Digitally mediated keyboard learning: Speed of mastery, level of retention and student perspectives

In this study, four different media were investigated regarding learning to play keyboard instruments on beginning level musical selections. Among these were Synthesia, eMedia, YouTube piano tutorials and standard Paper Notation. A sample of 564 beginning keyboard instrument students in grades 6–12 was measured on timed learning tasks to determine speed to mastery, level of retention and perspectives. Results indicated that Synthesia was more effective than the other three learning approaches at enabling students to quickly master beginning level songs and retain that information on a post-test seven days later. These data are potentially transformative in providing open access, efficient, relevant, personalized and effective music education experiences to greater numbers of students who might be marginalized.