From the Magic of the Giant Keyboard in the Movie “Big”, to the Magic of “Piano Wizard”, FAO Schwarz Toyland Continues it’s Landmark Music Making Tradition This Holiday Season.

The holiday season in New York City means snow-covered sidewalks, ice-skating at Rockefeller Center, and no kid’s winter experience is complete without a visit to the world famous toy display at FAO Schwarz. The store's guiding principle has not changed since 1862: to provide the world's children with the most extraordinary toys, and this year FAO’s Toyland will include one of the hottest new gifts on the market: Piano Wizard™.

“One of the classic movie moments and memories is Tom Hanks hopping across the giant keyboard at FAO Schwarz in the movie Big,” said Chris Salter, inventor of Piano Wizard and founder of parent company Allegro Multimedia. “In that moment, he brings out the musical child in all of us, and that is what we have strived to do with Piano Wizard from the outset.”

“To have Piano Wizard as part of that landmark annual toy display is a delight for us and the children, because now they can play real music quickly and easily, almost magically, the way they did in the movie”, Salter added.

Piano Wizard, which is experiencing strong sales at FAO’s New York and Las Vegas Toylands is rapidly gaining popularity everywhere, because it combines the fun of a video game with the fundamentals of piano lessons. That means children can sit at a keyboard and instantly play music. What once felt like practice now feels like play, and the sky is the limit when kids are engaged and enthusiastic.
.
To ensure that children never tire of the game, and thereby continue to learn, Piano Wizard lets children choose from hundreds of songs and play with a dozen game characters in four different fantasy worlds. They can change the speed, the instrument sounds, the skill levels, and more. And in addition to the MIDI songs that come standard with Piano Wizard’s Easy Mode version, a Premier version enables thousands of songs to be downloaded from internet libraries. So children can download and play any MIDI song, from virtually any artist, whether the music style is classical, pop, rock, country, or alternative— making it a game to be enjoyed for life, for kids of any age.

Piano Wizard includes a CD containing its proprietary computer game, color-coded stickers, and is bundled with or without an electronic MIDI keyboard. The Piano Wizard software allows kids to simply and quickly hit the correct note at the correct time, letting the user play actual songs immediately, and in the process, learn music logic, theory and notation while playing a game.

The game, which won Creative Child Magazine’s prestigious Top Toy of The Year 2005 Award, will be on display in FAO’s New York and Las Vegas stores until Christmas Eve, and as is the case with most of the toys in the FAO Schwarz display, it will allow shoppers to play the game at the display. Piano Wizard is also available at FAO’s online store under Electronics (Educational Electronics) at www.fao.com.

About Allegro Multimedia

Allegro Multimedia, Inc. (dba Allegro Rainbow, maker of Piano Wizard) is a leading provider of music gaming software and musical educational tools that teach both young and old alike how to play the piano and read music.

Allegro Multimedia's mission is to; increase music literacy and the ability to play and read music among all classes of people; to provide an answer for parents and educators as well as religious groups and government agencies to combat the onslaught of mind-numbing violence and destruction that has traditionally dominated the video game industry; and to build long-term relationships with customers by providing quality products, training, support and additional exciting gaming products that continue to move this mission forward in a fun, safe, exciting, and yet non-violent and yet exciting way.

Allegro Multimedia seeks to create a tidal wave of interest in music making and achieve universal musical literacy among all people regardless of age, through fun and exciting non-violent, music training video games.


About FAO Schwarz

FAO Schwarz has been enchanting children since 1862, when a Westphalian goldsmith's son named Frederick August Otto Schwarz began importing fine toys from Europe and selling them through his fancy-goods shop in Baltimore. In 1870, he opened the Schwarz Toy Bazaar on Broadway in lower Manhattan; the store issued its first catalogue six years later.
The Company’s flagship store opened at its current location at the corner of 58th Street and Fifth Avenue in 1986 and was joined in 1997 by its sister store in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Today, FAO Schwarz is not only the oldest toy store in the United States, but one of the oldest retail establishments of any kind. FAO Schwarz has been an essential part of any visit to New York for generations of children—and adults—from every corner of the globe.
The store's guiding principle has not changed since 1862: to provide the world's children with the world's most extraordinary toys.


Brian Metcalf
Account Executive
Max Borges Marketing Solutions, Inc
www.MaxBorges.com
3550 Biscayne Blvd. Suite 501
Miami, Florida 33137
T: 305-576-1171 Ext 11
F: 305-402-6373