Some people had the privilege of learning to play the piano as kids. Others (prodigies) pick up an instrument and just know how to navigate it. While some other users just navigate around a piano, for instance, and make several errors before finally getting a hang of it.

 

Nevertheless, the category of people who spend money on lessons as adults is likely to decline. The new Lumi keyboard from Roli maybe the reason why. The music hardware start-up company launched a 24-key, light-up keyboard and an app that teaches users to learn the piano from scratch.

 

 

The best part is that the gadget can transform into a more advanced tool for music composition. The keyboard and app are expected to hit the market officially in October 2019. The entire thing will also only cost about ₦90,000.

 

The founder of Roli, Roland Lamb, says the company aims to appeal to all music lovers. He said the Lumi offers a simple Guitar Hero-style interface that teaches you to play your favourite songs. Just a simple hit on the light-up keys as they sync with the on-screen notes will do the magic.

 

 

 

Lamb in an interview with The Verge said,

“Music education frequently starts with reading music, [but] no good language learning program starts by teaching you to read before you can speak. Guitar Hero has a lot of value because it’s fun and easy to use — you just follow the lights.”

 

The idea of the invention is to intuitively teach beginners to play even before they learn to read musical notes. As the user progresses, the app starts to introduce musical notes. It first adds the names of the notes and then left-to-right tutoring. It then advances to chords and keys and later a regular music sheet.

 

 

The demo version of the app is packed with a library of diverse songs. These songs come from different genres from pop to classical and some jazz. It also features artistes like G.F. Handel, Bruno Mars and even some Ray Charles. The app will originally have a limited offering of songs that can be updated at a fee over time.

 

The best part about the hardware is that it is very light. It really does not weigh more than an iPad.