Musiah Review: "Finished the Musiah Piano Course and Loved Every Minute"
How it Started: Reflecting on the Beginning of the Journey...
Like so many people I’ve always thought about learning piano. I’m 50 now, and pretty much assumed I was past it. But then I thought the same when I was 30 and 40.
Interestingly though, I think there’s something about reaching late middle age that reverses this train of thought. With age comes the realisation that you can do anything with determination and application. So a few weeks ago, for reasons I can’t explain, I suddenly decided: I’m going to learn piano.
I have always mucked around with music. I taught myself guitar as a teen and trumpet about 10 years later. I never had lessons and never got beyond a kind of intermediate level.
Lately, I’ve been playing bass guitar in a covers band. I know a tiny bit of music theory (treble clef, from recorder lessons aged 10) but everything else has been done by ear.
For me, piano has always been the big beast in the background: a proper instrument that requires two hands and sophisticated musical chops. So when I decided to learn, I knew I couldn’t teach myself.
Instead, I had to ask myself a question: do I want to do this properly? Learn sight reading and correct technique and all that?
I wasn’t sure. I don’t like classical music much, so the idea of studying grade 1 Mozart or whatever didn’t get me excited. But I knew it was probably the right way to go.
While thinking about how to find a teacher, I happened across Musiah on YouTube.
It sounded intriguing so I downloaded it. Thank God I did. It's amazing.
I’m now coming up to two weeks in, and I’m half way through Level 3.
For me, this piano lessons app with its AI teacher does everything Brendan describes. It breaks everything down into small chunks, just hard enough to be a challenge but not insurmountable. It consolidates existing learning with every new lesson, and it turns everything into a game.
Though I know I’m being manipulated in a way, it doesn’t stop me striving to pass the auditions, improve my scores and progress. I spend well over an hour a day on Musiah. After less than two weeks, I can’t quite believe the progress I’ve made.
I think of all the things that makes Musiah work, the most important is that you’re never ‘alone’ while you’re learning. It makes you want to get back to the piano - you know there’s some new thing to learn or test to pass.
I sometimes wonder where I would be if I had hired a teacher. I might be on my second lesson by now. How much could I have learned? I assume I would have picked up and practiced maybe one or two items of knowledge, rather than dozens - as I have with Musiah.
The program doesn’t just teach you technique, but also deeper lessons about patience and determination.
The articles on the Musiah site talk a lot about how the program doesn’t just teach you technique, but also deeper lessons about patience and determination. It’s so true.
In just 10 days, I’ve discovered the joy of slowing difficult things down, and the pleasure of seeing my muscle memory steadily improve. I still get very frustrated. But I can cope with it.
Also, I can look ahead to the songs in later levels and - though they seem impossible - a part of me thinks: well, if I follow the instructions and practice, I can get there.
I'm so grateful to have found Musiah. It’s become a wonderful obsession.
I’m so grateful to have found Musiah. It’s become a wonderful obsession, and I’m determined to finish the course.
My old resistence to classical repertoire has also gone. I just see these pieces as markers of my progress. Oh, and it’s true. Brendan really does reply personally to your emails. I’ve already sent him three! He must be sick of me.
Tim G - London, United Kingdom
UPDATE: Since writing the above review, Tim has completed the course and shared this additional feedback...
The Result: "Last week I finished the course. And I loved every minute of it."
Last October I read this Chinese proverb: ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now’. Brilliant. I decided there and then - aged 50 - to learn the piano.
A few days later, I signed up for Musiah. Last week I finished the course. And I loved every minute of it.
Just after I started the program I wrote a little review for this site [the above review]. Even though I was only a few weeks in, I quickly understood that the real benefit of the Musiah method is the fact that you never stand still. There’s always something new to learn, it’s always a bit challenging (but not too much) and it’s done the proper way. There are no gimmicks here. You get authentic piano lessons for adults that teach the notes, the fingering and the tempo with old-school rigour.
It’s still fun though. I learned using the Adults' mode (I'll leave the story for the kids), but I got truly sucked in by the desire to pass tests and win stars.
In those early days I would sometimes listen ahead at the songs in later levels. It’s nice to know what you might one day be able to play. They sounded impossible to someone struggling with Jingle Bells. But one by one I knocked them all off. I found I was spending an hour to 90 minutes a day practicing.
Obviously, you do get immensely frustrated. When you’ve played a song 100 times trying to get to the audition level, it’s inevitable. But that’s the joy of the points system. Without that motivation, you’d stop. And then you wouldn’t improve so fast.
Towards the end of the process the songs get harder and longer. It took me four months to complete the first 11 levels, and two months more to finish 12 and 13. But the satisfaction goes up too. Those songs at the end are TOUGH. But bar by bar you get there. All of a sudden you can play them.
When I finally finished Musiah, I was triumphant but a little deflated. What now? Well, I am starting to learn ‘Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso’ using the Musiah method (left hand first, bar by bar, start slow…) and it’s coming together. I’ve decided to get a teacher too. My sight reading is terrible, and I want guidance from an expert on a good practice regimen to sort that out. I’m also eager to fit all the theory together, and I reckon this will be easier to do with a teacher than from a book.
I’ve recommended Musiah to loads of people. I bore strangers at parties about it. I’d urge anyone in the middle of Musiah to stick with it. It’s a fabulous way to learn the basics. That said, I would do things a little differently if I were starting again. I learned far too many of the songs from memory rather than by reading the notes. I’d advise against that. And I’d urge learners to start practice sessions by playing some note reading games. I didn’t do enough of that, and it’s a great way to learn.
Anyhow, I’d like to congratulate Brendan on Musiah. It’s been such a big part of my life for the last six months. I feel like I know him now.
In a way I do: he’s been in my living room every evening for the last six months telling me ‘these notes were wrong, and you didn’t play these notes at all’.
Tim G - London, United Kingdom
