By P Chong                                       Sun. 18 April 2010

As is usual the case, if you wish to learn to play the piano,you have to start at a young tender age. It’s by no means an easy task. I have known of cases even after years of learning, & yet not knowing how to play. It requires constant practice, & lots of it . . . demanding patience, persistence & endurance.

Now, modern technology has come to the rescue, and it appears that you can pick up the basic skill of piano play without any hassle.

A yellow and black glove, stylish enough for Michael Jackson, and fitted

with buzzers just above the knuckles is the answer.

The above technology was introduced by Thad Starner, a pony-tailed Georgia Tech Professor at a recent technology conference.

The glove was designed primarily & initially for rehabbing patients with brian & spinal cord injuries. Starner said he worked with a quadriplegic man, in his 70s, whose hands were so clawed up that he couldn’t button his shirt. The finger-stimulating glove helped him get that ability back, and in the process, the quadriplegic learned to play a little piano.

To teach people to play simple piano licks while they’re not really trying to learn, Starner demonstrated by wearing his glove. The buzzers in the glove vibrated his fingers one at a time, teaching him fingering for Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” He wore an earbud that played the simple melody in one of his ears, in synch with the finger stimulations.

In trials, Starner said this kind of background learning works rather well. In the most recent test, subjects completed reading comprehension tests while wearing the glove. Nine out of 16 of them were able to play the melody perfectly.

Starner said he’d never done this sort of while-giving-a-presentation test of the piano glove before. At the end of his talk, he played Beethoven’s simple song without trouble.

China’s Lang Lang in Action

Be inspired by Lang Lang, the world’s most successful pianist, who is described by Los Angeles Times as

“A charismatic poet . . . his tone is pure gold.”

Make that vision or inspiration come true!