Fisher-Price I Can Play Piano System
by Fisher Price
|
List Price: Our Price: $44.99 You Save: $45.00 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Toy See more product details |
|---|
Toys and Games Reviews of Fisher-Price I Can Play Piano System
Customer Review: great TOY
Summary: 5 Stars
My 5 year old son received this from Santa on Christmas. I have to say that I love the toy. I want to make some comments to what others have said.
1) This is a TOY not piano lessons. Several people have complained that it does not teach proper fingering. I agree...it does NOT teach a child to play the piano, but instead pick out a melody with the correct tempo. It shows when and what key for the child to hit. As a result, they are playing the song immediately, which results in instant gratification. Hopefully my child will want to take real piano lessons someday...but this is at least introducing him to the piano.
2) The power would not come on. I found the plug needs to be upside down in the outlet. Even though the plug doesn't look like it had a polarity...my seems to. Just make sure that the power button is pushed down for a couple of seconds and the piano stays on.
3) Tempo too fast. I agree the initial tempo was too fast. So I simply turned it down. I taught my son how to use the tempo button to make the music faster or slower. When the music to too slow...he increases the tempo, when it is too fast he slows it down.
4) Music is bad. The music that comes with the piano is not the best...but they are songs my son already knows, so he is happy. I also purchased the "Jungle" cartridge and the songs are better.
My only complaint is I wish there was a way to turn the background music off. Sometimes it is hard to hear the piano keys over the background music.
This product reminds me to the organ I had as a child. On the one I had, the keys had numbers on it. The sheet music simply listed which numbers to hit in which order. No...the organ did not teach me to play the piano, but I learned how to pick out "Silent Night" and "Happy Birthday" and a few other songs. Even today I can approach a real piano and pick out the melody of those songs. This piano is no better than that. If you are expecting more...than don't purchases it.
Customer Review: Could be improved with explanation of hand position
Summary: 3 Stars
My daughter asked for this for her 8th birthday. We'd been trying to get her to take piano lessons but she was intimidated by having a stranger teach her. We own a piano and I play, but she didn't want to take instruction from me either as I'm "mommy" and she felt she knew everything already (she likes to work tunes out by ear on the piano). When she expressed an interest in this and it claimed to be able to provide instruction as well as being a toy, we thought it would be a good investment and serve both as entertainment and a teaching vehicle. Unfortunately, it is lacking a bit in the teaching area. There is no instruction regarding hand position on the keyboard (a basic concept in piano). The idea is that the kids hunt and peck for the right colored key to be able to earn points in the software game. If they get the right colored key, they end up playing the tune. According to the theory behind the software, they are eventually going to be able to transfer that hunting and pecking to reading real piano notes and being able to play the piano. However, without understanding hand position and playing keys with the correct fingers, their piano playing will be like typing with the hunt and peck method on a typewriter/computer; it gets the job done but not in the quickest fashion and not with the best accuracy. It certainly isn't going to give them any foundation for playing music that requires anything more than playing single notes (hard to do chords with two index fingers).
They could improve it simply by coming out with a cartridge that contains some instruction on hand position and some simple games to reinforce it. Otherwise, it isn't much better than just tooling around on your own on a piano without any help. Of course, if you don't have a piano, then it at least does give you that opportunity to play around a little. My daughter likes to play with it since it is like a computer game, but as far as really learning much more than she already knows, it really wasn't worth the money.
Customer Review: I don't see how anyone would learn to play piano from this
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this for a 5-year-old and decided to try it out before giving it as a gift. Good thing I did.
First of all, I thought it was hard to keep up with the tv - and I used to play piano. I had to slow down the tempo just to try to keep up.
Second of all, I don't see how anyone would ever LEARN to play piano from this. It doesn't teach you proper hand positions, nor does it teach you the notes on the keyboard or paper. It has four levels of difficulty and the final level puts the note names on the screen. By the time kids would get to that level, they'd have the song memorized and I doubt they'd pay any attention to the note names.
Third, the games are lame. Fisher Price should have made games that help kids learn hand positioning and notes. The games are boring and don't really teach anything except colors and finding the corresponding colors on the keyboard. I only tried out the cartridge that came with it. The others might be better, but I won't be finding out.
This keyboard MIGHT be ok as a game/toy, but it's not going to teach anyone how to play piano. Plus, you have to be glued to the tv to even attempt to learn. Otherwise, it's just a keyboard.As a keyboard, it's fine, but you can get a regular keyboard much cheaper. I'm definitely returning this and the two cartridges I bought to go with it.
Customer Review: clever way to introduce piano keys and notes to kids
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought this toy for our 5 and 8 year old boys. They can't get enough of it and are constantly asking to play. Our 5 year old sticks to the games, but even this is great because it subtly teaches the kids to use the keyboard without looking at it, getting used to the color-coded keys. Our 8 year old loves playing the music, and has enjoyed the challenge of going faster and faster and trying to get a perfect score (100). We've had it only a couple weeks, and yesterday, I walked in and found my 8 year old playing Old MacDonald without the program (TV off, and switch turned to piano).
Some other reviewers stated that their child couldn't keep up, but it has a way to slow down or speed up the music. Also, like mentioned above, the child can turn off the TV and just use the keyboard.
The program that comes with the keyboard has multiple levels, slowly introducing kids to the concept of notes. On the second level, the keyboard on the screen turns sideways, and the lines are like the lines on a sheet of music. On the next two levels, the "notes" look more like real notes, essentially allowing the child to read music.
In terms of durability, we have only had it a couple weeks, and sometimes we have to unplug and replug it to kick-start it if it is left on, but this is pretty easy and so far not a concern.
Customer Review: It is what it is
Summary: 3 Stars
The product is not stellar by any means. The games and freestyle modes are a joke. I know nothing about proper technique and the intructions that come with this thing are severely lacking. Because I have no formal training or experience, I don't think I can say that this product is worthless as a teaching tool.
I had some issues with turning it on and off too. Learning curve. The day after Christmas the keyboard would not turn on at all. I set it aside so that it could be returned, then, just so I wouldn't look like a moron when I took it back, I decided to give it one more good look. I found the seperate ON/OFF switch on the bottom next to the battery door. My son had switched it off. It has worked fine ever since (though the power cord does tend to pull out rather easily). I suspect user error is the cause of the vast majority of the malfunctions reported here.
All of the complaining about how worthless it is has come way too soon. Fisher Price could have and should have done better. Better instructions, games that teach piano basics, etc. But if you want instant gratification, try drugs or alcohol. Playing the songs on ICPP is surprisingly hard and I would expect to have to play with it for years before I got to be halfway decent.