Beginning this year for all 2nd graders at P.S.166, the MIE (Music In Education) YAMAHA Keyboard Lab will provide technology-assisted General Music instruction via curriculum-based group electronic piano classes.

Utilizing YAMAHA's MIDI technology and specially developed software, the MIE system allows up to 30 students at a time to simultaneously recieve music instruction via a series of learning modules which target national education standards for public school music.

YAMAHA's software allows interactive quizzes in which students are individually informed of their scores in their headphones, and each student's progress can be individually observed on the teacher's computer. Record-keeping of grades and progress reports are automatically tracked by the computer, making periodic assessment of large student numbers easily maintained.

Beginning in the Fall of 1998, many participating schools using the MIE system will be using internet-based technology to communicate between music programs at different schools. Collaborative projects will be possible, and sharing of supplemental curriculum-oriented MIE song files created by teachers will be easily done, as well as projects involving student compositions.

YAMAHA's website will feature a bulletin board service where MIE teachers can share insights, ask questions, and suggest or find news of collaborative internet-based projects beginning in October of 1998.

Over 1,000 schools in the United States alone are currently using the MIE system for K-12 General Music instruction.