Tuning In to Television : Occupations of Youth Moving to the Tube

Jessica Shapiro, with nary a piano lesson in her 14 years, is arched over the television/piano contraption in the FAO Schwarz toy store at South Coast Plaza deftly practicing a finger exercise.

“It’s neat,” says the Northridge girl. “It’s a lot better than having a teacher because kids like watching TV.”

For most of us, taking piano lessons, coloring pictures and playing Monopoly are the stuff of childhood memories.

Children growing up in the ‘90s will have these same memories, though in a slightly different form. What once were simple pastimes that helped prepare the young for adulthood have been usurped by increasingly complex video technology.

The latest and most advanced piece of wizardry that promises to change the course of childhood forever is the Miracle Piano Teaching System. This sophisticated software plugs into Nintendo units so children can learn to play Beethoven by following the notes on their television screens.

“Parents don’t want their kids just sitting in front of the television shooting little men,” says Linda Barber, manager of Babbage’s Software in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa.

Now their children can sit in front of the television and learn 200 piano lessons and 40 different musical pieces. The Miracle has an electronic keyboard with full-sized keys that play 128 instruments and effects, and a foot pedal to extend the notes like those on a piano.

“I took piano lessons for four years and I never learned how to play with two hands,” says Rachel Werner, manager of the FAO Schwarz.

“With the Miracle, if you really adhere to it you can do it in six months.”

Indeed, the Miracle threatens to replace the piano teacher, traditionally a stern but caring taskmaster people always remember--some with affection, others with dread.

All of which does not sit well with Robert Beardsley of Costa Mesa, who has taught piano for 22 years. Computerized piano lessons, he says, are “a cop-out.”

“Music is art as well as science. You can’t teach art properly through a computer,” Beardsley says.

There are some things humans do better than computers, he says, and teaching music is one of them.

“Individual attention is so important. The fine details of playing the piano--the rhythm, the expression--how could a computer evaluate that?”

Piano instructors caution that a computer can’t identify bad habits a child might pick up during the course of the lessons.

“A computer can’t tell if a student’s hand structure is off,” says Jennifer Anderson, a piano instructor with the Orange County Piano Institute in Irvine.

She also objects to the idea of learning piano on a keyboard that makes computer-generated sounds. The rich, subtle tonality of the piano is lost to the artificial notes, she says.

So far the computerized system has attracted a lot of interest, even at a cost of about $350, not including the $100 Nintendo Entertainment System needed to run the program.

“The response has been great. Every time we get one in it sells, and we’ve been getting one in about every two weeks,” says John Fair, manager of the Electronics Boutique at MainPlace/Santa Ana.

“When you look at the high cost of pianos and lessons,” he says, “it starts to make quite a bit of sense.”

Playing the piano is just one childhood activity being taken over by machines.

Last year, Sony introduced the “Sony Electronic Sketch Pad,” which allows children to draw pictures on television screens. They can select colors, create their own designs and erase--all electronically. Proud parents can save their child’s picture on their VCRs. So long, crayons.

“This was the hottest seller at Christmas,” Werner says. The unit sells for $135.

Board games that used to be determined by a roll of the dice are also being transferred to television. Soon, children will be able to play Monopoly on their Nintendo systems.

In addition, there’s a wealth of so-called “teaching machines” on the market, according to Ian McDermott, game buyer for FAO Schwarz in New York City.

“Now that the toy market has entered the computer age, many of these new teaching machines are taking over,” McDermott says. “Every teaching tool that was formerly taught in books or traditional methods is now covered by electronics.”

Children are raised on computers almost from infancy. Nintendo has software programs by Sesame Street and Fisher-Price that teach toddlers to count and do their ABCs.

Older children can graduate to personal computers and plug into more sophisticated educational programs. There’s software to teach them how to read, spell, do math or learn languages.

Since the introduction of the computerized voice chip, toys that “talk” have boomed, McDermott says.

Texas Instruments, a leading developer of teaching machines, has introduced toys during the past five years that cover the whole field of learning, he says.

The company’s “Talking Peek-a-Boo Zoo” features animals that pop up and speak at the press of a button. “Voyager” offers a set of voice-activated headphones that lead children on instructional tours of space or prehistoric earth. “Have you fastened your seat belts?” asks a friendly male voice. A “yes” answer will initiate a look back at dinosaurs.

Computerized teaching machines have transformed the way all children learn, according to Karen Peck, spokeswoman for Nintendo.

“You can learn how to play chess, you can learn how to gamble and you can almost learn how to drive. Some of these driving games are very realistic,” Peck says.

“The way our toys conditioned us for future learning is completely different from the way (video) games prepare these children for the future. It introduces them to technology, and makes them not fear computers as much.”

She cites a scene in “Back to the Future Part III” where Michael J. Fox plays time traveler Marty McFly, a video game junkie who ends up in a shootout in the Wild West. After demonstrating his skill with a gun, McFly is asked: “Hey kid, where’d you learn to shoot like that?”

“7-11” McFly responds.

“Here is a generation of children whose reflexes are so much faster because of these video games,” Peck says. “Parents like (the games) better than TV because there’s thinking involved.”

Even video games such as Super Mario Bros. that are designed purely for entertainment can have educational merit.

“If you look at some of these role-playing games, they actually prompt thinking,” Fair says. “The child has to assimilate information and make decisions, often in a split second, to progress into the games and complete a mission. It’s not just mindless shooting.”

McDermott agrees that children who learn and play by computers will be “better able to face the modern technological world.” However, even he has reservations about the machines’ ability to teach the young.

“The hope is that educators don’t lose sight of the other side of learning. Not everything can be solved technologically,” he says.

“There’s still no substitute for the written word. Children will still need a very good grounding in the language.

“These machines help in language skills, but in order to broaden one’s mind and communication skills, you’re going to have to read some books.”