There are many apps for learning piano on the market today, and each app claims to have its own specialty and purpose. Skoove claims to be the best piano app for beginners while focusing on music theory and simple parts. Let’s take a look at what Skoove is: its learning methods, concepts, special features, and if it’s worth it.
Unlike other music learning apps, Skoove’s Virtual Guide walks the student through each lesson and provides real-time commentary that listens to the player as they practice.
About Skoove Piano Beta:
New piano students will learn a lot from Skoove. It covers the basics, including posture and one-handed play, and goes as far as learning different genres like classical, pop, and blues. He also goes the extra mile to teach music theory and production.
As piano learning software should, Skoove does a great job of combining auditory and visual cues to incorporate practice and understanding of music into the foundation of student learning. It involves playing notes, sight-reading, music theory, and even a little improvisation.
Hardware to be used:
Since Skoove uses digital media and interfaces, it is essential to know what equipment or devices you will need to make it work properly.
A handy thing about Skoove is that on the computer it is an application in the browser. Instead of downloading it through the website, you need to create an account on the Skoove website. Once logged in, you can select the tab of your courses to see the available lessons.
However, for Apple devices like iPads or iPhones, Skoove needs to be downloaded through the App Store, and the app is all you need to find your lessons. Unfortunately, Android devices still cannot download the Skoove app.
The next most important thing Skoove needs is the entrance. These can come in the form of a digital keyboard or piano with MIDI input, or even just your computer keyboard. However, if you are serious about learning to play the piano, we think the best entry is a weighted 88-key keyboard. It gives you the full range and a feel as close to an acoustic piano as possible.
How to Get Started:
Well, first of all, you will need an electronic piano or keyboard of some sort. We used a Casio keyboard, which took me straight back to my childhood and connected it with a USB-B cable. You can also use a MIDI cable if you prefer, but keep in mind that your keyboard probably doesn’t come with either of these, so make sure you’ve purchased one before. to begin. You probably have a USB-B lying around somewhere, this is the square that is mainly used for printers.
Once logged in, just go to the Skoove site and get started or you can download the Android app by Skoove. Interestingly, the site switched to German quite early on – it’s a German company, so obviously that’s just a bug. If this happens to you, it’s pretty easy to figure out where to change the language in the settings, and it never happened again.
In the lower right corner, where the question mark is, “messages” from Skoove founder Florian often appear. I found them a bit boring – they usually ask for feedback, and like Facebook chat bosses, they don’t go away entirely. He also receives emails from Florian on the same line. Not a major problem, just a little boring.
Once logged in, Skoove will ask you to configure your keyboard. I shuddered because the process of calibrating my guitar with Rocksmith took years to figure out, but it’s actually very easy. Basically, it just tells you to press that key, then this, then this, and you’re done. I guess a keyboard is basically a series of buttons after all.
Student Evaluation:
How Skoove assesses the student is also crucial. Skoove is programmed to send feedback in real-time via input from your piano. In each lesson, he focuses on the different aspects and gives you feedback based on that.
From the evaluation, program and concepts presented, you can see that Skoove is getting back to basics and doing it very well.
Skoove also understands that with any other skill, repetition is vital in retaining what you’ve learned and turned it into muscle memory. Even if you have received good feedback on a script or lesson, Skoove still gives you the option to keep repeating it until you are satisfied.
Skoove Curriculum:
The entire Skoove program consists of 19 different courses. Since each class focuses on a different aspect of piano performance, pianists of all skill levels can benefit.
Here are the different sections that you will find between the courses:
- Beginner piano 1,2,3
- Piano Songs Beginner
- Theory for beginners
- Intermediate piano1,2,3
- Songs for intermediate piano
- Chords and ranges
- Pop piano
- Advanced Piano Songs
- Piano Blues and Boogie Woogie
- Producer keyboard
Prices:
Skoove has a premium and free plan.
With the free option, you have 25 piano lessons with no time restriction, so this is a good way to test it out.
The Premium plan is £ 17.99/month, but you can reduce it to the equivalent of £ 8.33/month if you buy a 12-month plan.
Premium packages include over 400 lessons, allowing you to go from beginner to advanced level. There are new lessons and songs every month, as well as personalized support from the music teachers at Skoove.
Conclusion:
Overall I was impressed with Skoove. I know most people suggest hiring a teacher when you are a beginner, but that causes me quite a bit of anxiety. I also have an unusual daily schedule and having to set aside specific parts of my day doesn’t work for me. So learning through an app at my own pace is fine for me. I also think it’s best to learn just so that I can train my brain to use both hands independently.
I have no doubt this method is not perfect, I’m sure I can pick up some bad habits along the way, but overcoming the first hurdle is the most important thing. Once I get a little more comfortable with the piano, I can find a teacher and I will probably continue to use the app to practice more between lessons.