the excerpts is carefully selected for sight-reading practice. To see how this will work, check out this video.
