August 8, 2022, 4:13 p.m.
A beginner musician learns to play the piano thanks to augmented reality.
Photo: Getty Images
This new VR game is the piano’s answer to Guitar Hero, but the controller is in your hands…
Billed as “the next evolution of the world’s most popular instrument”, PianoVision is an app designed to “accelerate your piano learning using Passthrough AR and hand tracking”.
Available for download on the MetaQuest, VR Gaming headset, the app uses both augmented reality and virtual reality to teach users how to play the piano, whether the user has a keyboard instrument or not.
Players can either play a fully virtual “air piano” to learn notes and hand positions, or use the app alongside a real piano or midi keyboard they already own.
Using augmented reality technology, users can see their hands and keyboards in front of them, while the app overlays interactive graphics, showing them how to play the instrument.
Watch a review and demonstration of how the app works by VR youtuber, Tetiana, below.
Read more: An all-paper playable piano can be played via your smartphone
The app originally launched in February earlier this year with closed early access, but is now available on the App Lab store for MetaQuest devices.
Founder Zac Reid tweeted the game’s public release early last week. A piano novice himself, the AR/VR developer could barely play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when he started building the app last year, but now claims he can “play songs moderately difficult on command”.
Reid created the app to help budding musicians learn piano in the style of Guitar Hero. First released in 2005, Guitar Hero was a series of music video games that originally used a guitar-shaped controller to simulate playing the stringed instrument.
In 2008, a study by the national charity Youth Music found that of the 12 million young people in the UK, half played music games, such as Guitar Hero. A fifth of these young people (2.5 million) would have been inspired by these games, leading them to appropriate a real musical instrument.
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PianoVision’s other features include a “switchable” ability to upload your own sheet music, which means that instead of choosing which song to learn from a pre-determined library of works, you can learn any piece of music interactively using the app.
A multiplayer feature means multiple players can enter a VR music room, where app users can play with their friends, learn from a teacher, or even host a concert for others to listen to.
In 2020, the Royal College of Music in London began developing VR technology so students could practice performing in iconic concert halls.
MetaQuest already hosting several VR concerts for artists such as Post Malone and Billie Eilish, Reid says there’s still “a lot to explore” around the VR music hall, and promises “there’s a lot more to come” as PianoVision continues to evolve.
