Playground Forums

Hi playground sessions forum
I am a rookie in my 3rd month op playing keys. No previous experience and about 25 hours of playing in these 9 weeks. I enjoy it very much even though at 57 things go slower than with young students.
Especially the 30 day challenge challenge “the entertainer” was an extremely nice exercise that I enjoyed. Great teacher, nice build-up of the lessons with an average time spend of 10 to 20 minutes. I tried to move from number notation to key notation but because I can play it without the sheet now I am worried that I do not learn the music notation. Is this normal and will it be fine?

I also started the Grace Course but found it too easy so I did the rookie and intermediate lesson (both with no problem). Will this jeopardize the educational character of the course?

Cheers,
Peter

I think learning progress is best when you find the sweet spot between challenging but not to hard, neither boring nor frustrating. In "classical" education it is the reponsibility of the teacher to provide you with such tasks - in PGS we are our own teachers, so we've got to listen to ourselfs (actually and proverbal) to decide what is right for us. So when you found the Rookie stuff to easy and switched to Intermediate and it went smooth: great, I think you're doing fine!

Regarding your concerns about switching off number notation: same applies here, when you can handle the challenge keep at it, when you get into trouble, switch numbering on to help you out - there will be a lot ahead which you don't know by heart yet (like you do with the Entertainer) where you can sharpen your sight-reading skills.

Thanks MBVS ..... you make a few very valid points.
Cheers,
Peter