Sometimes when I’m looking for sheet music or searching up a song to learn by ear for the piano, I’ll bump into this thing called: Synthesia. Lately, within the musical realm of learning, this popular tool has emerged among the market of technological applications as a creative way to learn piano. It is commonly seen on Youtube and Google search. Synthesia is a music learning application designed for the systems Windows and Mac OS X, in the form of a music video game. Desktop computers, laptops, Windows tablets, as well as the iPad are able to run the app. The application incorporates a piano keyboard training system where notes will fall down from the top of the screen and the individual is able to play along with or analyze what the song looks like. Digital pianos and keyboards that have USB functionality are also compatible with the program as you are able to plug in and play. Synthesia is a great tool because it runs on the MIDI system; the format of MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) is able to carry sound information (vibrato, pitch, keys, and notation) and directly transfer it into applications that can read it, such as this. Once Synthesia reads the MIDI file, it designs it’s own sheet music layout of the song which is extremely helpful in both learning by sheets or trying to transcribe by ear. Also, the sheet music is scored digitally and can be shared with others! Link to main site: http://www.synthesiagame.com/
Synthesia also includes useful features within the application itself; all of these can be applied to when you are playing or analyzing a piece of music.
1. The ability to play at your own speed. Synthesia has settings that allow you to play a song in 2x, 1.5x, standard (1x), 0.5x, or 0.25x speeds for your own comfort.
2. The resource of sheet music. Synthesia allows you to play along with sheet music that it digitizes for you based on the MIDI file. It also creates the piano notations for you.
3. Checking your progression. The application will have a function where it will not continue the song until you press the right keys. It goes at your own pace and allows for looping of a section of a song.
4. Finger numbering and positioning on the keyboard for notes that are coming up.
Among the other forms of advanced applications in this digital age, Synthesia proves to be a versatile program that combines multiple aspects of learning music. However, as always, I wouldn’t solely focus on a program such as this when learning piano. I think that music theory, reading printed sheet music, and ear training are just as important in the long run. I see the program of Synthesia as a great supplemental app when it comes to learning piano; it is something that I will be looking into quite often in my musical adventures. If anyone has also heard of the program please let me know what you think of it as well!
I’ll end off with an example of a song on Synthesia from Youtube. Until next time.
Notes of My Life 
Beautiful song choice for the video. I love Spirited Away; it’s one of my favorite movies. This is the first blog from another student I have looked at and it is not what I was expecting. It’s a pleasant surprise though. I have often wanted to learn piano myself, but never found much time for it. I love Asian Kung-Fu Generation as well and have all their albums! I didn’t know they were so popular. I happen to have a GRANRODEO tab up in my browser too since I was just checking them out earlier, which is an eery coincidence…
Anyway, good job on the blog!
Thank you for the kind comment! Spirited Away is for sure an amazing movie. I think that finding time is always an obstacle for learning music; sometimes it’s hard to really practice with school and what not. But I’m sure if you take the chance to do so, you’ll do fine! I’m glad to hear that you like AKFG as well; they are an amazing band! I know they are very popular in regions of Japan but I don’t know about here in the states.