How To Play Piano: For Piano And Portable Keyboards With Richard Bradley; Videano, Phase One: Beginning Keyboard For Real People

These tapes offer two different systems of beginning piano. The Bradley course is a very unintimidating method that immediately gets the student involved with melody and the structure of music. Bradley's teaching style has Mr. Rogers overtones, but his sense of humor defuses condescension. His teaching segments are divided into logical bite-sized pieces that should work equally well for older children or adults. Videano comes across as much more formal and pedantic. The early stages of the program are overly concerned with form and grace, and the teacher is prone to show off. The emphasis on proper posture and hand position that starts this production is somewhat authoritarian. Bradley isn't quite as thorough in this area, but does manage to sneak it in a bit at a time. An area of concern is the tablature system this course uses. (Bradley begins with actual music notation, which means the beginner will not have to unlearn anything to read music.) Both programs have good camera work and graphics inserts; and both have accompanying booklets. Overall, Videano has slightly higher production values, but the difference is not significant. The best piano course on video might be a combination of both approaches; for now, How to Play Piano would be the first choice. (Elliott Swanson) (How to Play Piano is available from larger distributors. Videoano is available from: Teacher's Pet Productions, P.O. Box 3783, Spokane, WA 99202-3783).