Learning to play the piano without years of expensive lessons used to be impossible.
Traditional piano lessons use educational techniques developed over two hundred years ago, when modern formal secular mass education started.
For its intended purpose - to teach children reading, writing, arithmetic and prepare them for higher education - formal education works well.
More than two hundred years old now, the teaching techniques and curriculum of modern education has advanced greatly.
But its core problem remains - it is designed to the lowest common denominator of both teacher and student.
In other words, it equips the least capable teachers so that they can do their jobs of teaching the majority of students.
Formal education teaches students broad-based academic knowledge, and is not designed to quickly teach narrow specific skills.
Traditional piano training teaches you a lot of theory, making the assumption that you want to climb all the way to the top of the academic hill.
This is not the case for many of us.
We do not want to become good enough to get a certificate and qualify to teach other students.
We only want to learn enough to play the piano.
We do not want to write our own music.
We do not need to know why Mozart's Piano Concerto No 21 "Elvira Madigan" is good, we only care that it sounds good and we want to be able to play it.
For such a narrow purpose, the accelerated learning technologies developed during the Cold War is ideal.
These speed learning techniques were originally used to train spies and diplomats how to speak new languages quickly.
They minimized theory and focused on practical skills.
Educators and scientists like Dr Lozanov discovered that people learn best when they are in a special mental state called alpha.
One of the core aspects of speed learning is to help students quickly achieve this special state of mind so that they can absorb information and skills efficiently.
While traditional speed learning also aims to teach students how to achieve alpha on their own, the best online piano course uses modern technology to quickly switch students into alpha from their normal mental state.
Of course, modern speed learning doesn't just rely on pushing you into the alpha state of mind.
They also make use of interactivity, immersion and multimedia.
The reason why children learn to speak their native language so quickly and easily is because they are always exposed to the speech of their parents.
They retain the vocabulary that they have learned because they get to use it with the people around them - this is called interactivity.
The best online piano courses uses multimedia video to engage more of your senses and help to immerse you into the world of music.
This is unlike traditional piano training which relies on textual references.
The best online piano courses also includes mini computer games and quizzes to help you retain what you have learned.
These games also help you to develop the timing needed to play the piano well.
There are also games to help you learn how to play by ear.
Just as important, these games make learning the piano fun.
Scientific studies have shown that most people can't concentrate more than 40 minutes.
In our modern Information Age, we are overwhelmed by information and few of us have an attention span beyond 20 minutes.
The best online piano course caters to this as well, using many mini-lessons from 10 to 30 minutes, instead of the more traditional one hour to two hours.
Unlike traditional teaching, the best online piano course makes learning the piano quick, fun and easy.