The downloadable backing tracks were a revelation. Jenna had never played with a band before. In Session 6, she added a simple blues bass line while a studio drummer and guitarist played along. She laughed out loud. It felt like being on stage.
There were moments of frustration. Session 8 (minor scales and chord inversions) took her two weeks. She almost threw the book across the room. But then she watched Will’s bonus video on “practicing slow to play fast,” where he played a Chopin nocturne at half speed, making every note breathe. She realized he wasn’t a virtuoso showing off—he was a teacher who remembered being a beginner. learn and master piano review with will barrow
She ordered the course—a thick spiral-bound book and a stack of DVDs (she had to dig out an old laptop with a disc drive). The first lesson felt like confession. Will Barrow appeared on screen, soft-spoken, with gray hair and kind eyes. He sat at a grand piano and said something that made her stop fast-forwarding: The downloadable backing tracks were a revelation
What she loved most was the production. The camera showed overhead shots of the keyboard with labels fading in. The audio was pristine—left hand in one speaker, right in the other. When she struggled with hand independence in Session 4 (the dreaded “Canoe Song”), Will introduced a trick: tap the rhythm on your knees first, then add the piano. It worked. She laughed out loud
Jenna closed the book. She opened a real piece of sheet music—Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”—and started to pick it out by ear. For the first time, she didn’t need a lesson plan.
By Session 12, she was reading lead sheets and improvising over a jazz progression. Her grandmother’s piano had been tuned, and the old room felt alive again. Jenna didn’t sound like a concert pianist. But she sounded like herself —confident, curious, no longer afraid.