New YorkMay 20, 1796Jul 27, 1796Presented recall on or shortly before May 16, 1803Commissioned to court of His Britannic Majesty. “(9)

Jim Allison ranks Rufus King as fifth most important founding father of United States but he notes Jefferson was away in France as Ambassador during many of events he deemed of import in his ranking system. Jefferson ranked only 19th as a result and number one on his list is James Madison who I think was actually Jefferson’s underling or student as was James Monroe. The behind scenes power and deals made with international financiers including King of England and his family are where real power existed. (10) That family had a relationship with Nathan Rothschild that made an enormous fortune for Rothschilds at occasion of The Battle of Waterloo. It is freely admitted that this sly deed was in fact source of a great fortune for Rothschilds in their official family biographies and you can be sure that many people including Lords and Ladies galore lost their shirts just like when Old Joe Kennedy had no money in market on day of crash. Here is something about Monroe which illustrates nature of deals and deal-makers and who they were in touch with including England and Spain.

“On 18th of April Monroe was further commissioned as regular minister to Great Britain. He joined Livingston in Paris on 12th of April, after negotiations were well under way; and two ministers, on finding Napoleon willing to dispose of entire province of Louisiana, decided to exceed their instructions and effect its purchase. Accordingly, on 30th of April, they signed a treaty and two conventions, whereby France sold Louisiana to United States. In July 1803 Monroe left Paris and entered upon his duties in London; and in autumn of 1804 he proceeded to Madrid to assist Pinckney in his efforts to secure definition of Louisiana boundaries and acquisition of Floridas.” (11)

Menu and Options

The main menu is completely self-explanatory and includes a button for "Start Here" which leads to "tour", a "Lessons" button, which leads to twenty lessons, an "Options" button (explained below) and buttons for advanced tests called Bronze, Silver, and Gold Challenges. The Options button lets you control what happens when a correct answer is entered (there are a few different choices), and contains an option for teachers that allows addition or deletion of a student's name. It is also possible for a "teacher" to construct "custom" lessons that operate like other lessons. The option is in choosing notes that are presented in test. So, if you want your child or student to concentrate on recognizing certain notes, you can easily create exercises that contain only those notes. There is also a sound option that lets you turn on or off sound effects that accompany parts of program.

Extra Challenging Exercises

The Bronze, Silver, and Gold Challenge exercises are more note recognition tests but with notes passing across screen at a faster pace, obviously requiring a quicker response from user. If a student can master these, there isn't much doubt that they know their notes.

So that's about it! This program doesn't balance your checkbook, manage your portfolio, or vacuum your carpet, but it never claimed to! If you want to learn to read music, or have a child that's about to start lessons or just shows interest, this product is a great buy. Imagine your piano teacher's surprise when your 5 year old shows up knowing how to read music on both treble and bass clefs! She'll fall off her piano bench! By way, my son, who has been taking lessons for two years, came home from school yesterday and ASKED if he could use Piano is Fun program! Think about that!

Peter Cullen is the Webmaster at http://www.PianoLessonReviews.com and an avid amateur pianist. The site reviews piano lesson offerings on the Web and offers many other piano-related resources.