Piano For Quitters

It's estimated that there are some 36 million piano dropouts in the United States. Why do music lovers hate playing? Because they learned the wrong way, being forced to "read" written notes before feeling at home on the keyboard--"like forcing a baby to study grammar before saying ma-ma" says Mark Almond, a fellow dropout who blossomed into a teacher. According to Almond, it's much easier to learn to read notes once you've experienced the pleasure of making music through some simple harmonic rules. This program is divided into 10 "lessons," drills consisting of experiments with harmony and rhythm based on a series of chord progressions designed to prepare beginners for reading music. Stating sympathetically that "you probably remember more than you think you do," Almond encourages viewers to go at their own pace and experiment, with the reminder that the "slower you go and the more you enjoy making sounds, the more you'll learn." The operative word here is drill...you'll need to be highly motivated to follow this alone, and no matter how you cut it, in order to get to Carnegie Hall you still have to practice, practice, practice. Although limited in scope, this could be a helpful adjunct to formal instruction and is therefore a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (J. Reed)