General Question about Settings of Lessons

[sizem55]

Since I have started the course I didnt notice that there is a setting where you can switch between different note options like showing finger numbers, showing C,D,E above the notes or even turn that setting whole off so you can only see the note without nothing.

In the reality you have only normal notes, without any numbers and as my goal is to learn the piano I would like to know if it makes sense to turn that setting off ?
Sometimes I encountered specific exercises where are only letters of the piano attached to the notes and it clearly states in the description that I should try it like that.

At first I thought the finger numbers on the notes would be removed on a higher level but now that I've seen that setting I am not sure what to do now..

[davidsides]

It really depends on you. The fingering numbers you see above the notes are there to help make playing the material easier to do, as people can focus more on hand positions than actually remembering which notes are which. But if you want the added challenge of using just the letter names and not the fingerings that's good too!

I wouldn't recommend removing the fingerings and the letter names until you've watched the Intro to Staff Notation lesson, which explains how to figure out which note is which based on its position on the staff.

[jones082]

I, too, have a question about this.

I am a self taught musician who always played by ear. I have tried many many times in the past to learn how to read music, but it just doesn't want to sink in.

So, I'm only at level 7 rookie and I really like the numbers, but does one depend on them? I mean, that's kind of how I taught myself to avoid reading music in the first place, if you see what I'm saying.

I want this to finally work, as I've always been so impressed that people can actually read music. Will I be able to eventually stop depending on the numbers? I mean, does the program naturally transition you so that I may finally be able to learn how to do this?

Thanks.

[davidsides]

Yes. You're going to run into lessons that focus more on the letter names of the notes, which will help you improve your sight reading. Early on we rely heavily on using fingerings to allow users to more easily dive into playing without having to know a lot about music.

[purpose58]

I just discovered the note button last night. I learned to play by ear and I am now trying to learn sight reading - Is this the most common way to learn sight reading? Establishing hand position and then fingering? I had much difficulty learning a simple passage in the novice section last night because the position shifts were not so obvious and ultimately ended up just memorizing the 16 bars. Is that a bad thing?

[davidsides]

I'm not sure if establishing the hand position and then fingering is the most "common" way to learn sight reading, as I too am one who learned how to play by ear, but it's definitely an effective way to learn. I've improved my sight reading skills this way.

Ultimately the best thing you can do is try to play through music without using the fingering numbers or the note letter names. This will be much harder, but will get you used to the spacing between different notes and force you to get better at recognizing their letter names and where they are on your keyboard.

And once you learn how to sight read something, memorizing it kind of happens whether you try to or not. So don't worry too much about that.

[Richard]

This is one of those questions lots of us get stuck on:

Am I learning to play the piano?
Am I learning to read music?
Do I have to read music to play the piano?
Does it help to play the piano if I read music?

We then end up going around and around, wondering if I doing the right thing, or not!~?

I think firstly you have to know what you want to be able to do?
Do you want to play an instrument to accompainy yourself and friends?
Do you want to mess around making up tunes, or trying to work out songs you know?
Do you want to be able to do an, 'open mike' session and accompany someone else singing a song... karaoke like?

For any of the above I would say you need to understand the basics of music theory and how to use it, but you don't need to read music to the point of being able to follow it along in real time. What I mean is, looking at a piece of music and working out the chords, notes, keys etc is very useful, but not the same as 'Reading Music'... Reading music is a major skill and one that requires a lot of time and dedication to master! You've only got to watch those musicians in an orchestra as they translate the marks on a page to a wonderous sound... in unison.. it is a amazing! But, more amazing is the piece can be play again and again... and it's note perfect... sounding the same..

Lionel Richie, Elton John, sound great too, but I bet they never play all the same notes in the same order, or in the same time, from one gig to the next!? This is where the magic is! Don't get me wrong, these are masters at what they do and have perfected there art over years of hard work, but it has not been on the back of being able to read music, it is being able to make it!

Here is a great place to get to grips with understanding the fundementals of music and I think that the focus is more about reading the music and playing the notes at the right time, than about playing... Hope that makes sense!?

If you are like me and want to do some, or all of the thinks above, then learning the basics of music is enough! Learning how to put chords together, learnig chord progression, playing a melody, playing them together and enjoying it, is what it is all about for me. I started leaning to play the piano this year after being diagnosed with, early onset dementia... I want to fight it and was told learning to play an insturment is a great brain booster... but if it works, only time will tell, but I'm getting so much more from learning and playing the piano than ever I thought I wouild.

Well enough of me ranting on.. that's what I think... maybe others will think differently, but that's a good thing!

Whatever you want to do... enjoy it and if your not... stop!

Happy Playing!