Learn to play piano with ROLI in 2025

Achieve your piano playing goals with helpful tips and Piano M by your side.

10th January 2025

So it’s 2025 – you’ve either unwrapped a brand new Piano M over the holidays or grabbed your well-loved keys for another year of piano playing.

The new year always prompts us to take up new hobbies and set big resolutions we hope to maintain over the year, with piano at the top of the list when it comes to learning a new instrument. But, setting New Year resolutions is one thing, sticking to them is another.

Whether you’re starting fresh in the early stages of your musical journey, picking it up again after a break, or aiming to take your skills to the next level, we've got some helpful tips to help you set your piano learning goals for 2025, and ideas for conquering common piano challenges like sight-reading, understanding music theory, and improving timing. Plus, we’ll show you how to stay motivated as you practice by learning your favorite songs, and exploring how Piano M and Airwave technology can supercharge your piano lessons.

First things first: what are your piano goals?

Whether you’re starting fresh in the early stages of your musical journey, picking it up again after a break, or aiming to take your skills to the next level, navigating the world of piano learning on your own can seem daunting, but don’t worry, we’re here to help. Here are a few things to consider when planning your piano learning journey.

Set clear goals: don't make them too big, just be specific. This way, you'll have a better idea of what you're working towards and they’ll be much more achievable.
Set a regular and achievable practice routine: If you can’t commit to an hour of practice every day, you don’t have to. Regular practice, even for 15–20 minutes a day can yield big results. The key is consistency.
Track your progress and celebrate your wins. The ROLI Learn app is there to be your teacher and cheerleader.

Another major factor to consider is how you’ll learn and what type of piano you’ll play. Choosing between electric pianos and traditional acoustic pianos that fit in your home can be challenging, and deciding whether to learn with a tutor or attending a music school can be time-consuming and costly.

For an all-in-one solution, Piano M and ROLI Learn is a no-brainer. Of course, we're fans, but our interactive and colorful approach to learning piano makes it easy and accessible for learners of all levels to reach their goals. Play the songs you love, follow a structured curriculum that adapts as you learn, track your progress, and feel accomplished as you're rewarded for your achievements. Plus, it's much more cost-effective and efficient than lessons with a regular piano tutor–it’s compact size makes it easy to carry around for practice on the go, and lessons are flexible enough to fit around even the busiest of schedules.

Once you've decided on these points, you can get more specific about which areas you’ll want to improve on during your musical journey. We'll touch upon a few pain points piano learners have next.

Seeing the music: how to practice sight reading sheet music

Sight-reading is like learning to read a new language, but with music. Being able to sight-read is a big goal for many piano learners this year, as it gives us the ability to play a piece of music we've never seen before as quickly as we can read it.

Now, it might seem tricky at first, but with ROLI Learn, we've developed a few helpful ways to gradually get you reading sheet music fluently. But only if you want to. With ROLI Learn, learning sheet music is optional, and you don’t need to be able to read traditional notation to start learning. Through four different playing views in the app, we’ve made learning to play piano accessible to all levels, removing some of those early learning hurdles.

The four ROLI Learn views: Cascade, Rainbow, Colornote and Classic

ROLI Learn's four views give piano players of all levels the ability to read notes in a way that is clear and easy to understand.

Cascade view: Most new players start here, a direct relation between what you see on screen and what you play on Piano M as the keys light up and guide you through the song or lesson.
Rainbow view: This view still uses the keyboard's colors to keep you grounded, but it changes the orientation from horizontal to vertical, so you're following the notes across the screen in a direction similar to that of traditional sheet music.
Color-note: This view resembles traditional sheet music, but it still has the helpful colors from your keyboard that correspond with each note on the screen.
Classic: Once you've gotten used to the sheet music style view with color, the last step is taking the color away.

By this point, you've learned the skill of reading sheet music! But be sure to practice regularly, just like learning a language, you've got to use it or you'll lose it!

Tips for sight-reading:

Practice daily: Even just 10 minutes a day can work wonders. Choose simple pieces to start and gradually work up to more complex ones.
Play without stopping: Treat mistakes as part of the learning process and keep going—this builds fluency.

Want to learn more than classical music? Play your favorite songs

Let’s face it, some of us only want to learn our favorite songs on piano–that’s what excites us most. We don’t want to play what we don’t enjoy listening to, and you don’t have to! One of the best ways to make the most of our practice sessions and a guaranteed way to stay motivated is to play your favorite tunes. With a catalog of over 1,000 songs across countless genres, the ROLI Learn app makes it easy to find songs that keep you entertained and eager to learn.

Tips for learning songs:

Start small: Break the song into sections—chorus, verse, or even just a few measures. Focus on one part at a time, then piece them together.
Go slow: Play at a comfortable pace to make sure you have the correct hand positioning and are hitting the right notes before speeding up. With ROLI Learn, you can adjust the song speed, so you can learn at a pace that feels right for you
Practice makes perfect: Muscle memory is a powerful thing, and repetition helps your fingers remember the music. So the more you repeat a difficult section, the better you’ll get at nailing it.

With the ROLI Learn app, you can follow step-by-step lessons tailored to your pace– It’s like having a personal music tutor available anytime where every song is one you want to learn. Just pick your favorite track and start learning. Plus, we add new songs monthly to keep things fresh.

Understanding music theory

Music theory: two small words that might sound daunting, but it can help open the doors to improvisation, composing music, and having a deeper understanding of music in general.

If getting to grips with music theory is at the top of your New Year's resolutions list, ROLI Learn is here to help. Step into the world of theory through bite-sized lessons and fun challenges. Pick a scale or a chord and the interactive lessons will guide you through the concepts, making it easier to understand and apply what you’re learning.

Tips to tackle theory:

Focus on chords: They’re the building blocks of countless compositions and with the ROLI Learn app, you can learn piano through different styles of music. So, if you're a fan of classical, jazz, or contemporary tracks, you're likely to stay engaged during lessons playing the music you love.
Practice scales: Scales are like musical workouts for your fingers and mind and they don’t have to be boring, either. When practicing scales, you can even take what you've learned and explore making your own melodies within that key to better understand the music.

Free your inner musician in Playground

If you’re looking for a place to practice your acquired knowledge outside of the structure of a song or lesson, why not try free play with ROLI Playground? Playground is a colorful new space in the ROLI Learn app where you can let your musical creativity run free. Take songs, scales, or chords you’ve learned and play them your way, or experiment with notes and discover chords through exploration (there’s a helpful chord identifier to let you know what you’re playing.)

Improving timing and speed

Timing is everything in music. Playing at the right speed and rhythm brings your performance to life.

For a practical practice tip, one tried and tested way to improve your timing is using a metronome. This is how we like to approach things, too. Practicing with a steady beat trains you to keep time. As we’ve mentioned above, start slow, make sure you're playing the right notes accurately, and gradually increase the tempo once you’re comfortable playing at a certain BPM.

Repeating simple scales or arpeggios can improve your finger speed and accuracy. It's also a great use of your practice time– it's much better to play slow and steady and make sure you're nailing proper form and technique.

It may be slow going in the beginning, but setting up a good foundation makes it easier for you to learn faster as you progress. The ROLI Learn app offers an adjustable metronome that you can turn off or on during lessons and song practice. This way you’re not just limited to practising scales to the beat, but keeping in time with real songs.

Find a structured learning path

It’s easy to get distracted or overwhelmed when learning the piano. A structured approach and consistent practice routine help you stay on track and make consistent progress.

Tips for staying focused

Set small goals and aim for achievable milestones. Rather than setting overwhelming goals, set challenges that are enough to push your skills to the next level with a little bit of effort, like learning an intro melody or mastering a tricky progression.
Find a quiet space where you can focus fully on your music.
Take it slow: A great way to make sure you’re focusing on your practice is taking your time with it, and familiarising yourself with the act of playing. Unless speed is the aim of your practice, there’s no need to blaze through lessons at the cost of good technique and accuracy.

The ROLI Learn app creates personalized lesson plans that adjust to your skill level and progress. Its gamified approach—with rewards and challenges—makes sticking to a plan fun and engaging. Another benefit of Piano M is its compact build, wireless connectivity, and built-in rechargeable battery, making it the ultimate portable practice companion. If you’re having trouble finding a quiet place to practice, it’s easy to move Piano M around the home or pop it in your bag to take to a more quiet place and play with headphones.

Playing with both hands

Some of us are very comfortable playing with one hand at a time, and coordinating with both hands can feel like rubbing our stomachs and patting our heads at the same time. But, with practice and a little patience, it becomes second nature.

If playing with two hands is your practice goal, ROLI Learn can help you achieve that. Our lessons start by teaching you how to play with each hand individually. Once you’re comfortable, you can progress to our two-handed lessons, specifically focused on developing your hand coordination– this is when it might be handy to have two Piano Ms that you can click together and expand your piano range for more room to play. Above all, be patient with yourself as you practice with both hands. Everyone learns at their own pace, and you’ll master the parts in time with practice.

Finding the motivation to start playing piano again

If your piano has been gathering dust, don’t worry—it’s never too late to start again. The key is to make it enjoyable and rewarding. If you’re struggling to stay motivated with your piano practice:

Pick songs you love and look forward to playing.
Celebrate progress, even small achievements, like mastering a tricky measure, deserve recognition.
Shake things up! It can be a bit tiring to keep playing the same piece over and over, so explore different styles or try composing your own music to keep things fresh. The ROLI Learn app also helps you break out of practice ruts with music-oriented games like Superluminal and Springboard.

The most important thing is to ensure you're enjoying your practice sessions, no matter how long or short they are. It just so happens that Piano M and ROLI Learn are perfect for that. No need to feel the pressure of a piano teacher (not to mention the cost of regular lessons), and you don’t have to feel constrained to set pieces of music. You pick the setlist and the schedule. Plus, the interactive nature of the ROLI Learn app makes practice feel less like work and more like play, designed to keep you engaged and inspired.

Supercharge your piano lessons with Airwave and Piano M

If you've decided to learn to play piano by yourself this year, it can be a little difficult to know if you're playing correctly. "Am I holding my fingers in the wrong way? Do I have good posture?" While mistakes are all a part of the learning process, there are ways to help reduce them as you learn on your own.

That's where Airwave and Piano M come in. Airwave can help you build a solid foundation for playing piano with the correct technique and hand positioning. Airwave uses high-precision infrared cameras to track the joints in each of your hands, give you real-time feedback on your movements, and help improve your technical abilities, just like a piano teacher would in a music school. Airwave coupled with Piano M is the perfect musical learning package.

Airwave is not just for beginners either. For those of us who have been self-taught for a while, perhaps with online lessons, we can all benefit from the precise feedback that Airwave can give to correct bad playing habits and prepare us for learning advanced techniques and songs.

Kickstart your 2025 piano-playing journey

We've given you some great tips in this article. The power to turn your piano dreams into reality is in your hands, and ROLI is here to help you along the way. Learn more about how Piano M and Airwave can help you on your journey to piano greatness, and see how the ROLI Learn app was specifically designed to make piano learning accessible to everyone.