Miracle Piano Teaching System facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Miracle Piano Teaching System |
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| Developer(s) | The Software Toolworks |
| Publisher(s) | The Software Toolworks |
| Designer(s) | Jon Mandel Henrik Markarian |
| Platform(s) | NES, Super NES, Macintosh, Amiga, Genesis, MS-DOS |
| Release date(s) | 1990 |
| Genre(s) | Music, educational |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Miracle Piano Teaching System is a special computer program that helps you learn to play the piano. It uses a real electronic keyboard that connects to your computer or video game console. It was first released in 1990 by a company called The Software Toolworks. You could play it on many different systems like the NES, Super NES, Macintosh computers, Amiga, Sega Genesis, and MS-DOS computers.
Contents
Learning Piano with the Miracle System
The Miracle Piano Teaching System came with everything you needed to start learning. It included a special keyboard, connecting cables, a power supply, and soft foot pedals. The lessons came on either floppy disks for computers or cartridges for video game consoles.
Once you connected the keyboard to your computer or console, you would load the software. Then, you would follow the notes shown on the screen. The main goal of this system was to teach people how to play the piano. It offered hundreds of lessons and was even advertised as a great way to help with regular piano lessons. It cost about US$500 when it first came out, which was quite expensive.
The system was sold in the United States and many parts of Europe. Interestingly, some of the NES Miracle keyboards were later changed to work with PCs. The Nintendo Seal of Quality on these keyboards was covered up.
The Miracle system's keyboard made all the sounds itself. It didn't use the video game console's sound system. This meant you could use the keyboard on its own, even without the console connected.
Fun Ways to Learn Music
Students could learn to play different kinds of music, like classic piano, rock piano, or show tunes. The Miracle system could even figure out how well a player was doing. Then, it would create special lessons just for them.
The system used fun exercises to make learning the piano feel more like playing a video game. Instead of using a regular game controller, the piano keyboard became your controller. You would press the right keys to hit targets and improve your music skills.
There were several games designed to help teach musical skills. One game was called Robo Man. In this game, you had to press the correct keys at the right time to build a bridge. If you missed a key, Robo Man would fall, and you would lose.
Another game was a duck hunting game. Here, you had to press the keys that matched the positions of ducks on a musical staff to "shoot" them. In the Ripchord game, players had to press the correct combination of keys for a chord. This would help paratroopers land safely onto a target.
What Happened Next?
Around 1995, the ideas and technology from the Miracle system were used in a new product. This was called the Piano Discovery System. It was a computer program that worked with any MIDI keyboard, including the original Miracle keyboard. By 1997, the Miracle product was no longer sold. The Piano Discovery System took its place.
See also
- Synthesia
