Forgot Your Years of Piano Lessons? Cure Your Amnesia with Synthesia
September 25, 2007
With all due respect to Guitar Hero aficionados, it’s not like you need any musical talent to play it. This should be simple–kids like music and video games. Why can’t there be a game that actually teaches kids to play?
After reading that kind of intro paragraph, you’ve probably figured out that there is such a game – Synthesia, available for free, even. Notes fall from the sky over a keyboard at the bottom of the screen. Press the correct keys at the correct time to boost your score. Pretty simple. Tetris was simple, too, and that game was pretty successful.
Speaking of Tetris, one of Synthesia’s most fun features is that it comes bundled with MIDI files for classic video games like Super Mario Bros., Bubble Bobble, and the aforementioned Russian puzzle game. But you can play along with any MIDI file you can find. The game itself is pretty difficult if you’re not a pianist, but playing the left-hand part for the Tetris theme at low speed is a good choice for beginners. If you’ve got some piano training, you may want to tackle Dragon Warrior.
For best results, you’ll need a USB or MIDI musical keyboard. You can play Synthesia with a standard computer keyboard, but it’s pretty useless if your goal is to actually learn something. I know I learned something–piano is hard. But Synthesia makes it just a little bit easier, and more fun. -BILL FERRIS
