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U Play self teaching music program
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shluchamom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 6:18 pm
Does anyone have any experience with this program. U Play - it's a self teaching music program with cds and books from someone in Lakewood. It was advertised in the Binah over Chanukah I think.


Please share your experiences. Please pm me if you don't want to post publicly.
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MyKidsRQte




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 7:58 pm
following, I was thinking of buying it for my 13yo ds
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harriet




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 8:46 pm
Just ordered it for my 10 year old DS, it's probably a little too early for me to say.

It came in the mail a couple of days ago and he spent about 30-45 minutes so far on it.

He's been taking lessons for a year or so and reads notes but his teacher only does secular music (mainly classical) and he REALLLLLLLY wanted to play Jewish music so I thought this would be a good option.

Here are my impressions so far-

It is being marketed for age 6+ but I don't think the young ages are really realistic. My son is 10 and very bright (and I think motivated but maybe your child will be more so). He is having a hard time figuring out how to follow her "code" (how she labels each key etc). I, an adult with no musical training at all, was able to help him with some of it so it is definitely easy for an adult or I would say teenager to follow. Also, a young child that you are willing to help should do okay as well.

At this point, he is playing all the easiest level songs easily but can't get past there. We have put it away for now until I have time to read it and then tell him what to do (I helped him with the instructions for the easiest level as well). Once you figure out what she wants you to do, it seems easy, it's just figuring out how to follow her instructions that he's having a hard time with.

Again, it's pretty early in our experience with it but I am tentatively optimistic. So far he is happy and of course anxious to get further.

If your child is the type to sit with the instructions and figure out how to do it, or YOU can do that for him/her (and then just give it over) and has a big interest in playing popular Jewish songs, I think it's a good idea.

Also, if your child is the type to not follow through/lose interest in something quickly, I would not recommend it.

If you have any further specific questions, please feel free to ask.

Good luck!
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Hashem_Yaazor




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 9:56 pm
Where can you order this from? How much is it? I didn't see an ad -- I assume this is for keyboarded instruments? My family is musical and my sons have expressed an interest in learning as well, but I cannot sign them up for lessons at this point in their lives. Right now, they suffice with learning notes for basic songs with stickers on the keys to remind them where the notes are.
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harriet




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 10:25 pm
You order it from the woman in Lakewood who created it. I forgot her name but her phone number is 732 905 3819. She was very patient and helpful in describing it to me and answering my questions about it on the phone.

It is not cheap although it's definitely a lot cheaper than lessons and/or buying the Jewish sheet music out there for the number of songs she sells. There are 3 CDs and it's $45 for 1, $100 for all three (I think that was a chanuka price maybe). I bought the 2nd CD, now I'm thinking I should have gotten the first (easier one).

Again, so far I think I'm happy I bought it, I/we have to spend some more time playing with it before I decide.

It's advertised as a "very easy" way to learn to "self play" music. . . I don't really think that's such a realistic expectation-how easy and self teachable is playing music anyhow (exceptions being made for extraordinarily musically talented children) but if your children are really interested and motivated, it's probably a good buy.

Also, yes, it's for a keyboard/piano.
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Hashem_Yaazor




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 10:43 pm
How many songs are on a CD? What does the easy level entail? It includes chords? Or just basic melody?
The CD is a visual one to watch at the computer?
I could teach my kids if I had more patience, but I don't.
Can you start from nothing for the first CD, or you need some fundamentals in place? My boys can only play one handed.
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imamazing




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 10:45 pm
Would you recommend it for an adult that's learning and can play on a basic level? Or is it kid oriented?
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harriet




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 10:51 pm
Ok, remember I am totally not musical and haven't spent much time with it but will do my best to answer your questions-

I believe there are 30+ songs in each book/CD.

I think the easy level does NOT use chords. That's actually where we are stopped. My DS DOES play with chords (songs he learned from his piano teacher) but we haven't figured out her system for implementing chords yet.

We are using the book but it comes with a CD as well-we haven't even put it in yet! For whatever reason, we just used the book so far (I actually forgot all about the CD until now). I think the CD is audio (not visual/computer based) but I might be wrong, as I said, we didn't look at it yet.

I'm pretty sure you can do the first book with absolutely no musical background/training at all. From what I see (we have the second book) an adult could probably even do the second book with no background.
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harriet




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Dec 10 2013, 10:57 pm
imamazing wrote:
Would you recommend it for an adult that's learning and can play on a basic level? Or is it kid oriented?


It is not kid oriented and I think would be fine for an adult-perhaps even better for an adult than for a kid because it's a little hard for a kid but simple enough for a motivated adult/teen. The only thing I want to point out is that you don't learn to "read notes" the proper way that my DS learns from his usual piano lessons so if that makes a difference to you, I would NOT recommend it. The book looks nothing like the typical piano books he plays from.

Basically, from what I can tell, this person who has given lessons for 20+ years, came up with her own simple way to label the keys (using letters primarily and some arrows) and the book teaches you her method, then she has many Jewish songs written out in her method.

Again, if you are considering it, you should definitely call her, she was really nice and helpful on the phone. . . I totally don't mind answering questions (although will get to any more that come up tomorrow) but I really don't know how great my answers are because I myself don't play any instrument or have any musical training and we just got it/started playing around with it.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 12:04 am
thx, are the songs up to date songs or old fashion
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shluchamom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 1:48 am
Thanks for your replies so far. My main question is can a person learn chords and more from this and transfer the skills to other songs or are you just learning how to play these specific songs with her technique?
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harriet




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 8:50 am
amother wrote:
thx, are the songs up to date songs or old fashion


mixture of both.
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harriet




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 8:54 am
shluchamom wrote:
Thanks for your replies so far. My main question is can a person learn chords and more from this and transfer the skills to other songs or are you just learning how to play these specific songs with her technique?


You do learn to play chords with her technique but as far as the rest of the question (transferring the skills) I have no idea what the answer to this question is, sorry!

My guess is that it's the latter but I'm not sure (and it's not something that really applies to my child who takes lessons and reads notes the "typical way.")

I really could be wrong on that though, I would ask her.
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Hashem_Yaazor




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 10:27 am
As someone musical, my post may be prejudiced, but I do think that once you have a wide range of experience through playing many songs, you start being able to figure out what chords will make a new song soar. There are a limited amount of chords, and Jewish music in particular usually uses very similar scales.

Now I'm wondering if this would be bad for those who do know proper keyboarding terminology -- is it too confusing to learn a whole new system?

I really want my kids to have the opportunity to learn, but there is no way I can teach them on the level my father taught me. I have forgotten so much from a decade of not having a piano/keyboard accessible, and I wasn't all that great to begin with. I almost think I should get this for myself Wink
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Chayalle




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 2:25 pm
HY I would describe myself as similar to you.....I took lessons as a child-to-teen, but lost my repertoire due to lack of practice...I can still play loads of Hebrew songs that I can sing, but it would take alot for me to get the classical back. I have some songbooks in the house (like D'veykus, Journeys, etc) and I enjoy opening up and playing songs, just for fun (including chords, etc)....my girls all sing well and we love to "kumzitz" at the piano.

So my 12-year-old DD is quite talented, and can pick out any tune by ear fairly quickly...right now music lessons is not in our budget, so I bought her the Uplay for Chanuka. She went right to it and has been adding chords to songs for the first time, just by using the book. I showed her how to split the chords (just spent a few minutes with her) and she's practicing that too. She's really still doing the easier level songs, in order to practice chords, but she sounds quite nice.

Just yesterday she played the CD for the first time (we need some new CD players) and it sounds like alot of it is geared to the keyboard (I have one downstairs that I might bring up but she really wants to focus on piano more). But I haven't had the time to really sit down and see what it's all about. I hope there will be more chord technique, for the piano, in the later books.


Hope this helps.
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shluchamom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 2:50 pm
Chayalle that was very helpful. Which book did you buy.
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Chayalle




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 3:25 pm
I bought all three in a set.
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shluchamom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Dec 11 2013, 5:51 pm
so which would you suggest a person who already plays by ear and knows how to read basic notes already?
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shluchamom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 30 2013, 11:47 am
bumping this up to hear updated impressions as I still havent decided yet. anyone know where to buy it I tried the number noone answered.
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Hashem_Yaazor




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 30 2013, 12:09 pm
I got it. The number worked for me.

Ok, so I took out book 1 and my kids are picking and choosing what to play on it. None of them have the willpower to do it step by step, and rather are just plucking out melodies, but that's fine. In less than a week, I feel like I've refreshed my skills tremendously by playing some level 3 songs (also in book 1) and I don't have all that much time to do so. Maybe 20 minutes a day, in choppy intervals! But I'm glad that my kids are hearing me play (my 5 yo told me "Mommy, wow! You're such a great singer!" I think she means how I play, not sing, since she heard me before Wink) Since I have musical inclinations, I tend to just start off the song as she writes it, and continue my own way with different embellishments, etc. But I needed the chord review majorly.
I want to take out the next book soon.

What I didn't like is that the books seem to have the information in all 3 -- you don't learn more by picking up the third book, you just have access to more advanced songs. If I had known this, I don't think I would have bought all the books, as I really can figure out songs by myself and just needed to jumpstart my capabilities, and I highly doubt my kids will be progressing past the first book (levels 1-3) any time soon.
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