Avanquest has a growing list of music software from eMedia in its catalogue which appeals to all ages and skill levels, including tuition courses in rock, bass and blues guitar. This latest package is designed to help piano and keyboard learners to progress past the basic level.

You'll obviously warm to this training course if you've already been through eMedia's Method 1 software, but even without that there are several interactive teaching aids that should be comparatively easy to grasp.

There are eight lessons in all, ranging from manual dexterity and interpretive expression marks to improvising the Blues and using the piano as part of an ensemble. Once you've loaded the software and connected your keyboard to the computer, you're then introduced to your 'virtual maestro' Vadim Ghin - a rather serious looking young American who tries vainly to be your pal but clearly knows his flats and sharps.

He appears regularly on video to guide you through the next step and he also provides spoken tips and advice as you progress down each line of music. In addition there's an animated keyboard that pops up at the top of the screen to display correct finger positions as you play. It will also replay the correct fingers when you double-click on a particular note or chord.

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In total there are over fifty built-in videos that demonstrate the correct techniques you will hopefully master, plus interactive review and ear-training screens to help you assess your progress. Not sure how you're doing? Don't worry, you can record your efforts and either play them back for your own benefit (or to entertain your family and friends!) or compare them with your maestro's.

As you'd imagine, you're encouraged to have a go at many well-known classics (more than 50 of them) like Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto, alongside works by Blues legends such as Irving Berlin and Jelly Roll Morton.

The music can be deliberately slowed down or sections can be replayed to help you master particularly difficult passages, and a digital metronome can be set up on a section of the screen to your own tempo: it, too, comes with its own audio and visual feedback.

The maestro will also be ready to point out where you need to improve, but it's not all hard slog. Certain pieces have an orchestral accompaniment added to make 'homework' more fun and the notes on the musical scores are highlighted as you play so you don't lose your place on the page.

If there's one gripe it's the fact that the default setting is not full-screen, so you either have to be happy with only two-thirds of your monitor showing the lesson and the rest your screensaver (or whatever) or you can change the setting to full screen which in fact is slightly larger than you need... More thought needed there, maestro.

There's no question that this style of keyboard training is a lot more enjoyable, helpful and encouraging than the piano lessons you might have had at school, and given the price it's also a lot cheaper than regular lessons - plus you can learn the Blues!