If you’re looking for a new digital piano, synthesiser or home music keyboard, the Keyboard Finder is the tool for you.

Pick from a few simple options, such as the number and style of keys, whether it has a decent piano sound, number of sounds and accompaniments, educational features, and that all important price, and the Keyboard Finder will list the instruments that match your search.

Instead of being overwhelmed by a wealth of detailed specifications, we’ve narrowed it down to the most important ones.

Rather than visiting every manufacturer web site or online store, with varying layouts and ways of describing things, we’ve standardised everything in one place.

The database will be continually updated as new models come onto the market.

Check it out now. Keyboard Finder

Those who seem to have an aptitude for composition, but for whom a full-blown music creation package would be far too complex, might like to give Groovy Music City a try.

Avid’s software allows kids to create songs by arranging a series of shapes and machines against the backdrop of an animated and futuristic city, simply by dragging and dropping.

They can select from 128 virtual instruments or even connect a keyboard via MIDI.

There’s also a strong social networking element. Completed songs can be uploaded, shared, and commented upon at GroovyMusic.com.

The software is available for both Windows PC and Mac, priced $39.99 from Avid’s web site.

Download link

Finding affordable and high-quality transcripts of classical music for a variety of instruments can be difficult, and buying individual pieces can get expensive.

The Virtual Sheet site aims to offer a wide variety of music for a low subscription. For $37.75 per year (around three dollars a month), the site offers virtually unlimited access to over 6,000 single sheets and collections. Non-subscribers can also download music on a pay-per-use basis.

Although I didn’t sign up for the complete service, the site helpfully allows some single page previews of the music to be viewed. Taking a look at some of Chopin’s work, for example, the print quality is of a high standard. Of course, it will depend on how good your printer and paper is as to how good the finished output is, but for home use, even a cheap inkjet printer should yield good results.

The range of music is fairly impressive, with plenty of music from well-known classical composers (Albinoni, Bach, Beeethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Elgar, Grieg, Handel, Mendelssohn, Strauss, Verdi, to name but a few) and for a variety of instruments.

Of course, I was most concerned with the availability of music for piano. A search shows that there are currently 237 piano solo items, 736 piano solo with other instrument items (many of these can still be played alone), and eight “piano for four hands” pieces. There are even 28 pieces for organ solo.

If you’re after high-quality, legally available printable manuscripts for classical music, with the inclusion of audio files so you can hear how it sounds, this may be a good site to try out.

Virtual Sheet

iVideosongs is an on-demand, high-definition video service designed to teach aspiring musicians of all skill levels how to play their favourite songs on an instrument.

iVideosongs instruction is provided by the original artists who wrote and performed the songs and also by expert instructors.

“Aspiring musicians want to play complete songs accurately, and that’s exactly what we give them,” said Tim Huffman, CEO of iVideosongs. “We’ve recruited established artists, legendary sidemen and some of the best instructors on the planet to teach rock, pop, blues and country songs. With iVideosongs, aspiring musicians learn the songs at their pace, when and where they want.”

iVideosongs has licensed full rights to its songs from BMG Music Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music and also many secondary and tertiary publishers. This allows the company to provide complete and accurate instructional titles, presented exactly as they were originally written and performed. The iVideosongs titles are primarily for electric and acoustic guitarists, but titles for bass, keyboards and drums are also included in the launch.

Artists from The Doobie Brothers, The Allman Brothers Band, Sting’s band, 3 Doors Down, Switchfoot, Rush, 38 Special, Alter Bridge and Vertical Horizon are featured in the iVideosongs catalog. Other participating artists include Graham Nash, Jim Messina, Russ Kunkel, Scotty Moore and Giles Martin.

iVideosongs customers can choose a skill level and genre, and then download the high-def titles to their personal computer, iPod or other device. Each song title is presented in chapter format, so aspiring musicians learn the introduction, verse, chorus, bridge, outro and other elements in bite-size pieces and at their own pace. Each title also includes a master performance, so customers can compare their progress against the song, and tablature notation to aid in learning. Titles featuring artists also include an interview segment, where they reveal the inspiration and influences that went into the creation of the song.

The iVideosongs site also offers free tutorials to help aspiring musicians develop proficiency in techniques such as slide guitar, playing chordal fills and walking bass lines.

iVideosongs titles live on customers’ devices, so they can practice whenever and wherever they like, and cost $4.99 to own an instructor title and $9.99 to own an artist title.

iVideosongs.com

So far, topics covered include building a regular practice schedule (with tips for children, students, and adults), warming up exercises and ideas, goal setting, starting out on a new repertoire, slow practicing, memorising music, endings, and fingerings.

And there’s still just under half a month to go. Phew!

I’ve not had an opportunity to read all of Chris’s posts yet, but it looks like a great series, whatever stage of piano playing you’re at, or what you want to achieve.

The service offers three levels of video: for £4 (around $8) you get a full ten- to fifteen-minute video featuring the artist explaining the track, working through the track on the instrument, and then showing the music video and note guides in split screen mode.

For £3 ($6) a non-celebrity tutor hosts the video, while the lite version (£2/$4) offers just the chords and video tutorial, with no other commentary.

Unsurprisingly, of the 300 video tutorials currently available, there’s not a huge number to choose from for pianists. That’s probably because the piano is not as prominent as guitar or bass, and a synth line would probably be too complicated to create a short tutorial for.

In general, it looks like a good site, and as they add more songs and artists, hopefully pianists will be a little better served.

Good potential.

Original review at VNUNet.com

NowPlayIt.com