Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

A place to discuss Playground's main curriculum, the Bootcamp.
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dragonryder
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Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by dragonryder » Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:07 pm

Hello everyone,

I have a question :( I've just started this course - total newbie with zero experience. I started at lesson 1, and everything went very smoothly. I made sure that I got 100% at every lesson, and then repeated the lessons several times to help hammer things home considering this is so new to me. Time is flying by, I'm having so much fun. I'm not finding it difficult (granted I've only completed 6 lessons so that probably sounds silly!). I'm all excited about the treble clef, about the 5 lines, and about the alternating keys. EGBDF and FACE make total sense.

Then I start doing rookie lesson 7 and 8 and at 9 it became a big mess. As soon as I started practicing EGB, GBD, BDF, with the finger placement changing with each subsequent set of three, I felt like I'd fallen into the twilight zone. I repeated all the tests in both lessons over and over again and my fingers just don't seem to click. It's not that I had a problem understanding which notes are which letters. I totally get that, no problem. And as long as the numbers are above the notes, I'm kinda/sorta ok. But as soon as I tried lesson 9, I was totally lost. When the numbers are taken away, my fingers become instantly confused and fumbly. I can't seem to marry my fingers to what notes to play.

Nobody else really seems to be voicing this concern this early on. Is this just a "me" issue with a brain that's not clicking :shock: or is this normal and I just need a ton of repetition? Which is fine, I'm just suddenly feeling super uncoordinated and klutzy.
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Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you taste crunchy and good with ketchup

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sw1tch73ch
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by sw1tch73ch » Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:32 pm

Go ahead and practice a few more times with the numbers on. You are not required to turn them off as fast as you can. Eventually you want to play without numbers, but if you have to have them, they're there for your use. Maybe even alternate, one set on, one set off. See if that helps. I'll have go go back to review 7, 8 and 9 and see how they work.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

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dragonryder
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by dragonryder » Fri Feb 01, 2019 3:40 pm

Thanks for the feedback. I did practice a whole bunch more, and it is getting better and more familiar. I honestly try not to pay attention to the numbers, it's the letters and corresponding fingers on keys that really throws me. I liked it better reading just the notes with no letters :?

I didn't turn the numbers off, but in some of the practice sessions, the numbers are automatically omitted in the 2nd half of a song so that you can practice without them.

I just went for a walk with a neighbor who said she used to play piano as a teen. She was taught with finger numbering only for the first few months before any letters were taught. She was shocked that letters were introduced so early, so that did make me feel much better :-)
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Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you taste crunchy and good with ketchup

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sw1tch73ch
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by sw1tch73ch » Fri Feb 01, 2019 5:39 pm

Yeah, I remember these are the ones that have the Letters whether you have letters on or off. These are fairly foundational so practice them a bunch. When you get them the rest of reading music gets easier.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

itsgarry
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by itsgarry » Sat Feb 02, 2019 6:58 am

I've just started Playground Sessions and am at the same stage as you, I get the theory but the fingers don't yet know which keys to press when looking at the staff.

I just unlocked the "Reading Music - Staff Notation (Rookie)" Course and have started doing that, it is a lot more practice on being able to read notes on the staff. Hopefully it will click soon.

Klavarskribo seems to be a more logical way to learn which keys to press on a keyboard :-)

Cheers,
Garry

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dragonryder
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by dragonryder » Wed Feb 06, 2019 7:11 pm

Hi Garry,

I'm so glad to hear someone is where I am on this :D I'm half way through the rookie tutorials. I'm finding that repetition, over and over, is really helping me. It's not that it's starting to "click" yet (no idea when that will happen..!) but rather I'm catching on faster and faster. For example, with each practice piece I read the actual music notes slowly, forcing myself to ignore the letters, while I press my fingers of the keys to manually practice. Then I actually play the practice piece and usually get a good 85% or more the first time. Before, I was messing up all over the place!

I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't a quick process. I never understood how on earth it could take so long to learn the piano (I mean, why doesn't it just take a few weeks or months). But now, I get it. I really get why this is going to take quite a long time :?
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davidsides
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by davidsides » Tue Feb 12, 2019 3:58 pm

Thanks for the feedback! These letter-name lessons are actually a new set of exercises that we added a month ago. The placement of these lessons is also different than where they were before (they appear sooner in the user experience as opposed to later). This decision came on the heels of many of our users wanting more music theory early on in the Bootcamp.

Hearing from you all about how you're progressing with the lessons allows us to deliver the best experience we can so please keep the feedback coming.

Pohutukawa
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by Pohutukawa » Mon Feb 18, 2019 12:57 am

Ngā peke me ngā heke! The climbing up the going down! Yeah, I'm barely out of rookie beginner, now going really slowly in rookie intermediate. For me, actually working out the psychology of it has been as tough as the music, i.e. expecting too much too fast, wanting to give up when it just feels impossible and like I'm not getting it and never will. That's all still there, but -- and excuse the cliche -- I'm really focusing on the journey not the destination. Enjoying it as I go so the hard impossible bits are as OK as the "yay, nailed it" bits. All to say, I've felt just as you feel re just not getting it!

itsgarry
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by itsgarry » Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:42 pm

Hi David,

As feedback, I really appreciate the extra lessons in the "Reading Music - Staff Notation (Rookie)" Course. There are a lot of hours of lessons there, and I'm alternating between the bootcamp lessons and this course, that is, I do the bootcamp lessons and then the course lessons that are at an equivalent level.

My music reading skill is slowly developing, I can identify keys on the keyboard without problems, but associating blobs on the staff with the key takes me some time and typically I get some wrong the first few times. But I feel like I'm progressing, and now I'm doing the lesson where you have to move your hand position to play the second part. I find that challenging but when I finally get it it is rewarding.

john76
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Re: Am I the only one who is having a heart attack at rookie session 8?!

Post by john76 » Sun Mar 31, 2019 6:24 pm

Dragonryder,
It was very interesting to read your post as you nailed my thoughts exactly. I also understand the theory, have no problems reading the notes (although slow). I have no problems identifying the keys neither. Knowing that the first finger is on, lets say, C, i can read the notes and play them. The problems start when the fingers start "moving around". I seem to lose my context then, when 1 no longer means C, but something else. Then, my brain can't connect the numbers to the notes anymore… I can only imagine how difficult it will be once I have to start changing the positions on the fly.

The course hasn't elaborated on this (fingering and why the fingers are put where they are) so far, but maybe it will soon.

It's a relief to hear that I am not the only one to have difficulties with it though :)

John

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