Piano+Nanny


 * 1.** **DESTINATION**

The title of this site is Pianonanny.com (http://www.pianonanny.com)


 * 2. AUTHORITY**

This is a ".com" domain, which is appropriate because Pianonanny.com is a commercial site that sells CDd’s and accepts donations. The site is maintained through nannygroup.com.


 * 3. INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT**

This website contains 34 total lessons on piano for students of all ability levels. Professional pianist Clinton Shirley Clark has designed all of the lessons to be as comprehensive as possible and as intuitive as possible. No experience in music is necessary as the lessons start from square one with staves, rhythm, and letters. The lessons incorporate theory and have easy to view pictures and graphics to help the students along. However, as the lessons get more and more advanced, they turn more towards jazz lessons than classical or traditional piano lessons.

National Music Standards that could be addressed through this website include: 2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 5. Reading and notating music. 6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

Site last updated in 2000


 * 4. PURPOSE, VIEWPOINT**

This page’s intent is to give interested parties free, generic, online piano lessons to anyone willing to read all of them. The lessons themselves, though sometimes a bit wordy, are clear enough and repetitive enough that they would suffice as piano lessons for someone who simply doesn’t wasn’t to pay or who wants to work at their own pace. Towards the end of the lessons there is a distinct bias towards jazz, but that is the personal choice of the author. This site is part of nannygroup.com.


 * 5. REPUTATION**

Not a lot of well known sites link to this particular site, and nannygroup.com is not exactly a household name, but being a person who has both taken and given live piano lessons, these are about as good as you’ll find on the internet as far as free piano lessons with a bit of theory goes.


 * 6. OVERALL EVALUATION**

This site does what it sets out to do fairly well. These lessons are actually worthwhile for someone who is interested in starting piano, though it will be easier for older children or adults to understand the musical lingo. Also, for people interested in jazz, comping, and improvisation, the advanced lessons here do a good job at introducing that side of the piano. However, the human influence on learning piano can never be duplicated, so use the lessons exclusively at your own risk.

Rating: +++

Reviewed by: Andy Boron, 4-11-06