Teaching Myself and My Kids Piano with the Help of Piano Marvel
by Stacy Hunt
I took piano lessons as a teenager, only because my first voice teacher required it. I learned to read music fairly quickly and was showing steady improvement, but I broke my left wrist and thumb while ice skating after about a year and a half of study. They set my wrist in a cast in a way that permanently altered my mobility in that hand. They said it was less painful than other methods, but little did I know that reduced pain would come at a cost. I didn't notice it as a beginner pianist, but a couple of years later I was really struggling to learn Hanon exercises in my piano lessons. The quick early progress I'd been making was gone, and I didn't feel like I was improving no matter how hard I practiced. I concluded that I'd started learning piano when I was too old and would never be great, so why bother trying to get any better? I was also taking voice lessons at the time, and the desire to pursue music professionally was still there, so I quit piano, focused on voice, and ultimately ended up getting undergraduate and graduate degrees in vocal performance.
To get a music degree in an instrument that's not piano, you have to take or pass off the requirements for class piano. In class piano, I improved quickly in most areas, and my enthusiasm for learning how to play started returning. However, getting my scales up to the required speed was really difficult. That was when I realized my left hand couldn't do what my right hand could do. I talked to a doctor about it, and she told me it was too late to fix it. I would have needed to start doing physical therapy right away while I was healing from the ice skating injury. As before, my motivation for piano playing was gone. I managed to get through my piano classes with good grades, but now I was extra sure that I'd never get much better. Sure I could learn to play some individual songs better, but my overall skill level would forever be stuck thanks to my lame left hand. Over the years I continued playing, but pretty much exclusively for church. Hymns don't tend to require rapid movement that bothered my hand, and I could play them fairly well. Someone even taught me the basics of playing the organ, and after some practice, I could play that too. I also played for the children's singing-time classes. The more I was asked to play in church, the better I got, but still, I was sure there was a limit to how much I could actually hope to improve.
When the pandemic happened I tried pulling out my old piano songbooks and getting back into practicing, but it didn't last. I'd learn a song or two, but then the next song would be brutally difficult, and I'd get discouraged. These were books of "classics" or books of "sonatinas," and the difficulty level could vary greatly from one song to the next. I've since checked these songs out in the Piano Marvel library, and they range anywhere between level 5 and level 14. No wonder I'd get discouraged if I'd just learned a few level 5 songs and then found myself struggling with a level 14. Unfortunately, it just reinforced the idea that I was stuck at an early intermediate level and had no real hope of improving. The reality was I had plenty of room to improve and simply needed a system that would help teach me the techniques I hadn't yet learned and would help me advance systematically.
In July of 2021, my 8-year-old son Tyler asked if he could learn piano. This was still the pandemic, and I didn't want to pay for a virtual teacher (we'd had enough of virtual school teaching during the previous 15 months). I asked some piano teacher friends for advice, bought some well-known instructional books, and started teaching him myself. Since the early lessons were pretty basic and fun, I had my 5-year-old daughter join in too. Tyler picked up on reading music quickly while Allison started playing back melodies to me as well as simple songs by ear. I wanted the kids to have something they could supplement their learning with online, so I started looking into piano-learning software. As I researched, I came across an ad for Piano Marvel claiming to have a sight reading test that would give you an idea of your playing level. All the other products out there seemed aimed at the adult beginner or were just too gamelike and wouldn't actually teach them much. Piano Marvel seemed like something that could work for all of us, so I signed up for a free-trial premium account.
I took the SASR several times and scored consistently in the mid-800s. My hymn practice had definitely helped give me a solid base for sight reading, but I had a long way to go with learning how to read ledger lines and songs full of broken chords. Method and Technique helped me out there. I started working through the Method and Technique at level 4 and had passed all of level 4 and most of level 5 within my first month of the free trial. Technique was a lot harder for me than Method since I hadn't done scales, chords, and ear training in over 15 years, but with daily practice, it all started coming back to me. I upgraded to a premium account, and less than 3 months later, I'd finished all of level 6 as well. I couldn't deny that I'd improved tremendously in a matter of only a few months. 2 and 1/2 years later, my average SASR has gone up by more than 200, and even more obvious, songs and techniques that once seemed impossible are now doable for me. I've improved noticeably more in less than 3 years with Piano Marvel than I ever did in 24 years of practicing on my own without it. Sure my left hand will prevent me from ever being a super fast pianist, but there's still plenty of room for me to grow. Even the hand has shown some improvement. I wasn't sure I'd ever learn level 6 Canon in C at full speed because of all the left-hand movement, but I did. It hurt my hand at first, and it took much longer for me to work out than learning similar rapid movements in my right hand, but I got it in the end. In some ways it's like playing piano is a form of physical therapy for that hand.
As for the kids, Tyler also did well enough with Piano Marvel that I upgraded him to a premium account within his first year of playing. He's working his way through Method and Technique, he likes to participate in the challenges, and he enjoys testing himself and trying to beat his score on SASR. Sometimes we do duets from Piano Marvel together too. As Harry Potter fans, one of our favorites is Hedwig's Theme. He worked hard to learn the primo from that one during Halloween two years ago. I like how independent he is with Piano Marvel. I can simply ask him to give me 20 minutes of Piano Marvel time, and he will (often more). Sometimes he'll struggle with a particular technique, and I'll help advise him on how to play it, but most of the time he spends on Piano Marvel is on his own. I also have rewards set up for him based on how much time he uses it and how far along he gets in Method and Technique. Both kids know if they want to play the Nintendo Switch that day, they have to have done their piano practice first.
Allison on the other hand took a while to come around to Piano Marvel. I only recently upgraded her to a premium account. She has a wonderful ear for music but struggles with music reading. Piano Marvel didn't appeal much to her because it requires so much music reading. However, it's been very helpful to us lately. I found when she got to level 2 in her books, she could play songs she knew beautifully with excellent musicianship and improvisational skills, but her reading abilities weren't up to where her books expected her to be. For a few weeks, we stopped using the books and worked exclusively on Piano Marvel. At first, I had to sit next to her and monitor her the whole time or she'd get frustrated and give up. As she worked her way through level 1, she started becoming more independent with it too, and her reading skills improved significantly. Once she was through all of Level 1A - 1E in both Method and Technique, she started working out of her piano books again. We spent a lot of time out of town this past summer, and she got a little rusty at music reading. I had her put away her books again to complete all of level 2A in both Method and Technique, and her reading skills came right back. Now I've told her we will work from her books for a couple of weeks, then focus on Piano Marvel for a couple of weeks. Piano Marvel helps remind her that she can read music too, even if it's not her preferred method of learning music.
A lot of people gasp when I tell them I teach my kids piano. I get it, we've certainly had our share of power struggles, but it works for us. We can have lessons whenever we need to rather than working around someone else's schedule, and I know exactly what sort of stuff they need to be practicing. My kids have what's called a "modified year-round schedule," meaning they go back to school very early in the summer, they go to school an hour longer each day than we did in our last school district, and they have big school breaks and random days off each month. I try to take advantage of their breaks to get some good piano learning in, but sometimes they need to be able to just play whatever they feel like playing, and that's another area where Piano Marvel is helpful. Two Christmases ago Tyler took it upon himself to learn "Carol of the Bells," a level 4 song that at the time was well beyond his abilities. Even though now he can play songs up to about level 4 in the challenges, often he just speeds up level 1 and 2 songs to 200+ beats per minute and repeats them until he gets 100%. Is it what I'd like him to be practicing on Piano Marvel? Maybe not, but I figure if it's making him happy spending time at the piano, that's a good thing.
In short, we are all very grateful for Piano Marvel. Practice mode and chopped slicings have helped me learn songs I thought were well beyond my abilities, and the golden pianos on Method and Technique and gold stars in the monthly challenges reel me in like a video game (except that it's actually good for my brain!). It helps get me through illnesses when I'm too sick to sing but can still manage to sit at a piano and play. Seeing me practice motivates my kids to practice as well, and they can observe how I put in extra time and diligent practice whenever I want to learn a difficult piece. It also gives my son an independent way to play piano on his own, and it helps reinforce my daughter's reading skills and keeps her looking ahead at her music instead of down at the piano keys. I can confidently say that we are Piano Marvel fans for life!
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