Adventus Piano Review

We reviewed the piano curriculum MusIQ HomeSchool from Adventus. It’s designed for ages 4-18+. The software requires a MIDI-compatible keyboard and they have great deals if you want a bundle through their site.

“Adventus” means “arrival” in Latin. I just love that bit of trivia. Our whole family has been learning or reviewing piano! So exciting! I love having a musical family.

Kate and Tori are in Children’s Music Journey level 2. Alex can actually do Children’s Music Journey level 1! {Children’s Music Journey is recommended for ages 4-10. Piano Suite is recommended for ages 10+.}

We figure Liz is about one-third of the way through Piano Suite (there are 12 levels!) since she’s taken formal lessons for several years. There are some gaps in her music education that she needs to review and she loves, loves, loves the collection of music that she can search through and practice songs all over the musical map – from classical to current and popular rock n roll!

My husband tried the Ear Training Coach program (years 2&3) and he says it’s really difficult and sensitive. Liz really needs some extra help in this area, so I am pleased it’s included. I am scared to try! I was terrible at sight reading when I was in chorus in middle school! Glad my kids inherited some music talent from their dad.

I tried Piano Suite (and I have trouble playing a digital radio) and it’s really easy! I like it and it doesn’t make me feel musically dumb. I would never pay for formal lessons, so this makes it really simple to just plug and play and get a quick lesson in when I have a few minutes. Food for the brain, ya know? (better than playing on social media!) and I can impress my eldest daughter with something other than Chopsticks or Mary Had a Little Lamb…

Weekly Lesson run-down:

1. Children’s Music Journey – 25 minutes (approx.)

• Lesson with “composer”
• Practice Room with Miss Melody
• Games Room

2. History Time/Rhythm – 10-15 minutes

• composer study – printable info sheet, discussion, Q&A
• review note values
• do music math equations

3. Improvisation – 5-7 minutes

• listen to assigned music piece
• dance moves!
• practice notation
• optional: record student piece and go listen to it in The Library

4. Closing – 2-5 minutes

• Tell the student “great Job!” or something like that…
• Assign practice sheets {due before next lesson~we do them immediately so we don’t forget!}

Tori does her lesson with The Composer. She learns rhythms and notes. We checked out CMJ1, but then realized that CMJ2 does a quick review of CMJ1 and moves on at a better pace for the girls. Tori just turned 7 and Kate is almost 6, so this is a better fit.

Tori does a lesson in CMJ2. She really enjoys the lessons and can complete them on her own. She needs to do finger strengthening exercises!

Kate is in the Miss Melody section of the program. She reviews the lessons for The Composer. The girls practice with Miss Melody and she’s really cute and fun!

After the lessons and practice…there are games and worksheets and coloring pages. The girls like the interactive MIDI games, but aren’t as thrilled with the worksheets. They just want to play piano!

Tori loves the theory and history parts of Piano Suite, but she’s not quite ready to begin with those lessons yet. She’s not a fluent reader, so I help her through this right now.

Liz liked the Senor Semitone Say (like Simon Says), but with the other games she wasn’t interested. She prefers to just play the music at her level.

Even little Alex (almost 3) is able to do some of the rhythm exercises (with help and supervision) in CMJ1.

The Improvisation “room” on the program is fun for the girls to play around with different sounds of instruments – and they can record their creations and listen to them!

What I liked best: I don’t have to really know much about teaching piano to help my kids run these programs. I can look at the lesson plans and there are checklists and supplements on their blog to help my kids succeed. The programs do all the work, from teaching to practicing to games and I just have to plug in my laptop and queue it up for my kids to do their piano each week. They don’t have to leave the house! Wonderful! If you add up what music lessons typically cost (and if you have more than one child, whew!)…these programs are an amazing deal~from preschool through high school!

There are 3 different Adventus programs available (including deals on compatible keyboards):

1. Early learning curriculum (ages 4-10):

Children’s Music Journey Volume 1, 2, and 3 are $89.95 EACH. Included in each volume are the computer software and lesson plans.

2. Multi-Level teaching (10+):

Year 1 is $109.95 (term 1-3)

– Piano Suite Premier
– Level 1 Lesson Plans

Year 2 is $59.95 (term 4-6)

– Ear Training Coach 1&2
– Level 2 Lesson Plans

Year 3 is $59.95 (term 7-9)

– Ear Training Coach 3&4
– Level 3 Lesson Plans

Year 4 is $69.95 (term 10-12)

– MusIQ Challenger Game
– Level 4 Lesson Plans

3. A MusIQ HomeSchool Subscription is just $10.95/month

• unlimited, full-feature access to all the MusIQ HomeSchool software titles (over $450 retail value)
• a discount on MIDI piano keyboards

We really enjoy using the programs, but they did require my husband’s help installing the downloads and plugging in the cords correctly and setup within the programs so the keyboard would communicate with the computer. After that learning curve, it was all fun and games for us!