> Among a whole bunch of stuff I came across was
>   http://www.playpianotoday.com/
> This is the one that pleased me very well.

I investigated this sometime back.  One advantage of such an approach
for the older student is that it is private: there's no human teacher
to be embarrassed in front of.  The disadvantage of this approach is
precisely the same: if you're afraid of being embarrassed, you'll
practice like a fiend.

The latter factor has kept my nose to the grindstone.  Although I
really, really want to learn to play the piano (I've been at it since
October) there are discouraging moments in any worthy educational
pursuit.  That's when my desire to not make a fool out of myself in
front of Dr Burgess kicks in and forces me to practice "In the Casbah"
until I finally figure it out.  When I finally _did_ figure it out,
I felt accomplished and encouraged.  (I messed it up when I played it
for my teacher, but that was okay: I knew what I was doing, and she
understood that.)

The web site's hard-sell, miracle-method approach put me off a bit.
I am also not convinced that the musical creativity of students who are
taught to read music is somehow diminished.  But I'm certainly glad
that the method works, and both its developers and the student are to
be commended.

All of which is to say that there are many ways of teaching music, and
the benefits and liabilities of each probably cancel out and make them
all equally effective if the desire to teach and the desire to learn is
there.

Mark Kinsler - who has learned that one path to true Humility is to
take music lessons at the age of 56.