Want to see finished videos?  
Check out our YouTube Play-Along Videos playlist to see what we're offering for free!

What is a Play-Along Video?

A Play-Along Video encourages you to play a piece of music along with the video.  

You'll see colored circles on the screen indicating the pitches to play and when to play them.  You'll hear the pitches you should play in bell-like tones.  You do not need to know how to read sheet music to have fun with a Play-Along Video.

You'll also hear some accompaniment; depending on the video, the accompaniment might be simple or complex, and it might be present from the beginning or appear later in the video.

Our Play-Along videos are loosely graded.  Simple songs on a particular topic are generally lower volume numbers.  More difficult songs, songs requiring more pitches, chromaticism, or tricky rhythms are higher volume numbers.  For example, "Hot Cross Buns", quite possibly the simplest kids' song ever, is song 1 in Vol. 1 (Kids' Songs).  But "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window", a song with skips and an accidental, is in Vol. 3 (Kids' Songs).   

How can I use Play-Along Videos?

There are so many ways to use Play-Along Videos!  Here are some suggestions:

• Use them to play music with friends 
• Use them to learn new melodies
• Use them to learn about pitches and the relationships between them (intervals)
• Use them to learn music terminology
• Use them to help you practice your instrument
  --  as you play, listen to make sure you're matching the pitches you hear
  --  as you play, develop muscle memory that will help you play other songs on your instrument, too.
• Use them as part of a music, history, social studies, or other educational curriculum 

What instruments can I use with a Play-Along Video?

Whatever instruments you want!  

Colors assigned to pitches in the video match colors assigned to pitches on many popular kids' handbell sets (and mostly match Boomwhacker colors, too).  

But you can use any other instrument (e.g., keyboard, guitar, recorder, xylophone, etc.) that has the pitches you'll need to play the song.*  

What tunes are included in Vol. 1?

See  the tunes we offer in other Play-Along Video volumes here!

1. "ABC Song" (trad.) (also free on our YouTube site)
   Key:  C Major     Pitches:  C D E F G A
   
   
2. "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" (trad.) (also free on our YouTube site)
   Key:  C Major     Pitches:  C D E F G A
   
   
3. "Baa, Baa Black Sheep" (trad.) (also free on our YouTube site)
   Key:  C Major     Pitches:  C D E F G A
   
   
4. "Hot Cross Buns" (trad.)
   Key:  C Major     Pitches:  C D E
   
   
5. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (trad.)
   Key:  C Major     Pitches: C D E G
   
   
6. "Hickory Dickory Dock" (trad.)
   Key:  C Major     Pitches:  C D E F G A
   
   
7. "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (trad.)
   Key: G Major      Pitches: D G A B C D
   (requires an extension from 1-octave C Major bell / Boomwhacker / etc. sets)

Why Should I Buy a Play-Along Video Package?

Because Play-Along Videos are great!  You'll want access to them to: 

• use as a practice aid for your own instrument studies
• quickly and easily play and sing songs with friends of all music skill levels
• learn or teach music concepts such as scales, intervals, chords, chord progressions, keys, major, minor, modes, reading and performance vocabulary and symbols, etc.
• learn or teach unfamiliar melodies 
• learn or teach culture (your own or another's)
• learn or teach history
• AND SO MUCH MORE!  (you get the idea)

But why should you buy from The San Diego Studio of Arts and Letters?  The play-along concept itself is not new.  You can find other iterations out there, and some of them are good!  If you like something another company has made, please use it!  Our play-along videos are worth buying because of our unique approach.  

Our music and teaching expertise informs the way we make videos.
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We offer the widest song selection.
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We provide information for further learning along with our videos.
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We provide ad-free access (most other companies that make play-along videos available on YouTube make money from ads served along with the videos).

Not convinced?  Try some of our Play-Along Videos for free on our YouTube site (MAKE LINK ONCE FREE VIDS UPLOADED). If you like the way we do this type of video here, come back and buy!

What Do I Get When I Buy a Play-Along Video Package?

You get access to the videos in the package via a link to a page on this website.  You will need to set up a sign-in and password to access that page.  You can play the videos from that page.

With your purchase, you also get a license to use the videos in the package for personal, non-commercial, or educational purposes in home or classroom settings individually or with  groups of 25 or fewer individuals.

If you would like to use the videos in any other way, please contact us to discuss license terms.

Can I Bundle Packages?  Volumes?

Bundled purchasing may available one day.  However, because we are still making these and don't want to sell you a bundle of videos that may not actually be available for a little while, we do not currently offer bundled Play-Along Video pricing.

Subscription:
We do offer access and a license to all Play-Along Videos via subscription.  There's not much at the subscription site right now.  As we complete videos, we will add them to the subscription site.  

We offer subscription pricing on a monthly and yearly basis.  The current subscription price may increase.  We will give subscription holders advance notice of increases.  

Click here to buy subscription access and a license to all Play-Along Videos (as they are completed)!

Where Can I See a List of All Play-Along Video Volumes?

Right here!  The link takes you to a list that includes:

• everything we have completed
• everything we are currently working on
• a few volumes we'll work on next

It does not include information about every single video volume we plan to make (around 60+ volumes!)

* Transposing instruments won't work, though.  We are considering making Play-Along Videos for transposing instruments.  If that's something you want, please let us know!

For our purposes here, transposing instruments are ones that require the player to read music in a key that is different from the pitches that actually come out of the instrument.  If your instrument is a transposing instrument, you probably already know it is; transposing instruments include some brass and woodwinds.

If you play an instrument that requires you to read music in the same key that you hear when you play -- but a different octave -- you can use that instrument with Play-Along Videos.