You can learn how to play music at home with a video game.
This bright happy pint sized piano keyboard is the looming.
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You can sort of think of Lumi as a peloton for piano, you’re at home more often you want to strengthen your mind find creative activities, maybe in person music lessons are not an option right now.
So it’s the perfect time for something like LUMI to arrive.
Plus it’s very kid friendly.
The app is for both iOS and Android, I’m using a iPad mini here, but you can use any mobile device.
And the app is key because it’s all about the big library of interactive lessons and music programmed into it.
The music plane is coming out of your mobile device, you can’t play.
From the Lumi anything unless you have an app connected.
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So let’s start with the price.
The Lumi itself costs $299 and it includes courses and songs.
But if you If you want everything you need to pay to unlock the full library of content in the app.
And right now the first year will cost an extra $30 for that access, and that’s a discounted promotional price.
The full cost is $80 for a year, so I guess the price could go up later in your second year.
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So let’s get to those lessons since that’s what you’re paying for here.
They are very well done.
These teachers have bite sized videos getting you familiar with keys and fundamentals of scales and chords and timing.
But get this The video will pause and wait for you to hit the right notes to go forward.
And in doing that, there’s this feeling that the teacher is there with you at every step so you can go at your own pace.
The looming lessons aren’t exactly traditional when you start because it is referencing the notes on the keyboard as colours at first.
I mean.
It is a rainbow keyboard, you’d hope they talk about the colors.
It’s all to warm you up to the idea of where to put your fingers and eventually they do just call it the notes on the scale.
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And the lessons have challenges where you have to hit the right notes at the right time in this Guitar Hero rock Band style game.
Now I took piano lessons all throughout my childhood.
I did recitals I played in the school band, the whole shebang.
But I’m very rusty because I have not played in years.
Sorry mom and dad.
I was skeptical about how much an app could teach piano with these teachers are just so chill and inviting.
I really like the pacing and structure of the courses.
It’s easy to bite off little short lessons in five minutes, but you can also get swept up and how they make it entertaining.
Play the mility with your right hand using eighth ,quarter and half notes.
Watch me first
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Reading notes in different ways wth the games took some rewiring of my brain, I mean how do you read notes that are falling, where is the scale.
But it is cool that they are breaking roles and getting your brain thinking about music with games in different presentations like this.
Now when you’re first learning to play piano a teacher is going to give you some really simple songs like three blind mice, and that’s in here, but the Lumi team also gives you.
Some fun songs with a backtrack.
So even though may just be really simple, it sounds like you’re playing some cool complicated stuff and that keeps it interesting.
I mean, one other piano teacher in their first week would be teaching you see shanties.
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Say you’re like me, you already know how to read music and need to brush up on your skills.
Now I rather just go through the library of music that’s sorted by difficulty level.
We got your Mozart’s here we got your Beethoven’s but it’s also got a ton of chart topping hits across the decades I was impressed with how many current hits they had they even have the new James Bond song for the movie that’s not out yet
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Some of these are just samples but some are the entire piece of music and the songs are not the original tracks I should say they are re recorded vocals and music tracks so that’s probably a rights issue thing.
Once you’re in a song, you can mess around in settings to practice the peace in different ways.
Whichever way is easiest for you to learn, this whole system grows with you.
You can take it note by note you can slow it to half speed before going full speed and when you have to hit a note, it will light up right on the key you have to hit.
And I like that there’s a soft glow of the next note so you know what’s coming Get your fingers in the right position.
It’s helpful when you’re practicing big chords.
Now, if you’re more experienced, you can read all these songs like traditional sheet music, the rainbow goes away, it turns white and the notes you have to hit turn yellow.
But I like this hybrid mode that Lumi created when you’re just starting to cite read a piece.
It has these colorful notes on the staff With a note, letters written on top I don’t need to read key signatures.
It’s a big old F sharp labelled for me.
Thank you very much, playing it in that way really woke up this dusty music room part of my brain.
So I was able to take that song I practised over to my actual sheet music and keyboard in my house.
And just play it with more confidence.
And that felt good.
felt really good.
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One thing about practicing piano is that you get better with repeated exercises and the courses have that you can also work on your scales on the side.
Even better is this new platform jumping game called springboard.
Where you have to hit the right note at the exact time to keep the little character from falling.
I got a chance to check out the early beta version of the springboard game and I gotta say it is not as easy as it looks at first, but it is fun and it’s challenging and that’s all a good thing because it just makes you want to practice more and more The majority of the Lumi experience is a one handed learning device.
The lessons do go over the treble clef, that’s the left hand.
But if you really want to practice both hands at the same time, you need to attach two together.
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It connects magnetically.
But two Loumis that’s $600.
I mean, you can get a full 88 key keyboard with a stand and a bench for the same price.
So I don’t see folks really buying shoes right away.
The bigger takeaway, is that this is a system that can be expanded and grow with you.
You can compose with it even.
The Louie is a fully functioning mini keyboard.
It’s compatible with most digital audio workstations and plugins.
The Lumi is from a company called Roli and it makes lots of really innovative electronic musical instruments.
You have have come across their light up touch pad blocks in Apple stores before.
Roli also has a pro version of the Lumi, called the Lumi Key Studio Edition.
The idea is that it could be compatible with the blocks and link up with the rolling desktop software.
The Lumia I have is more designed as a learning device first, but I like how Rolly is thinking about expansion.
When you make an investment in something like this as a music tool.
It’s still early days for the looming I like to see them keep working on the app interface with more ways to search for songs.
And the company is still rolling out new songs and new lessons since it launched.
They made a very quality experience here.
It does not replace an in person teacher experience completely but I really like this as a A place to start for kids and adults and also to brush up on skills anywhere, be it at home or on the go.
So it’s so light, you can take it anywhere.
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