The LUMI piano keyboard is making my pandemic life a lot more fun

The LUMI piano keyboard is making my pandemic life a lot more than fun

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

These "unprecedented times" have led many people to take up home-bound hobbies and projects. I've been cooking more than, gardening, embroidering and practicing guitar. I also wanted to get back into piano, which I haven't played since childhood. Only due to the pandemic, taking live piano lessons from a teacher isn't feasible correct now. That's where the music learning platform LUMI comes in.

With LUMI Keys and the Lumi app, anyone can larn piano at home with no prior experience and without in-person education. How does it work? LUMI Keys glow in a bright rainbow blueprint and the app prompts y'all to play along by following the colors, kind of like Guitar Hero.

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When the company sent me a LUMI Keys device, I was a bit skeptical. The modest keyboard has just ii octaves (though you lot can add on a 2nd one for four octaves), and it looked like a kid's toy. Could this tiny keyboard and an app really aid me castor up on my pianoforte skills? I too wondered if the lessons would be challenging enough. I've played Guitar Hero; it doesn't really translate to actually playing a existent guitar.

After a couple weeks of using LUMI, I realized it's a fun toy for adults, also, and more than that — it's stimulating, productive and quite relaxing (which was necessary around election time). At present, facing a long pandemic winter doesn't seem quite as daunting when I tin play my way through the LUMI Library of songs.

The LUMI Keys device feels well-fabricated. It'due south portable and rechargeable with a USB-C cord. The keys are almost vii/8ths the width of regular piano keys, so developed hands can maneuver fairly hands. Like I mentioned to a higher place, you can snap two devices together to create a four-octave board that'southward supported by the app. More devices require special desktop software.

The LUMI app is cleverly designed and like shooting fish in a barrel to use on a tablet or phone. There are more than lx free interactive lessons, exercises and challenges that score yous on how accurately you follow the colors/notes. Follow along with video instructors, so take your turn. Practise chords and scales, play simple melodies and basslines and learn concepts like time signatures, pitch and dynamics. More lessons are available with the LUMI Complete subscription ($79 a year).

Even though I learned piano as a kid and am well-versed in music theory, the tutorials were helpful in clearing the cobwebs from that part of my brain and exercising my fingers in that way once more.

Once you've completed the lessons, you can movement onto the LUMI Library of songs. The free Essential package comes with 40 songs, while the Consummate tier offers more than than 400. The lineup ranges from classical to classic stone. I played a diverse range of songs, including Bach's "Minuet in One thousand Major, Billie Eilish'southward "Bad Guy," Beyonce's "Halo," Tom Fiddling's "Free Fallin'," Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and the Jurassic Park theme. LUMI says it adds new songs all the time, and I spied recent hits similar "Sucker" by the Jonas Brothers" and "give thanks u side by side" by Ariana Grande.

LUMI app pop hits — (Image credit: Tom'southward Guide)

Simply for every bit good as that all sounds,the LUMI app is still quite buggy and decumbent to crashing. I found information technology frustrating, though not a dealbreaker. Let's hope LUMI's engineers proceed rolling out fixes.

LUMI comes from ROLI, the London-based music technology company that also adult the Seaboard keyboard. It was funded through Kickstarter and is at present available to club on the LUMI site, just in time for the holidays — whether you want to give information technology as a gift or just treat yourself. The special launch bundle, including the keyboard and a yearlong LUMI Complete subscription, is $299.

I was lucky enough to receive a review copy, but I'd purchase a LUMI in a heartbeat. It was a fun, no-stress, socially distanced way for me to brush upward on pianoforte. Beginners should find it a breeze for getting started in their ain piano-playing journey. At present I'k off to broil some sourdough and learn how to play Depeche Fashion's "But Can't Plenty."

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Kelly is a senior author roofing streaming media for Tom's Guide, and so basically, she watches TV for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, TV Guide and other outlets. When she'southward not watching TV and movies for work, she's watching them for fun, seeing alive music, writing songs, knitting and gardening.