#10 Weirdest Piano: Hello Little Monsters

One of Lady Gaga’s weirdest pianos

#9 Weirdest Piano: Playing in Bed

Being bed ridden in 1935 was no excuse for not practicing as this piano bed shows. Now, we’re totally mobile but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t love to play songs from the comfort of our own comfy mattress.

#8 Weirdest Piano: Move Over Liberache

Everyone has a friend that is obsessed with sparkly, glittery things or everything Liberache. Here is the perfect piano for that friend that just can’t help bedazzling everything they own.

#7 Weirdest Piano: The High Roller

Can you imagine this Schimmel Pegasus Goquin masterpiece of futuristic heaven sitting in your living room? Since it is uber sleek and painted with Ferrari Rosso Red you shouldn’t be surprised that is costs over $400,000 dollars.

#6 Weirdest Piano: No More Straight Lines

Sometimes those typical straight pianos just aren’t enough. This round one reminds us of a volume knob and you’d certainly need to crank up your energy to run around this piano.

#5 Weirdest Piano: So hot It’s On Fire! 

This piano is blazing! Famous Japanese pianist Yosuke Yamashita, in fireproof gear, plays the piano for 10 minutes in this firey performance peice!

#4 Weirdest Piano: The Animal Lover

While we love all things cute and furry just as much as the next person, this special pig tops our list of animals that do it all. And, no piggy wasn’t harmed when a genius built this piano.

#3 Weirdest Piano: For All the Girly Girls

It’s no secret that Lady Gaga is all about the show and we know we’ve already shown you one of her crazy pianos but this one is for every girl who loves her heels!

#2 Weirdest Piano: Get Inside

Round pianos and keyboards seem to be a bit of a trend and this one is perfect for anyone who wants to be inside of one. Slide on into the loop and spin around as you play.

And the #1 Weirdest Piano: The Piano Bar

Now this crazy invention gives a whole new meaning to the term “piano bar” because it will actually dispense a custom made cocktail depending on what and how you play! How will your piano drink taste? We have no idea but we’re totally willing to find out!

The post The Top 10 Weirdest Pianos Ever Built appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.

Still in beta stage, the JoyTunes glove will take you from 1 note to Beethoven in a flash. Our gloves allow your hands to auto magically bend and move to play any song your heart desires! Check out this video for more info.

Want to order your very own JoyTunes glove & start playing like Mozart today?

Purchase your gloves here!

The post JoyTunes new magic gloves allow you to play the piano instantly appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.

Our enthusiasm was even greater when we watched Apple’s September Watch Event. We saw that this watch is going to be big, and we knew we wanted to be part of it.

In November, Apple released WatchKit, which allowed developers like us to start designing extensions for their iPhone apps that will run on the Apple Watch.

We immediately started brainstorming about the different ways we can use the watch to make practicing and learning music more fun and effective.

We had lots of cool ideas, but for several reasons – it wasn’t that easy for us to turn the ideas into reality.

First, this primal version of the development kit had a lot of limitations. For instance: no access to the sensors of the watch (e.g. no ability to use the Taptic Engine to provide haptic feedback), only works with an iPhone (therefore we couldn’t create a watch extension for Piano Maestro, which is currently iPad only), and more.

These limitations caused many of these ideas to become unfeasible.

Second, and more importantly – we were so busy with our other apps, we simply couldn’t find the free time and start the development of a watch app.

Months passed, then came another Apple Watch Event in March. In addition to a big reminder of what’s about to come, and a great motivation boost, we also got a release date and understood the timeline. Suddenly reality hit us in the face. If we wanted to make a musical watch app, we had to act fast.

Shortly after the March event, came our quarterly “JoyTunes Ninja Week”.

Ninja Week is a tradition we have once every 3-4 months at JoyTunes. It aims to tackle exactly the second problem I mentioned earlier: because of the endless list of day-to-day tasks we have to deal with – there’s simply no time to get to some really cool tasks, whose immediate business value isn’t clear.

The rules are simple:

1. You can do whatever you want: develop a complete new feature, a proof-of-concept, improve infrastructure, create a new app, learn a new technology, build something cool for the office, etc.
   Anything goes – as long as you think you’ll finish it by the end of ninja week.
2. Every day at 18:00 we all eat our daily Pizza / Sushi/ Hummus and get an extra burst of motivation.

So, as you probably guessed already, during this ninja week I chose to finally sit down and develop an app for the Apple Watch.

Initially I thought this would only be a junk app that will be only relevant for learning. After toying with some concepts and ideas, I decided a proof of concept of a metronome app could be something I could create relatively quickly, and have the potential of actually being cool and useful.

I recruited help from our super-talented designer, Oded Bengigi, who immediately stepped up and created a truly awesome metronome animation based on a glowing JoyTunes logo:

Use the metronome app right from your Apple Watch!

Check out the Metronome in action here!

From there, the road to build a watch extension displaying the animation was quite fast. We created a Metronome app that we felt was so beautiful it’s definitely worth investing some additional time to perfect and deliver. So by the time ninja week was over – we had a nice product, and the goal was to release it to the App Store along with the first apps to ever be released for the Apple Watch!

Challenges arose. We initially thought of the product as a standalone metronome that would feel super cool on your watch alone, but finally came to the realization it’s not quite possible.

First reason for this are the mentioned technical limitations. In addition to not being able to use the Taptic Engine which felt a natural fit to our case, playing a tick sound from the watch was also not possible. You have to do it from your iPhone.

Also, in order to conserve battery – an app on the watch stays active only for a few seconds if you don’t interact with it. Hence, getting the beat just by looking at the watch was also not quite possible.

We therefore decided to shift the direction of the app a bit.

We decided to invest more into the iPhone app, creating a fully blown metronome iPhone app we are truly proud of. Then, the watch extension behaves as the perfect companion for this app – it can control the iPhone metronome  – start it, stop it, change the BPM and the time signature (using selection or dictation) – all while displaying a super slick animation loop that makes everything feel magical and fun.

I am personally really proud of what we made, especially since it all began with a fun ninja task, and we were able to deliver a fully blown app in less than a month.

Of course, this is not the end. We are planning many new features and additions in upcoming releases, and we can only cross our fingers that Apple will be so kind as to release a better WatchKit soon. This will allow us to make an even cooler native metronome app on the watch, and possibly many other apps that will improve the way you practice and learn music all around the world.

We are super excited about this. Hope you are too!

Have you tried out our Metronome app yet on your Apple Watch or iPhone? Let us know what you think!

The post New Apple Watch, New JoyTunes App – The Making Of. appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.

About the Chinese New Year

Also known as the Spring Festival and celebrated for 15 days, the Chinese New Year occurs separately from the western celebrated New Year date as the Chinese follow a different calendar. Many of the celebrations come from ancient Chinese traditions which were set forth to honor deities and family ancestors. Although the biggest celebrations occur in China and other countries with a significant Chinese population, many major cities around the world hold festivals with some of the largest being in San Francisco, New York and London.

Celebrating the New Year

As the New Year approaches, families take great care to clean their houses as it is a way to “sweep” away any bad luck and misfortune. When the celebrations begin, families open the doors and windows of the home in order to let in good luck and fortune. You will also see red paper-cuts and lanterns hanging in doors and windows.

According to an ancient legend, a mythical beast called Nian would come to a Chinese village on New Year’s Day and eat animals, crops, and sometimes even children. One day a god visited a villager and told him to put red paper and firecrackers in from of each home as Nian was afraid of both. This began the tradition of placing red lanterns and other paper objects in the windows of homes. Nian was frightened away and never returned to harm the village.

The Year of the Goat

2015 is the year of the goat and your Chinese zodiac sign if you were born in 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 or 2015. So, what should you know if you are a goat sign? Your lucky numbers are 2, 7 and any number containing a 2 or 7. The 7th and 30th are your lucky days of each month and your lucky colors are brown, red and purple. Many good things will happen for those born under the goat sign!

A special note for teachers: The Chinese New Year category has replaced the “Home Challenge” button for now but you will notice a small button just under it which will allow you to assign homework to your students.

The post Celebrate the Chinese New Year with New Songs appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.

Remember when you were a kid in school and all of the excitement that Valentine’s Day brought? You went to the store and bought Snoopy or Charlie Brown Valentine’s Day cards to give to your classmates. You spent the day high on sugar from those candy hearts wondering if your crush would give you a candy that said “Be Mine” or send you a candy-gram to show they cared.

Now, while we at JoyTunes love a sugar rush just as much as the next guy, we wanted to prepare a Valentine’s Day gift for you that is just as sweet but won’t rot your teeth. In order to share the joy of JoyTunes and the love of piano, we will release a new free song each week leading up to Valentine’s Day. Not only can you learn to play each of these new songs, but you can also check out other tunes in the Piano Maestro app including hits from Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and John Legend as well as classics such as Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” and Bryan Adam’s’ “I Do It for You”.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=450p7goxZqg[/embedyt]

While we can’t guarantee that your intended love will fall for you when you play them a romantic song, we’re pretty sure they will at least be impressed by your creativity and hard work. And, don’t forget that Valentine’s Day is not just limited to romantic love. This is a perfect day to tell friends and family how much you care about them. That’s not so easy for everyone and playing them a song that expresses how you feel is a simple solution when you are at a loss for words. Check back every week to see which new song we release!

So, can we be your valentine?

The post A Sweet Musical Treat for Valentine’s Day appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.

So, as you ask yourself if you should even make one of the traditional resolutions -we all know the common ones. However, we are here to offer up a new one. Why not learn to play an instrument? Learning to play a musical instrument is a great way to express yourself and be creative. Now, we’re not saying that you need to become a professional musician but developing new skills and finding new hobbies is what your New Year’s resolutions should be all about.

Find bands and musicians that inspire you to play and get started!

Decide to do something fun this year and you’ll enjoy the benefits for the rest of your life! And, it’s never too late to start playing an instrument so that cannot be your excuse!

Picking which instrument to learn can be a challenge within itself which is exactly why we created this fun quiz! Just answer 10 questions and we’ll recommend an instrument for you to learn.

Happy New Year and Happy Playing!

https://www.playbuzz.com/joytunes10/which-instrument-should-you-learn-to-play-in-2015

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About Sia

Sia, whose full name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, is an Australian recording artist. She grew up in a musical home, with both of her parents being professional musicians. Her outside musical influences include legendary recording artists Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Sting.

In the early 1990s, Sia was part of a jazz-funk band called Crisp. The band released 2 albums before Sia left in 1997. That same year Sia released her first solo album, OnlySee. Since then, she has released 5 more solo albums and collaborated with many well-known artists as a featured vocalist. But her talent does not stop there.
She is an accomplished song writer who not only writes many of her own songs, but has also written for plenty of music’s top artists including Beyonce, Rhianna, Maroon 5, Britney Spears and David Guetta, to name a few.

Sia singing with the group Zero 7

Over the years her songs have been featured in popular TV shows such as Six Feet Under, Luther and Gossip Girl and well as the blockbuster movies Burlesque, The Great Gatsby and Annie.

"Chandelier"

"Chandelier" is one of Sia’s most recent hit songs and has influences from the electronica, R&B and reggae genres. It was released as a single on March 12th, 2014 and again as part of the album 1000 Forms of Fear. "Chandelier" tells the story of the highs and lows in the life of a party girl.

A still from Sia's music video for Chandelier

The song enjoyed worldwide success and topped the charts in many countries including reaching number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Billboard also ranked the song as one of the 10 best songs of 2014 while Rolling Stone listed it at number 15 on its list of 50 Best Songs of 2014. In addition to all of this, the song received 4 Grammy nominations: Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video.

Learn to Play Chandelier by Sia

With the help of JoyTunes Piano Maestro app, everyone can learn to play Chandelier by Sia. Don't have the Piano Maestro app yet and want to learn this song and more? Download the app by clicking here while on your iPad.

The post Chandelier by Sia: Artist Bio and Song Facts appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.

With the major holidays just a few days away, we have prepared a lovely little gift for you. It’s not a stocking stuffer nor a present you can wrap – it’s better! Why? Because it’s a fun quiz which answers the super important question of December: What is your holiday theme song? Even more, this entertaining bit of content will come in handy if you have any awkward moments at your office holiday parties, family dinners or wherever else you choose to celebrate.  You can just mention this awesome quiz and everyone will drop what they are doing, forget about their arguments and focus their attention on finding their own theme song.

So, take a five minute break from all the holiday madness (or work, if you’re sitting at your desk) and take this “scientifically developed” JoyTunes quiz. By answering a series of holiday-themed questions, we’ll tell you which holiday song should be your personal theme song (at least for the next few weeks)! Each theme song answer includes a fun YouTube video for you to sing along with and play every time you enter a room.

If you're ready to get fancy and impress your friends and family, you can learn to play some holiday songs (including a few of the theme songs) with our Piano Maestro app. It’s free to download and you’ll look like the rock star you've always wanted to be! Piano Maestro is the gift that keeps on giving!

Download Piano Maestro Now Learning to play is just a download away!

Ready to discover your holiday theme song?

[playbuzz-item url=”https://www.playbuzz.com/joytunes10/whats-your-holiday-theme-song”]

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