(Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Quincy Jones is making learning the piano easy with a new app.
The legendary producer told Billboard that a new application he co-created called Playground Sessions will help teach music education to children and adults of all ages.
“There’s such a need for this,” Jones said. “I’ve been praying for this for a long time. It has a learning concept similar to Rosetta Stone.”
Like the popular language learning program, Playground Sessions gives hands-on help to those looking to play the piano. With the new app, users can learn how to read music and the mechanics of the instrument thanks to video tutorials from pianist David Sides, who became a YouTube sensation with his popular cover of OneRepublic’s “Apologize.”
Instead of teaching “Hot Cross Buns,” this app gets students playing hits like Beyoncé’s “Halo,” Katy Perry’s “Firework,” “Hey Soul Sister” by Train and Justin Bieber’s “One Time.”
Jones said he hopes the app will be used in schools across the world. As of now, the program is being used at his alma mater Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington.
Last year, a study done by Northwestern Universityfound that learning to play an instrument as a young child will not only help strengthen listening and reading skills, but can have lasting benefits that carry through to adulthood such as improved brain function. There is also some evidence that learning to play an instrument could help lessen the effects of hearing loss later in life.
- Shannon Carlin, Radio.com

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