Review Fix Exclusive: Kevin McCarthy Talks McCarthy’s Illuminating Piano

August 26, 2015 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with Kevin McCarthy, who discusses McCarthy’s Illuminating Piano, the brand’s new device aimed at helping people master the instrument. Powered by his own urge to get better at the instrument, McCarthy’s set some lofty goals for the imaginative new product.

For more information on the Illuminating Piano, click here.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this product?

Kevin McCarthy: I tried to learn to play piano! It’s very difficult when you’re home alone, with just your keyboard and a piece of paper. Most people fail, and I did too.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this product?

McCarthy: We’d like to create one million new pianists! A bit of a lofty goal, but the world would be filled with much more creativity and happiness if more people played music.

Review Fix: How long does it take to get used to?

McCarthy: It’s a pretty quick learning curve. Connecting the piano to your device (iPad, PC, or OSX) takes 30 seconds, you choose a song, and then “listen” to it, where you can see how it’s supposed to be played, and hear how it’s supposed to sound. Once you’ve got a good idea for how it’s supposed to sound, play it yourself in learn mode. The keys will literally light the way.

Review Fix: Some would argue that it teaches players to press the right keys, but won’t teach them to truly play. How would you answer them?

McCarthy: Our product will get you having fun right away. Not enjoying it is the number one reason people stop playing – it’s simply too difficult. This doesn’t have to be miserable process, it’s supposed to be a hobby, right? If our product helped you learn how to play a few songs that you really loved, who can argue with that? Read some of the reviews from our first customers, and they can answer this question much better than I. http://www.mccarthypiano.com/review.aspx

Review Fix: Bottom line- why should someone try this out?

McCarthy: Everyone would play piano if they could, right? Like if you were given a choice: play piano or not play piano. Who would choose not to play? If you want to have fun playing songs that you know and love, please try the Illuminating Piano.

Review Fix: What’s next?

McCarthy: We just launched our OSX software, and right now we’re working on a platform called Lessons, which will provide you a mechanism system to learn different types of skills such as rhythm, tempo, and the like. Expect this in September.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14316 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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