Struggles & thoughts on going from piano apps to sheet music
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- Опубліковано 25 вер 2024
- Struggles & thoughts on going from piano apps to sheet music
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My piano books:
The Illustrated Treasury of Disney Songs: www.amazon.com...
Piano Pieces for the Adult Beginner, No. 251: www.amazon.com...
Broadway - Super Easy Songbook: www.amazon.com...
Full disclosure: I have been in contact with flowkey, Yousician, and Simply Piano, but I am committed to providing neutral feedback on all the apps. If you have any questions, let me know!
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One of my friend's daughter is taking piano lessons with a teacher. They always make a copy of the sheet music they are learning, and then they write the fingerings on the copy together. Then she (the daughter) goes home and also writes the notes. I don't know why they make a copy though, since she owns the book, maybe so can then practice playing it without fingerings once she knows it well. To me at least, it seems normal for people to write the fingers (1-5) on piano sheet music and according to your style. I assume the same for adult beginners? It's amazing for me to watch sight readers on YT and just instantly know how to place their fingers. Usually, on the YT videos I've watched, they'll learn the right hand first and then the left hand (or vice versa), especially for classical music (less chords).
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for the input and idea!
Pretty impressive as a self learner! But you have to practice scales slowly to obtain a stable and even sound and tempo before you speed the scales up. Honestly, your scales are very uneven in terms of tempo, dynamics and the cooperation of the two hands. Also I advice you to buy a book called Hanon. There are 60 exercises which are very helpful with your technique (wrist movement, hand flexibility, and the evenness of your hands) great effort shown! Keep it up!
The Hanon book will be my first piano book purchase.
I would also recommend Alfred for Adults level 1 and Faber books to start with Christine! they start very basic in c major and gradually introduce chords/other keys like G/D major and have pretty good choices of pieces as well. They also have tips which I found helpful and a LOT of people recommend them
Peter Hontaru - Piano Progress I second this :)
Same!
Thank you all for your ideas here - I hadn't heard of these books and am going to give the Faber adult level 1 a try. Will let you all know how it goes!
I agree. I have over 6 yrs of guitar training. As a result, I came into Flow Key knowing a lot of music theory. My neighbor, who is a piano teacher, is letting me use his Alfred's Level One book. The Alfred's course is organized to teach piano at a much faster pace. It takes a three phase approach. Note reading, theory, and chords in the same lesson. The practice pieces are designed to be easy and reinforces these three pieces of learning piano. Flow Key is segmented. I finished the Introduction and the Music Reading and have started on the Scales courses. Music readind did not develop a strong note reading skill set. I can see why Christine struggles with reading sheet music and finger placement. I have a free 3 month Flow Key subscription through Yamaha. Once this runs out I'm going to get the Alfred's piano lesson series and proably switch to Piano Marvel.
@@BlueJay7850 hi 👋 I am self teaching myself I have a questions if you may answer... if you have time
I am self learning the guitar and piano I understand a little bit on note counts but still a novice
I learned a bit from my grandmother 👵 when I was 5... a long time ago
I am taking Justin’s Guitar, the books I have are Ernie Ball 1&2, and guitar tabs I am thinking of getting Fender app.
I look up a lot when I can’t why a chord is played differently like the fmaj7
why is the an x on A strong but you play the rest ...
How do you play that ?
(I am aware of different fmaj7 but I just have a need to know sometimes then just giving up on that one)
Ok to my ?s
1) I really want to learn music theory I took one class many moons I can’t recall what book 📖 I had
What book would you recommend & I know there a website that’s free but would love a book
2) why Marvel App ...? I thought Flowkey was a bit better which I was going to get for the piano 🎹
I will get the book you guys have listed as a good learning tool bc I really believe reading the notes as a book is very important
Thank you
Oh another good point for writing the notes etc. On the books ISN'T for you to read them as you're trying to play/learn the music - but more to help you practice note recognition.
The theory/lesson books make you do this, then make you play it, etc.
New Subscriber . Been with Simply Piano for 18 months . Up to 378 Songs 3 Star on Simply Piano . Wish they taught scales better . Great Channel Christine . I suffer bad PTSD from the military 🪖 Guitar for Veterans Program and Simply Piano are blessings from above . ❤ Your channel .
My husband plays trumpet he plays in Central Florida Community Arts Orchestra and Jazz bands. He always listens to the songs on his computer while he's learning a new song so he can get the tempo and melody.
I guess this is where having a teacher and following one of the ABRSM / Trinity syllabus’ comes into play... Learn how to fish, etc. 🎣
Sight reading is hard, and there is SO much detail on sheet music I would miss if it wasn’t for my teacher.
Other than that, the Alfred and Faber books are awesome. Faber Adult Piano Adventure books are SUPER gradual progressively, and they have UA-cam videos that accompany EVERY page as lessons too.
Having said all this, there is no “one way” to learn piano. Or right way or wrong way. What matters is that you enjoy the process. Eventually we all get there with enough practice so might as well love every moment! I always enjoy your content, thank you Christine!
Matt Southam Piano Progress - I still haven’t purchased the Fabers yet but its great to know about the videos they have for each page. I’m definitely going to try them once I’m through the Alfred L 4 (I’ve got so many books now 😂)
@@TheSIGHTREADINGProject 🤣🤣
Thanks for the information and the encouragement! Based on yours and other's feedback I'm going to purchase the Faber adult level 1 book and see how it goes from there :-D
I had no idea they had videos for each page! Thank you so much for this!
Those books that teach you left hand chords are best if you're learning arranger keyboard. Their auto accompaniment is usually directed with chords played in the leftmost part of the keyboard while melodies are played in the upper layer with your right hand.
Thanks for the tip!
I know exactly how you are feeling. Looking a piece of sheet music is a bit scary at first. I would recommend taking a copy of the music and then go crazy with notes and fingering. Use a pencil so that you can make changes as you go along. This is how I do it with my piano teacher. As for learning the pieces, do as the apps do. Take the song a few bars at a time, then learn each hand separately before going hands together. If you don't know the song well, make sure to use a metronome. Getting your scales down to heart will also help with the initial reading and getting the incidentals ingrained. To start with I sometimes copy the incidentals to the lower lines on the staff as another visual reminder.
These are great tips David. Thanks so much! Will be giving this a try this week :)
I think Piano Marvel works best for the transition to sheet music. You can also hide the moving cursor in Piano Marvel (by making it transparent) so that your playing is judged against the interpretation of the music as written with no aids.
Would love to see an updated comparison of flowkey and simply piano now that you’ve, for the most part, complete the coursework.
There’s a gentleman who goes over lots of different piano books page by page including Alfred’s basic and piano adventures. His UA-cam channel is Let’s Play Piano Methods.
It's simple: There are no shortcuts. You must learn all by yourself and no tool or app can do that for you. You are on the right way. Notation is the written language of music.
My teacher always encourages me to write on my music! I’ll add accidentals in there, finger numbering, highlight dynamics and sometimes I’ll even change finger numbers if they’re written in and there’s a way I prefer. Grab a pencil and go!
An important skills is to be able to play chords in the right hand with the melody as the highest and loudest note. [you sort of lean into it with your right hand and speed up the attack of that note.] Then with your knowledge of chords, add in harmony notes with your right hand, and put some harmony notes in left hand, with root of the chord being lowest note in left hand.
I'd say, just sit down without any piano, and look at one note to the next and think of all the intervals between them as you read, as fast as you can. You want to get interval recognition just as fast as note name recognition, and that will help you read chords faster, with some of the more advanced chords. You also want to be really aware of the scale degrees of each note, as you encounter them. At first just go for generic intervals, like 6th, 4th, 5th, etc, and then later the quality of that interval like major or minor, augmented, diminished or perfect. It will really really help to review that a lot in your mind. You don't need to be anywhere near a piano, just think of the scales, correct spelling of the scales, scale degrees, and intervals in an imaginary staff. If you get a whole visualized world of standard notation in your mind going, at odd times in the day, you can start OWNING this stuff, knowing the scales better than your own name so you just glance at any key signature and know without thinking what notes will be sharp or flat.
I just started playing two days ago with simply piano and I would say I'm picking it up fairly quickly. Did you complete each lesson once and move on? I just want to make sure I am proficient enough to keep moving forward
3 star all songs related to the course before you move on the the next course.
I have mixed feelings about this. There are three factors I consider... 1. Do I like the song? If I don't, I may just do the minimum to move on. If I do, I may want to memorize it to play as a warm-up or for friends, so I'll focus more on it. 2. Do I feel like I'm competent in what they're trying to teach me? I mention in the video that there are areas I struggle with. I need to go back and spend more time on those lessons - but the good thing is you can always go back. 3. Am I enjoying myself? I'm doing this for fun, so if I'm bored or maybe frustrated with a section, I try to move on. And if I like a section or feel like I can get more out of it, I may return to it even after I've supposedly mastered it by the app's ratings. I recommend you do what feels right.
I find Simply Piano to be very enjoyable. Part of that is because it advances pretty slowly, so you always feel like you're moving forward. Best of luck and please come back and let me know how it's going!
Brock Bergeron I just moved on once I have enough stars to move on. If I really like a song, I try to get 3 stars. So far I have not gotten into trouble of not being able to complete the next lesson. It builds op really smooth so just keep going :-) I just arrived at the intermediate 4 section of the lessons (90 days in)
Nice. Sounds like you started about the same time as me. I just started 3 weeks ago using a combination of simply piano and yousician. It’s been a lot of fun. On simply piano, I’ve generally been trying to get close to three stars before moving on, unless it’s a song I really don’t like. Let me know how it goes for you.
Hi Christine, love your content and seeing your journey. Don’t worry, as Matt Southam said, sight Reading is HARD and a different beast to going bar by bar memorising.
As Peter H and Matt S mentioned, those Fabers and Alfred Piano Lesson books are fabulous. I’ve followed the Alfreds from level 2 to get into sight reading (I was a memoriser for 5 years) and they will familiarise you in different keys so gradually that it will be enjoyable and fairly quick. By the end of the Alfred level 3 books you will have covered about 8 keys I think.
By the way if it cheers you up that ‘piano for beginners’ book you showed is very hard! I have it and it isn’t an easy read yet. So don’t worry, it isn’t you, it’s the material!
Good luck, keep going
Thank so much Kathryn! I love that we have a little community growing here and I really appreciate your (and everyone's) input. I'm going to buy the Faber adult level 1 book this week so I can give it a try!
And yes, that definitely cheers me up! Thank you for that :-D
Christine Clark - that’s great news! I want to get the Fabers too but I better finish the Alfreds first 😂 Yes there are a few of us that keep running into each other on our favourite music channels. Nice when that happens
I also recommend to find a teacher that "fits" to your wishes and needs. I got stuck at some point on motivating me to progess further and to focus on the right thing and had the luck to find a teacher that is able to adapt to my interests and wishes and helped me a lot to progress.
I think you should also ask yourself if sight reading is the most important skill to develop. I think it highly depends on the kind of music you want to play. While it is a must to play classical pieces, most contemporary music and jazz require only basic sight reading abilites but the understanding of harmony and some improvisation skills (a lot of really great and successful musicians like Paul McCartney or the two guys of ABBA cannot do sight reading as far as I know...)
Good points Frank. I do want to be able to play some classical and traditional songs, but as I learn more about sight reading, I may discover it's not as important.
@@christineesc My issue with sight reading is that I'm WAY too slow to play a song directly from the sheet (only with very simple - normally one voice songs - it is possible for me). So to be able to play a "classical piece" I have to memorize it and use the sheet only as a "memory aid". It's time consuming to memorize it but it is kinda cool to be able to play it by heart.
My understanding is that to be able to read sheet music, you first need to understand harmony so you can detect the "patterns" (the chords) and are able to read fast and do not need to identify any single note on the sheet.
Frank Lorenz this makes sense. I'm familiar with site reading from singing and playing trumpet as a kid. But of course that was always a one-note-at-a-time thing. I have been focusing on recognizing notes on the staff at a glance. The common chords are tougher but simply piano has some great exercises to practice some basic ones. I figure if I memorize the scales and know the key signatures, that will get me a good part of the way there. It's a fun process to work through though!
One tip on the fact that you're struggling with the different key signatures. You should practice the scales for the different keys signatures before you practice the song. This way it will help you brain in remembering that these keys are sharps. Also feel free to write in the book!
I am having the same issues. I have halted using Simply Piano temporarily and started with a piano teacher. I felt like I couldn’t read music in books nor read any tunes in the Beta section of Simply Piano.
That's a good point. Can I ask how far you got into Simply Piano before you halted?
Sharon Saleeby I go to the beta section of the app to search for the songs that were covered in the normal lessons so I can read/play it from the sheet music. Since you already know how it sounds and how to play it, it’s easier to read the sheet music. This way you also get used to reading it and after a while you are able to read similar pieces (that use the same notes) without ever having played it before. That’s how I approach it at least..
You get Simply piano and simply guitar for about 20 bux a month .
I would highly recommend to take lessons with a good teacher. Would be really sad if you might give up this great hobby being frustrated at one time. I am a real hardcore autodidact. I learn from books and vids everyday like music production python etc plus I could skip lectures for my univesity degree without problems but every single piano lesson is unbelievable valueable and my teacher discovers things I just dont see myself.
That is my eventual plan... but part of the motivation for me is showing my progress on this channel and taking on the challenge of seeing if it's possible for me to learn without a teacher.
Christine Clark Piano Adventures for Adult could really help you. I have been taking lessons but needed to figure things out on my own as well. The Faber series with extra song books work perfectly.
Sara Barbeau So is there a difference between the adult adventures books and the adult levels books? I thought I saw two different things when looking them up...
Christine Clark I think they use the same material. I am an adult learner. I started at 48, i am now 51. I know that I’ll never become a pianist. I just want to play things that are familiar and fun. I found that this method offers that. It teaches you how to read lead sheet, which I find very helpful. Not every teacher are welling to go on that path. I used Alfred the first year with a teacher and Piano Adventures book two along with the three additional books , Classics, Pop and Christmas. Didn’t use the classic one that much but loved the others. Took me a year and a half to go trough the book. I keep going back to it every week. Things got easier, not perfect but improving. I am working on Satie first Gymnopedie to give an idea where it got me. I took lessons on and off. I need to spend lots of time by my self to learn. Keep sharing your progress, I find it very interesting. Sorry if I don’t explain very well, I speak French.