Table of Contents
About the Course
This site gives a comprehensive software package that takes you on a deep dive into learning the piano. While simply downloading software and watching videos sounds easy enough, we want to know if Playground Sessions is worth the price tag. Let us get started now on our comprehensive Playground Sessions review!
Playground Sessions is a digital interface providing a platform to learn piano from scratch. The software serves as a substitution to a professional and physically present piano teacher. It does have the ability to engage in real-time to provide feedback. It has been designed for efficiency and is compatible with most operating systems, including Mac, iOS, and Windows.
Playground Sessions uses various features and tools to ensure the user has the necessary resources to learn and enjoy the process. It has a combination of gamification, real-time feedback, and video tutorials.
Other features include:
Extensive Song Library
The library has over 400 preloaded songs with varying levels of difficulty. This is beneficial for those who have some knowledge of piano playing and do not want to start with the simplest songs. Tracks by artists like Taylor Swift, The Beatles, and Beethoven are included – there’s a mix for all tastes and styles.
The variety of song choices also allows for the freedom to learn different music styles and explore the intricacies of musical genres. You are able to learn independently and at your own pace.
The main drawback here is that you don’t automatically get access to all the songs. Depending on your subscription, you will get a different number of song credits to gain access to the lessons, and once you uses them up you will have to purchase songs individually.
Interactivity
The platform kicks off with an interactive bootcamp function to help newcomers understand the course better. The Bootcamp feature has various tutorials and videos to help with this. They are sorted by difficulty level, so you can independently move between levels as you master each. It serves as a great marker about your progress and growth.
In this section, you also have a pre-recorded instruction video with David Sides. As he plays the piano, you follow along right below and track his movements. It gives a real-time application of your lesson and practical experience.
Dashboard
Every software system needs a good dashboard to launch from and that is what Playground Sessions has to offer. The dashboard tracks progress so you can see your mastery level and other data analysis features.
Playground Sessions has the best tracking of any piano learning software available right now. It tracks how often, how much, and how well you play and offers easy to understand visualizations for your data.
Tracking progress is one of the most important aspects of improving on any skill, so this feature might be one of the most useful features available with playground sessions. No other piano app even comes close.
Customer Support
Playground Sessions users are not on their own after downloading the software.
The platform has a support center for questions, clarification, and technical assistance.
They are very responsive and give feedback in a timely manner. This allows users to be secure in the knowledge that instruction time will not be disrupted or slowed by technical difficulties and misunderstanding with the website or application.
Master Tutors
The list of music instructors on the site includes some well-known and accomplished musicians.
These instructors have built the revolutionary method used here and lend their talents to some of the video lessons.
Some of the talented instructors include Quincy Jones, Harry Connick, Jr., and David Sides.
Gamification
Many people respond well to video games as learning tools and Playground Sessions capitalizes on that.
The system has gamification features similar to popular games like Guitar Hero. This makes transitioning to online learning smoother due to the familiarity.
In fact, the accuracy measures for piano practice are quite similar to how Guitar Hero scores players. Most people can really benefit from the strong, well thought out rewards system that gamification provides. And if that isn’t you, you will still gain the benefit of playback and control over your sheet music.
Backing Tracks
If you have no plans to be a solo piano player, Playground Sessions can back you up. Every lesson and song comes with a backing track comprised of strings, drums, and guitar to play along with.
This helps you become accustomed to the interconnected nature of musical instruments. It will help you learn to work with other musicians and connect with a songs rhythm more deeply than a metronome could. Plus, playing with a band makes you sound really good!
Who is This Course For?
The curriculum is designed for various levels of expertise, with course levels including Rookie, Intermediate, and Advanced.
This course structure is great for complete beginners who are comfortable with a virtual learning environment.
Although parents with very young children may find Piano Wizard more effective, Playground sessions is far more interactive than courses like Learn and Master Piano or PianoForAll.
While these online piano lessons are recommended for ages seven and up, adults will find that the course is perfectly suited to them. The pacing and the level of progress tracking can help motivate anyone to push through and keep learning the piano and master skills at different levels.
If you are looking to hone your existing skill and technique, this could be the course for you. It can help refresh old skills and strengthen new ones. Given that you can jump around on the different levels, you do not have to begin as a rookie if you are not one.
Why You Should Enroll
After downloading the software, you will begin the journey of amateur professional to master player. If you have the right motivation to remain consistent with the work and expectations, you will find yourself playing piano and reading music in a matter of weeks.
The virtual format means you can work at your own pace on your own time. The flexibility is great when you cannot commit to in-person classes or need to practice at odd hours. All you need is a digital piano, and you will be able to play piano and start learning songs right away!
Playground Sessions takes you through learning to read sheet music by taking you through popular songs at different levels of difficulty. As you play through the free songs, and songs from the song store you will soon find your self playing the piano like a pro.
If you’ve ever struggled with music theory or playing songs at a different level of difficulty, your new piano teacher will help you learn to play with daily video lessons.
Advantages of Playground Sessions
Here are some of the top advantages we found in our Playground Sessions review.
- Built-in teaching materials, the course is extremely high tech and well designed
- Helpful exercise designs
- Highly interactive interface, plug in a midi keyboard for instant feedback
- Extensive library of practice songs to choose from + their bootcamp + additional courses
- Progress reports and progress tracking whenever you work on their lessons. Keeps track of everything for you
- Instant feedback on their video tutorials
- Several high quality tutors available
- Learn from scratch, follow their course through each level: rookie, intermediate, advanced
- Works on Windows, Mac, and on Ipad (from the app store)
Disadvantages of Playground Sessions
Some of the main disadvantages of the software includes:
- Playground Sessions doesn’t give you access to the full song library. When you purchase a subscription you will get few song tokens each month you stay in the course, and If you purchase lifetime you will get 40 credits, but will need to purchase songs individually after. Check out Flowkey for a course which gives you access to every available song, or look in to Hear And Play for their song tutor software that turns any midi file into a piano lesson
- Lessons can be hard. Playground Sessions has a boot camp that takes you through from beginner to advanced, but if this is your first piano experience, it can be very intense. Beginners may want to sign up for Skoove for a more beginner level course.
- Quincy Jones does not teach lessons. He is mostly the face of the marketing, while most of the lessons are taught by Harry Connick, Jr or David Sides, or one of the other teachers who work for playground sessions.
- Doesn’t work on Linux, or on Android, and only 2 devices connected on a single subscription
Verdict
This unique piano teaching software opens up the realm of possibilities for many people. The platform design has considered all elements of piano playing and provides a truly comprehensive set of lessons. If you bring the motivation to learn, Playground Sessions can help you with the rest.
Playground Sessions has be the defacto best piano learning app for years, and it holds that position for good reason. The application is well made, the teachers professional and gifted, and they have been adding songs and content to their application for years (so they have more content than any of their close competitors).
The actual learning experience is as good and often better than Flowkey (best song library) or Skoove (best complete beginner course); and Playground Sessions wins out on sheer overall quantity, and quality of their video lesson. And the tracking features of Playground Sessions make it the standout winner of all the competitor online piano lessons.
We’ve rated Playground Sessions as the #1 Piano learning app available right now. You can check it out risk free with their 30 day money back guarantee, and see if it is right for you!
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