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How to Play a MIDI Keyboard
A MIDI keyboard is very much like a piano or digital keyboard - they both have the same keyboard layout, and they can both play that classic “piano” sound. However, a MIDI keyboard can do much more than just let you play the piano! In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of MIDI keyboards and different use cases for playing them - DJs and music producers, composers, and finally music students.
Introduction
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is the instrument that translates a musical keystroke into 0s and 1s so a computer can interpret your actions. MIDI keyboards, or MIDI-compatible keyboards, are used by DJs and music producers as their main sound producting instrument. You can load many different sounds onto it - a grand piano, a synthesizer, strings, whatever you’d like - hook it up to your computer, and play those sounds as part of a larger whole.
MIDI Keyboard for Producers and DJ’s
Producers and DJs write their music in any number of DAWs out there - Digital Audio Workstations.
Typically, they use a MIDI keyboard to quickly play out different parts of a musical arrangement.
Use Case for Composing an Indie/Pop Tune in Logic Pro X
Instrumentation:
- Drums
- Electric Bass
- Piano Synth
- Lead Guitar
- Horns
- Set the Tempo:
- Set the tempo (speed of the song) in your DAW (Logic Pro X) for how fast you want it to be.
- Record the Electric Bass:
- You look through a bunch of electric bass sounds and find that you really like the Liverpool Bass sound, so you upload that to your DAW.
- Start recording and play the MIDI keyboard in that sound to the tempo you’ve set.
- Experiment by recording several takes until you find a groove you really like.
- Lay Down the Drums:
- Choose a drum kit SFX that you like and that maps well to your MIDI keyboard.
- Record the drum part by playing the keys on your MIDI keyboard associated with the drums or cymbals you want to include.
- This will take some experimentation so be patient! Enjoy the cacophony that comes with this percussion instrument. you’ll soon find a pattern you love.
- Record the Piano Synth:
- Browse through the synth sounds in Logic and try out a few until you find one that fits the vibe of your song.
- Record some simple synth chords. Keep it understated… the goal is to fill out the sound without drawing too much attention.
- Record the Lead Guitar and Horns:
- Find samples of a lead guitar and horns that you really like.
- Load them into your DAW… they’ll map to your keyboard.
- Play and record these parts in time with the rest of the instruments to complete the arrangement!
If you want to add vocals to this piece, write lyrics and come up with a melody. Consider different structures for your song. Repetition is key here. We as humans like to hear things a few times so we can really understand it.
MIDI Keyboards for Composers
If you’re looking to compose something that someone else will need to play, you’ll need to write it down on sheet music. The process is very similar to what DJs and producers do, but instead of a DAW, composers usually write their music in music notation software. They use a MIDI keyboard as their main instrument.
Use Case for Composing a Classical Piece in Sibelius
Instrumentation:
- Strings (Violin, Viola, Cello)
- Flute
- Clarinet
- French Horn
- Timpani
- Set the Tempo and Time Signature:
- Open your music notation software (Sibelius) and set the tempo and time signature for your piece.
- Compose the String Section:
- Start with the strings (Violin, Viola, Cello).
- Choose a rich, warm string sound. Begin by notating the main harmonic structure with the Cello. Make sure there’s a solid bass line in there.
- Add the Violin melody, keeping it simple and lyrical. Then, fill in the Viola with harmony.
- All of these instruments will be on separate staves, so you’ll want to choose the orchestration template so you have all these instruments on one sheet of music.
- Experiment and Refine:
- Play back the string section to ensure it flows well. Make adjustments to the harmonies so it sounds good, then add dynamics, articulations, and phrasing to make it musical!
- Add Woodwinds (Flute & Clarinet):
- Add a Flute line… possibly doubling the Violin melody or adding a counter-melody.
- Introduce the Clarinet with supportive harmony or another counter-melody. Keep it light to complement the strings.
- Copy the dynamics you have for the strings. Make sure it all lines up nicely.
- Incorporate the French Horn:
- Notate the French Horn part. This adds warmth and depth to the harmony. The French Horn can also provide rhythmic support or reinforce the bass line with the Cello.
- Consider articulation here - A percussive articulation could be fun for rhythm, or a smooth, flowing articulation could be nice for a more lyrical interpretation.
- Compose the Percussion (Timpani):
- Add the Timpani to provide rhythmic structure and emphasize key moments. Keep it subtle; the Timpani is there to support, not dominate. Unless you want it to dominate :).
- Playback and Adjust:
- Listen to the piece with all the instruments together. Fine-tune the dynamics, articulation… balance between the sections to ensure each instrument's role is clear.
- Finalize the Score:
- Review the entire score, ensuring all notation is correct. Play along with it on your MIDI keyboard so you can be sure it’s exactly the way you want it to sound. Double-check that all dynamics and expression markings are consistent throughout the piece.
- Export and Share:
- Export the score as a PDF and, if needed, as MIDI or audio files. Share the sheet music with performers or collaborators!
MIDI Keyboards for Piano Students
Whether you’re a beginner or expert, there are piano learning software options out there for everyone. You can use your MIDI keyboard to learn piano. Let’s map the same process above to setting up your keyboard and computer and using one of the best piano learning software out there, MuseFlow.
Use Case for Learning Piano with MuseFlow
Equipment:
- Computer (laptop or desktop)
- MIDI Keyboard
- USB/MIDI Cable (compatible for both your keyboard and computer)
- Chrome or Edge Browser
- Set Up Your Equipment:
- Turn your computer is on.
- Connect your MIDI keyboard to the computer using your USB/MIDI cable.
- Make sure the cable is compatible with your keyboard and computer.
- Open MuseFlow in Chrome or Edge:
- Go to http://museflow.ai.
- Sign up for MuseFlow.
- Make Sure Your MIDI Keyboard is Connected:
- Go through the welcome flow and get to the roadmap.
- Try to play a few notes and make sure they come out of your speakers.
- If not, go to the settings and ensure that “device speakers” is toggled on.
- Choose a Level Where Your Skill Matches the Challenge:
- Find the level that fits your skill level.
- Look at the preview images of the music in the levels and see what you can play.
- Try a Few Levels:
- Go through the tutorial, and play along with the music.
- Start the level, and play through a few bars. If it’s too easy for you, try another level.
- NOTE: The first tier of each level is easier than the later ones, so you may want to play the full level to see if it’s a good place to start for you.
- Continue From There:
- Once you’ve found the level that’s right for your skills, go ahead and pass that level, then move on to the next!
- The tiers/levels should be fairly easy to start, then get harder as you go along.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a producer, DJ, composer, or music student, MIDI keyboards are the perfect instrument for you to play. See the above step-by-step guides to see how you can use your keyboard in each scenario. Keep rocking it, and we’ll see you on the next one!
Curious about whether MuseFlow is right for you? With a MIDI keyboard and a computer, you can try it out at beta.museflow.ai. We can’t wait to hear your feedback as we make music education available and engaging for everyone!
Related Posts
Are Most Pianists with a Music Degree Good Sight Readers?
The Truth About Sight Readers in Traditional Music Education
Sight reading is often considered a fundamental skill for pianists pursuing a music degree. But are most professional pianists actually good sight readers? The short answer: yes, but they had to endure years of grueling sight reading exercises, sight reading books, and a traditional approach to sheet music that makes learning slow and difficult.
In most music education programs, sight reading is taught alongside repertoire, rather than as the primary learning method. This means students first memorize pieces, then struggle to sight read unfamiliar sheet music. But what if the process was reversed?
That’s where MuseFlow revolutionizes the way pianists learn, making piano sight reading practice the first thing you tackle, allowing students to develop their sight reading ability faster, retain more information more effectively, and apply their skills directly to repertoire.
Why Sight Reading is a Challenge for Many Music Students
Many pianists enter college with varying levels of sight reading ability, depending on their early training. While some conservatory-level musicians can sight read orchestral reductions with ease, others still struggle with unfamiliar notes read in real-time.
The traditional music education model emphasizes memorization, performance, and interpretation before fluency in sight reading exercises. Students often rely on:
- Sight reading books filled with limited graded etudes
- Sheet music collections designed for slow, deliberate practice
- Repetitive sight reading exercises that lack real-world musical context
This method works… eventually… but it takes years of sight reading practice piano training under immense pressure. MuseFlow, on the other hand, lets you optimize the level of difficulty yourself, ensuring that students start from where their skill meets the challenge, and progress through sight reading free of unnecessary frustration or boredom.
How Do Most Music Degree Holders Develop Their Sight Reading Ability?
Pianists with formal degrees typically develop their sight reading ability through:
1. Constant Exposure to Sheet Music
Music majors must quickly absorb new pieces because of deadlines. They rehearse for hours and hours, just perfecting one piece that the’ll have to perform for a music assignment or ensemble performances. The faster they can read notes and patterns, the better they perform.
2. Sight Reading Exams and Auditions
Music degree programs often test sight reading under pressure. Students must play complex sight reading exercises in front of professors, often with little preparation. Though institutions haven’t adopted an effective way to train sight reading specifically.
3. Learning from Sight Reading Books
A pianist’s bookshelf is filled with sight reading books of increasing level of difficulty, covering everything from simple rhythms to advanced polyphonic textures. Though of course, these texts are limited to the amount of music that is within them.
4. Repetitive Sight Reading Practice Piano Sessions
Repetition is key in music school. Many pianists spend hours each week on sight reading practice piano drills, gradually improving their ability to play music at first sight. Keywords here are repetition, and gradually. Again, definitely not the most effective method to learn to sight read.
5. Collaborative Playing with Ensembles
Accompanying singers or instrumentalists forces pianists to develop real-time sight reading ability. Mistakes are only partially welcome, and to a point. You need to be sure not to mess up the main performer if you are accompanying them. Yet, this is the most intuitive, effective, and fun way to learn how to sight read.
These methods above are highly effective… but they demand years of rigorous training, are quite time consuming, and highly repetitive, often with high levels of frustration.
MuseFlow accelerates this process by integrating sight reading from the very first lesson, and. by making it the base of the entire curriculum.
How MuseFlow Makes Sight Reading the Foundation of Learning
Unlike traditional music education, where sight reading exercises are secondary, MuseFlow places sight reading practice for piano, first. Here’s how:
1. Sight Reading as the Engine of Learning
Instead of teaching students to memorize pieces first, MuseFlow guides them to read notes in real-time, reinforcing pattern recognition. Students learn the notes and rhythms for each level through sight reading first, then, once they’ve learned the new skill, songs get unlocked. At that point, they’ve already learned the new skill well enough to play new songs with those skills in them! Thus, making it easier, faster, and more fun to learn those new songs.
2. Soft-Unlocked Sight Reading Exercises and Levels
MuseFlow lets users place themselves where their sight reading skill level matches the challenge of a level. Instead of hard-unlocking everything, MuseFlow has every level soft-unlocked, so a user can go in and decide where to start. Unlike static sight reading books, MuseFlow has a full range of never-repeating music in a vast range of levels. Users can place themselves at whatever difficulty matches their skill level, and move up at their own pace, never repeating the same phrase twice.
3. Engaging, Game-Like Practice Instead of Drills
MuseFlow turns sight reading practice for piano into an immersive challenge. No more tedious sight reading books… just continuous improvement through engaging play.
4. Sight Reading → Direct Application to Repertoire
MuseFlow helps students sight read free of fear of failure, and then seamlessly transition to learning pieces they love. Instead of memorizing songs outside of their level first, they develop their sight reading ability first, and then refine their artistry and musicianship in the songs at that level.
5. Faster, Fun, and More Effective Learning
Traditional music education takes years to develop strong sight readers. With MuseFlow, pianists achieve the same level in a fraction of the time, and in a more engaging/gamified way.
Why Traditional Sight Reading Training is Outdated
Most sight reading books are filled with repetitive, outdated exercises that lack engaging and endless exercises. The typical sight reading practice piano routine involves hours of playing dull etudes that don’t translate into real world music fluency.
By contrast, MuseFlow:
- Makes sight reading practice piano engaging, fun, and intuitive
- Provides sight reading free of unnecessary stress of someone watching over your shoulder
- Lets you pick the level from which to start
- Encourages sight reading ability development through game-play
Conclusion: Yes, Most Music Degree Holders Are Good Sight Readers… But MuseFlow Gets You There Faster
Most pianists with a music degree develop their sight reading ability, but they do so through years of difficult training. MuseFlow makes it possible to reach the same level.. without the years, and without the frustration.
By reversing the music education process and making sight reading the foundation of learning, MuseFlow helps students:
✔️ Learn sheet music for the songs they love faster and with more fun
✔️ Improve their ability to read notes in real-time
✔️ Skip outdated sight reading books and use personalized, never-repeating sheet music
✔️ Achieve advanced sight reading ability through natural, intuitive practice
Want to accelerate your sight reading practice piano training? Start learning the fun way with MuseFlow today!
Success Stories: How Students Mastered Piano with MuseFlow – A Piano Education App That Delivers Real Results
Looking for real piano learning success stories? MuseFlow isn’t just another piano app… it’s a revolutionary piano education with an app that helps students of all levels master piano with the help of an app that adapts to their progress. But don’t just take our word for it… hear from real students who’ve transformed their piano skills using MuseFlow.
How MuseFlow Helps Students Succeed: A Few Piano App Testimonials
One of the biggest barriers to learning piano is simply knowing where to begin. Many aspiring musicians feel overwhelmed before they even press a key. Kyle put it best:
“If this was the norm for music education, I firmly believe the landscape would be radically different. Yes, people quit or don’t bother to learn because it can be frustrating, but I actually think the ambiguity of where to begin and how to effectively progress creates this analysis paralysis and discourages people from even trying.”
MuseFlow eliminates that uncertainty with a structured, step-by-step approach that guides learners through the process. For Megan, it provided what traditional lessons never did:
“When I took piano lessons as a child, I just learned how to play songs so I could pass them off. How I wish I had learned how to play notes.”
By shifting the focus to true note-reading and understanding, MuseFlow helps students build the foundational skills they wish they had from the start.
Overcoming Learning Hurdles: How to Master Piano with an App
For many musicians, sight reading has always been a struggle. But MuseFlow’s adaptive approach and real-time feedback have helped students break through their plateaus. Arjuna shared a major breakthrough:
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this good at reading music. It never made sense to me before.”
Katherine echoed that sentiment, noticing her progress with ease:
“Sight reading is getting really easy.”
The moment sight reading clicks is a powerful one. Sharon described how her brain and fingers started working in sync:
“My eyes would see the notes, and my fingers would just go to the right keys on their own, without my brain having to get involved much at all!”
That kind of instinctive playing is exactly what MuseFlow was designed to develop.
Breaking Through Plateaus: Students’ Piano App Success Stories
One of the standout features of MuseFlow is its unique piano app, using gamification to keep students engaged and striving for more. Dave admitted he was hooked:
“The gamified approach to learning is brilliant, I'm addicted! The app provides instant feedback.”
Similarly, Kalan was motivated by the visual roadmap of progress:
“I want to beat every level so that all the dots turn green.”
Even those who’ve struggled with consistency in the past, like Dennis, found themselves pushing forward:
“Any success I achieve is its own reward. Just having moved to the next higher level, I feel good and surprised that it went so quickly.”
By turning learning into a rewarding experience, MuseFlow keeps students coming back, ensuring their growth over time.
An Intuitive and Seamless Learning Experience: Our Piano Education App Reviews Are In!
Unlike traditional sight reading books or rigid lesson plans, MuseFlow’s interface is designed for smooth, distraction-free learning. Artur compared it to conventional methods and found it superior:
“When compared to traditional methods such as the ‘Improve Your Sight Reading’ book by Paul Harris, which is quite good by the way, your app's interactive way of working and real-time, immediate feedback simply outperforms traditional methods.”
Brandon also appreciated how well the app’s design supports learning:
“The endlessly generated tracks to play along with is a very great design idea.”
When the technology works effortlessly, students can focus entirely on the music. Andre summed it up simply:
“It's a genius idea and great execution. As far as I'm concerned, it’s the best in its class.”
The MuseFlow Effect: Confidence, Skill, and a New Perspective
Perhaps the most inspiring part of these piano learning success stories is how MuseFlow doesn’t just improve piano skills… it builds confidence and true fluency. For Kyle, it helped erase the self-doubt he carried for years:
“My poor sight reading has been the thorn in my side, the concrete piece of evidence that gives my insecurities justification for screaming that I am not good. And MF is directly training that skill, washing away the remnants of what my insecurities are trying to latch onto. I feel empowered!”
From beginners to seasoned musicians, MuseFlow provides a structured, intuitive, and motivating way to learn. Whether it’s building confidence, overcoming sight reading struggles, or just finding joy in the process, these students prove that mastering piano with an app is possible with the right tools.
Looking for your own piano app with incredible testimonials that provides results? MuseFlow is helping students master piano with their unique music education app like never before. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your sight reading skills, this piano app truly gives students the success they need, and delivers true joy in the process of progressing to proficiency.
Are you ready to start your own success story? Try MuseFlow today and experience the difference for yourself.
