Piano Logic offers an instructional course for learning how to play the piano, with the added bonus of using a new method of approaching the subject: the "numeric language of music." According to Patty Carlson, a composer/pianist and the creator of the Piano Logic system, the "numeric language of music" makes learning to play the piano much easier, more logical, and much more enjoyable. It's a very appealing idea for someone like me. I never had any musical instruction as a child (in fact, I bluffed my way through middle school music classes with a chutzpah that, retrospectively, amazes me). As an adult, I finally took the plunge and with the help of informal lessons from family, got to the point of being able to read a score and plunk out a simple tune. Fun! But how much better it would be to have a better grasp of playing the piano! I popped the Piano Logic DVD in the player with the hopes of being able to move to the next step, or at least solidify my very (very!) basic skills.

Unfortunately, Piano Logic turns out to be a complete flop. I started having a few qualms during the introduction. Carlson, who provides the instruction here as well as having designed the program, spends a long time earnestly telling the viewer about how great the "numeric language of music" system is, how it will make learning to play the piano so much easier and more fun, and how it's completely new and original. OK, I thought, if it's so great, why can't we just start, and I'll see for myself? Why are you telling me how great it is? (Answer: because the material most certainly does not speak for itself.)

When we finally get to the nitty-gritty of the "numeric language of music," it's a complete let-down. Basically, Carlson's idea is to number the notes: instead of referring to them as A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, we have C=1, D=2, E=3, etc. To have the student play a musical "sentence," she displays the notes as a series of numbers, such as 1-6-4-5-1. It gets more complex as chords are taken into account, but that's really the long and the short of it. The numbers are just as arbitrary as the letter designations, and all of the subsequent instruction in Piano Logic would make just as much (or as little) sense if the traditional notational system were being used.

This might not be such a bad thing if the numeric designations were used to complement the traditional method, but Carlson clearly wants her "numeric language" to be exclusive; the program even ends with three short pieces that have been "translated" from the traditional score to the numeric method. So someone who actually manages to learn to play with the numeric method will be significantly handicapped in the wider world of music, since he or she won't be able to read traditional scores. This could all have been improved if the traditional method of designating the notes and representing them on a score were shown simultaneously with the numeric method, so the student could see how they relate, but that's not done.

OK, so apart from the unimpressive nature of the "numeric language" part of the program, how does Piano Logic stack up as an instructional video? Very poorly. The main program (divided into two parts, running 69 and 77 minutes respectively) starts off with a decent basic introduction to the piano and how it works, but Carlson spends very little time on the basics. Halfway through Part 1, we're already into chord inversions and composing music: any beginner would be completely lost. There's just not enough time spent on the basics of instruction. Part 2 introduces even more music vocabulary and even starts analyzing the musical foundations of musical styles like country and blues.

Piano Logic is also a curiously non-participatory program. My keyboard is in the same room as the TV, so I was all set to play along with the instruction, but I found that the program seems to encourage passive viewing rather than participation. Carlson spends far too much time just talking to the camera, during which time the viewer is obviously not doing anything except watching. Then when we do get to the keyboard exercises, most of them feel more like demonstrations rather than exercises for the student to follow.

In the end, I'm not sure who the intended audience of Piano Logic is. Carlson sometimes refers to the viewer as the one who's participating in the program, but other times refers to "the student" as if she is directing the program at piano teachers looking for instructional tips. The material is too rapid-paced and complex for true beginners, but at the same time it's labeled on the back as "excellent for ages 6-10 with adult assistance." The best advice I can say is to just avoid this peculiar mish-mash of an instructional program.

The DVD

Video

Piano Logic is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and looks satisfactory. The image is fairly heavily edge-enhanced, but apart from this there are no glaring flaws: the print is clean and bright, and the on-screen text is usually easy to read. Some of the screens are a bit hard to read, but this is a problem with the ornate script font used rather than the transfer quality.

Audio

The soundtrack is basic but gets the job done perfectly well. Carlson's voice is always clear and easy to understand, and there's no distortion or harshness in the sound at all.

Extras

There are no special features on the DVD.

Final thoughts

A DVD instructional course on playing the piano is a great idea, but Piano Logic isn't the course to buy. The combination of a gimmicky premise (the "numeric language of music") and a poorly-presented, overly complex set of lessons makes Piano Logic into the opposite of what it should be: instead of making piano playing easy and fun, it makes it seem arcane and difficult. Skip it.