INSTRUCTIONS

  • USING THE PIANO
    The use of the Internet Piano is simple: just click on the notes to hear the corresponding sound. With a slow modem it takes a while to download the graphics files that are behind the scenes but after that it should work fine. The sound files also take some time to first appear but as soon as they are in memory they should be working smoothly and quickly. The use of fast connections (cable modem, ISDN) will give you the best performance.

  • USING THE EAR TRAINING
    Select yor grade and type of test and proceed to the exercises. The instructions on the page are hopefully clear. You can return to the grade selection at any time to try an even more challenging test.

  • USING THE HARMONY STUDIES
    Click on the link "GO TO HARMONY STUDIES AND DICTATION" and follow the links to use the desired section.

  • TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS
    System requirements:
    We recommend at least a Pentium computer to run the ear tests and the piano but even an older machine is suitable if you are patient. The more memory you have the better the performance will be. Some older browsers (like Netscape 4.6 and higher) have a plugin that opens a new copy every time you want to play a sound file - try to avoid these or close them down once a while; otherwise they will tend to freeze up your machine. If you want to change this default plugin go to Windows Explorer, locate the Netscape program folder than go ->Communicator ->Program ->Plugins and move the following two files to another folder: npaudio.dll and npaudio.zip (you can create a folder for these and store them there - just in case you want to restore them later). Windows Media Player works well since it has an option to make sure the same player will handle all sound files.
    The quality of your speakers is of utmost importance. Do not expect good sound from small, cheap speakers. You do not need a fancy soundcard - I use a modest Soundblaster 16 - but make sure the synthesizer software that comes with the card is installed. The sound quality you get depends on your system since the MIDI files that are downloaded from the server will be turned back to sound by your own computer.
    MAC users need to download Windows Media Player and in the Netscape Edit, Preferences, Applications Menu change the application that handles MIDI (mid) files to Windows Media Player. Otherwise everything else should work well just like under Windows.



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