Now in ROLI Learn: Video lessons for two-handed playing
Plus 50 new songs you can play today
Good news for anyone who’s completed, or soon to complete, ROLI Learn’s video lessons: We’re adding a whole new selection covering the basics of playing with both hands at the same time. And if you’re not yet learning piano with us, there’s never been a better time to start.
Even more good news: We’ve just uploaded 50 new songs to the ROLI Learn library. Each one comes complete with two-handed parts, naturally, and has been hand selected to help you practice the new techniques you’ll learn from the lessons. To see everything on offer, check out the ROLI Learn library or search inside the app.
Lessons to help you play with two hands
From today, we’ve begun adding new lessons to the end of Stages 1 and 2 in the ROLI Learn app. They revolve around 15 popular songs, with a total of 27 new lessons and 6 new challenges for you upon completion.
For many learners, the transition between playing with one hand and graduating to two is a tricky one, and it’s at this point that they often give up. That’s why these new lessons are designed to build your skills gradually — first you’ll use one finger on one hand, then one finger on each hand before progressing to simple chords and eventually to using both hands independently.
The new lessons are based around the following songs:
Stage 1, Course 6: Piano Man, What Was I Made For?, Moonlight Sonata (with challenge)
Stage 1, Course 7: You've Got a Friend in Me, Lean on Me (with challenge)
Stage 1, Course 8: Seven Nation Army, In the Hall of the Mountain King (with challenge)
Stage 1, Course 9: Imagine, Sound of Silence, Cruel Summer (with challenge)
Stage 2, Course 8: Chopsticks, Watermelon Sugar, The Addams Family (with challenge)
Stage 2, Course 9: Happy Birthday, Do-Re-Mi (with challenge)
How to make the most of the new lessons
Firstly, if you’re currently learning with one Piano M keyboard, you’ll need a second to unlock two-handed lessons. If you’re new to ROLI Learn, you can pick up a two-keyboard bundle. The two keyboards click together magnetically, giving you a continuous 48-key surface with plenty of room for both hands.
You’re free to progress through these lessons as quickly or as slowly as you’d like, though we recommend spending some time — perhaps up to a full week — practicing each song before moving on. Slow is fast, when it comes to learning to play, and concentrating on improving your accuracy instead of speed is the best way to commit your new techniques to muscle memory and improve your hand coordination.
As ever, we’d recommend you structure your practice in short, regular sessions. A few minutes every day will be much more beneficial than one long session in a single day.
You can also take each individual lesson at whatever pace is right for you — using the Pause and Play feature, you can practice one note at a time. For some of the more complex songs, we already take the trickiest passages down to 50% speed in order to learn them properly before practicing at the usual tempo. And if you’re still having trouble with a particular section of any song, you can use Playback Markers to repeat it as many times as you like.
One final hint: pay close attention to your note-accuracy and rhythm scores at the end of each challenge. If both are trending upwards, you’re on the right track. Low scores for either aren’t a bad thing, they’re just an indicator that you should spend a little more time with this particular lesson before moving on.
And when you’ve completed all the new lessons? Stay tuned, we’ll be adding more in the near future, teaching you some more complex songs and introducing advanced two-handed techniques. In the meantime, there’s still the full ROLI Learn library to explore — most of our existing songs contain two-handed parts, and the lessons you’ve just completed will give you a great blueprint for how to break them down and learn each part.
Have any questions? Our support team is here to help. Your opinions on the new lessons are also very welcome and will help us to make the next additions even better.
