Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Discussion about Playground's supplemental courses.
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raghavr
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Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 11:35 am

Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Post by raghavr » Mon May 25, 2020 4:55 pm

Hi,

A lengthy question but would great appreciate any advice from the more experienced folks on this forum.

I'm new to the piano and have just started with the rookie bootcamp (about 20 lessons in). In the meanwhile, I've gotten access to some courses such as Reading Notes, Raise me up, both hands practice etc.

I like learning to read the notations BUT its a little difficult to get to any level of fluency and then also continue working through the bootcamp and other courses like "both hands practice" WHILE reading the notes at the same time.

I'm interested in pushing further with the rookie bootcamp and the both hands course BUT don't think I can do it without the finger numbering on top (and therefore, unable to read the notation).

So, my question is - at what point do I insist to myself that I will not do the numberings and will only read the notes? If I do this now, then I suspect I won't get very far given I can't read notes fast enough for the "both hands practice" course or the bootcamp as the lessons themselves get tougher.

Alternatively, do I forget about reading notes for a while and just get better at playing through the courses?

Thanks,
Raghav.

raghavr
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 11:35 am

Re: Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Post by raghavr » Fri May 29, 2020 3:43 pm

Can someone help with the below please??

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sw1tch73ch
Posts: 539
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:23 pm

Re: Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Post by sw1tch73ch » Fri May 29, 2020 3:58 pm

There is no prescribed method. You do what is best for you.

My thoughts, though far from Expert, are:

1- Start with Boot Camp, as you have already done.
2- When courses open, have a look at them, if they look interesting, take a break from the Boot Camp and work on the Course. They open, generally, when they are appropriate for you to work on.
3- Work on songs as your confidence builds. I was about halfway, perhaps a bit further, through Rookie Boot Camp when I did "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers.
4- Finish your Rookie Boot Camp before starting Intermediate, and Intermediate before Advanced. The lessons do build on knowledge learned in earlier lessons, so do them in order. Skip a lesson if you get stuck on it, but come back to it often and finish it eventually.

Do the Reading Music Course as soon as it opens for you. Also, I did the 50 Famous Melodies right away.

Start each lesson, when you get to it the first time, with the finger numbers on, figure out where your hands go. After the fingers can do their thing, turn the numbers off and look over the music with the letters showing. And before you consider yourself done with a lesson, play it several times with no number and no letters, just the "raw" notation.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

raghavr
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 11:35 am

Re: Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Post by raghavr » Sun May 31, 2020 3:55 pm

Thank you very much jbs. That was very helpful.

jgtmd
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:59 pm

Re: Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Post by jgtmd » Wed Jun 03, 2020 3:46 pm

Raghavr....

I was also expecting to have real challenges reading the notes (e.g., without the fingering activated)... and I did (and still do, to some degree).

But I found that after doing the BootCamp exercises over, and over, and over... it gradually begins to sink in. i did the first couple of BootCamp exercises too quickly.

For example PGS doesn't really give guidance, but I generally do each BootCamp exercise 10 to 20 times, and do not move on to the next exercise until I can play the exercise 3-5 times in a row with a 100% score each time.

I also browsed the web and found some piano grand staff examples that I printed out and keep at various places away from the piano. And when I pass by, I'll pick up the sheet and do a quick 30 second review.

As the saying goes, "...practice, practices, practice"... and then I'll, "practice some more".

Regards... Jim

raghavr
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 11:35 am

Re: Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Post by raghavr » Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:31 am

Thank you very much for that reply Jim.. I hear you loud and clear, it's a long slog here and the only way to get better is practice, practice, drink some water and repeat :)

I like your idea of printing the grand staff examples and keeping them around so you're always having opportunities to do those quick reviews.

lucidmusicinc
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 1:14 am

Re: Reading notes vs practicing other courses or the bootcamp - priority and timeline?

Post by lucidmusicinc » Mon Jun 22, 2020 4:12 am

Playground offers a lot of classical songs free of charge. While bootcamps are helpful, I think you'll get more satisfaction tackling the songs.

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