Bootcamp Intermediate - Lesson 14 Question and Rant! LOL

[A Musing Grace]

Please tell me why the A is marked to be a natural here in the 14th measure, with the G Minor exercise. Did I miss something?

This lesson is very challenging and I've spent an entire evening on it... and still am not even close. I feel very frustrated when it is rated as an "easy" lesson with only one exercise and I can't master it. I've made good progress since I started on March 28th, and I've hit a couple of these trouble spots in the Intermediate. I try to get 100% on everything before I move on.

I was able to get only 81% on lesson 12 in the Intermediate Bootcamp as well, because of the same issue.

When you introduce 8th notes and then throw in the Eb major with three flats, out of the blue, it's like getting smacked in the face.

Why is there not more of a progression in working us into key signatures, with mastering one flat or sharp at a time, and then building on that?

I took a couple years of piano in high school, and a year of lessons about a decade ago. So I even have some background. With new people coming here, I can't imagine how they get though an exercise like this one, or lesson 12 without getting a flat tire!

I guess what doesn't kill us makes us stronger... Hey! That would make a great song!

Thanks for hearing my rant.

That said, I'm really enjoying PGS. Thanks!

A Musing Grace

[davidsides]

Hey A Musing Grace (cool username, by the way),

While we love hearing how much our users enjoy using playground, we equally value feedback from our users about areas we could ultimately improve in. With that said, we appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts about the Intermediate Tour.

In regards to lesson number 14 (Building Thirds & Triads), the A natural was actually a good catch. Sticking with the scale of the song, that should have been an Ab. We'll have to correct that.

In regards to the 8th notes in Eb major, we're in the process of building and adding more lessons which will space out the progression of these concepts, introducing them more slowly and granular.

I'm glad that you're enjoying your time with Playground. Please don't hesitate to point out anything else that jumps out to you as we're always looking for ways to improve the program, and ultimately the user experience.

[wighnoheat@live.com]

I am having the same problem on lessons 12 & 14 also the flat notes above the staff are not marked with any symbol so how can you tell ?

[richgrissom]

Lesson 12 Intermediate, took me days, not even the practice that I did off screen, not using PGS, I went into Stevie Wonder Mode and closed my eyes till I could go very fast in the left hand, and still it took me a verrrrrrry long time to get 100% at full tempo. I started on Jan1 2016 as a total newbie, with no music instruction at all on the piano or note reading. My question is why is the 108 bpm so much faster than a regular metronome? What am I missing, I have a app on the iPad and it is way slower at 4/4 108bpm??

[draco2023a]

richgrissom, are you doing any finger excercises (scales and arpeggios) to get your speed and coordination up? If not you may want to look into it.

As for the metronome....must be something fishy with your Ipad because the metronome in playground is accurate,,,I just tested it with my own and it is right on the money.
The best thing to do with lessons thart seem to fast is bump down the speed of the metronome...get the rhythm down (counting out loud seems silly, but it really does help) then bump it back up in increments of around 10bpm untill you can do it full speed

[thomas1018]

Hi A Musing Grace,

The A natural note in Lesson 14, "Building Thirds & Triads", will stand as is with no corrections. If we changed the note to A-flat, it would be inconsistent with how we teach minor thirds. Watch the video from the 8:00 minute mark, David Sides plays an A natural. You could also refer to Lesson 5, "Major & Minor Triads", exercise 4. Minor thirds are constructed by playing a whole step followed by a half step. In lesson 14 you play G to A (a whole step) followed by A to B-flat (a half step).

However, you could also build the same minor third if you play a half step followed by a whole step. In this instance, you could play G to A-flat (a half step) followed by A-flat to B-flat (a whole step). Notice that you still have a minor third either way you look at it!

I agree with you. The A-flat should be notated instead of the A because of the key signature. For now, it comes down to us being consistent with our teaching approach. Eventually we will have more Bootcamp Lessons explaining the other way to build minor thirds.

I hope this helps!

Thomas