Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

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dewman
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:13 pm

Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by dewman » Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:15 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmIJkEPCoZw I hope PGS develops something similar

EFlatMajor
Posts: 147
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:51 pm

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by EFlatMajor » Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:31 pm

It looks very promising - you should put in a new feature request so that the development team knows about it.

dewman
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:13 pm

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by dewman » Fri Jul 31, 2020 5:16 pm

Its difficult to get into the forum. on here its locked out.

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

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by lucidmusicinc » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:10 pm

In my opinion this app demonstrated in the linked video is terrible. I used it for all of 15 minutes before I quit in disgust. I can't understand how institutions and high level performers endorse this nonsense. PGS may be a little behind in terms of having as formalised a syllabus, but the experience practicing with it (at least on MacOS) is far more fluid and stable.

dewman
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:13 pm

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by dewman » Sat Aug 01, 2020 10:24 am

I've used it and its amazing. my sight reading ability increased dramatically when using it. why would universities use it? because that's how they are trained. they are trained to look at a piece of sheet music over 20 or 30 seconds and then play it. People have different goals and are at different stages in their journey of playing piano. Me personally i want to become a better sight reader. Even after taking PGS all the way through my sight reading ability was dreadful. I do get joy out of just figuring stuff out but it makes things easier when your sight reading is halfway decent. im not looking to be a doctorate level scholar or anything when it comes to sight reading but I dont want to spend days figuring a 1 or 2 page sheet music out in days.yes the fun is playing but if you cant read the music well then its no point in it. It's truely like another language. After PGS going by that sites SASR score i was at 256 which is very basic level at reading. Now its not really PGS' fault my site reading is horrible i just havent spent the time doing it enough. And so that is why i requested exercises for sight reading. I've quit playing the songs in my library because i got frustrated because my sight reading is horrible. Im basically illiterate when it comes to sight reading. Also, in general i think with daily exercises it keeps people coming back to the app daily. I haven't really been on the app much because i finished all the exercises. So now im searching the net for other stuff to do until they add more content. Which again is why i think they should have stuff on here to do daily. The feeling of stagnation and not learning for me is frustrating.

dewman
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:13 pm

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by dewman » Sat Aug 01, 2020 10:44 am

lucidmusicinc wrote:
Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:10 pm
In my opinion this app demonstrated in the linked video is terrible. I used it for all of 15 minutes before I quit in disgust. I can't understand how institutions and high level performers endorse this nonsense. PGS may be a little behind in terms of having as formalised a syllabus, but the experience practicing with it (at least on MacOS) is far more fluid and stable.
You might be a better sight reader than me. What was your score btw when you took it? mine was 256. If you were digusted with it then you are probably a better sight reader than i am and probably perfectly fine with where you are. i personally am not happy with my sight reading abilities right now. So i started using this to help me get better and it did improve some it went to 269 which is still not very good. very basic level

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

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by lucidmusicinc » Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:11 pm

Here's my hot take on said music learning app:
1. It has hundreds, possibly thousands of exercises from well known publishers and artists
2. It gets used by institutions training professional musicians
3. It has endorsements by well respected musicians

So what's not to like?

It looks like it was designed to run on computers built in the 1990s, and maybe it is supposed to, because of item 2? Maybe they have to keep their software compatible with very old machines that institutions who are their largest customer base, presumably, have old basic desktop computers in their depreciated computer labs. To me it seems this app is like a set of training wheels to get newbies up and ready for book learning with their teachers.

For self learners looking to quickly get into advanced playing, PGS is the better path, even though it needs more technique content and less contemporary EDM/pop titles.

In 2020 we've all become accustomed to a certain UI design language, however, and we shouldn't be straining our muscles with repetitive tasks like tapping screens. PGS is designed so that when you open a session, you can control the app from your midi keyboard with minimal interruption. Set your tempo, start the lesson and go hard! Occasionally you can make the odd adjustment, but the app has streamlined all the repetitive tasks for you.

Not so in the other one, which is why I couldn't tolerate it for more than one lesson. I had to learn the right hand part. Then I had to open a menu and select the left hand part. Then I had to open the menu and select both hands part. I had to do the practice and then the assessment. And then I had to go to the next lesson. My hands were on the screen tapping menus and waiting for loading twice as long as I was actually practicing anything.

TLDR: PGS is better, just take my word for it.

On to the point about sight reading: Rookie bootcamp does a good job of getting your eyes trained on the staff. You need time to improve your sight reading and you may need a better resolution monitor. Case in point, I used a 10.5 iPad my first year, when I switched to a 12.9 for reading scores, my playing was so much better.

PGS for the PC/Mac has its disadvantages, for example the scrolling of the score is a terrible idea in my opinion. Whether or not they change it in the upcoming update remains to be seen. We'll just have to accept whatever they come up with because it still works, I just wish they customised the experience to match reading pages of sheet music rather than scrolling along with the cursor moving like a typewriter.

I can recommend other sight reading apps for IOS:

PianoNotes Pro
NoteTrainer

There are similar ones out there that randomly give you notes to play on the keyboard for all platforms but if you're on IOS I totally endorse these ones.

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

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by lucidmusicinc » Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:24 pm

dewman wrote:
Sat Aug 01, 2020 10:24 am
People have different goals and are at different stages in their journey of playing piano. Me personally i want to become a better sight reader. Even after taking PGS all the way through my sight reading ability was dreadful. I do get joy out of just figuring stuff out but it makes things easier when your sight reading is halfway decent. im not looking to be a doctorate level scholar or anything when it comes to sight reading but I dont want to spend days figuring a 1 or 2 page sheet music out in days.yes the fun is playing but if you cant read the music well then its no point in it. It's truely like another language. After PGS going by that sites SASR score i was at 256 which is very basic level at reading. Now its not really PGS' fault my site reading is horrible i just havent spent the time doing it enough. And so that is why i requested exercises for sight reading. I've quit playing the songs in my library because i got frustrated because my sight reading is horrible. Im basically illiterate when it comes to sight reading.
You are probably being too hard on your self. Another disadvantage of PGS is that the song tempos are amped up at hyper-speed. My sight-reading in PGS to get a passing score is between 30-40 and then I can take it up to 60-70. Anything above takes memorisation, and yeah, the payoff for memorising rookie songs, especially the complicated classical ones is negligible.

You might want to look for a teacher who can coach you up until you gain the confidence to play and get you to notice habitual mistakes.

Flowkey is another app you can try out which gives you something similar to having a piano teacher. It has its advantages and disadvantages too, it's on par with PGS, you could go with one or the other, but better if you go with both.

One thing you ought to be doing is playing the piece and looping through those tricky bits.

TLDR: slow your tempo down, chunk your practicing to 2-4 measures at a time, watch some videos by teachers and try to find a teacher to get the answers you seek for improving your sight reading... keep practicing and don't over think it!!!

dewman
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:13 pm

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by dewman » Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:25 pm

if i memorize it im not reading the notes. thats a problem for me since i always tend to not read the notes anyway. i went to the other app for awhile to improve my sight reading ability because in the end if you cant read the notes you cant play it. im not looking to be a professor or doctorate level of sight reading but its not even halfway decent. which is why i need the repetitive exercises. ive only been using it over a week and half and my sight reading has improved. There is a difference between training yourself to read the notes and another teaching yourself how to play a song. A song yes is going to take memorization because i dont know to many people that can sight read a piece of music with 100 measures to it and play it all the way through with no mistakes on the first go. It takes multiple time and breaking it down into small chunks Its two totally different frames of mind. Its great breaking down each part of a long song to learn but its different than sight reading practice. its great to learn songs but once again hard to do if your sight reading isnt up to par. you cant have one without the other.

Moreless
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2017 12:45 am

Re: Sight Reading hopeful for PGS

Post by Moreless » Tue Aug 04, 2020 11:54 am

dewman wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:25 pm
if i memorize it im not reading the notes. thats a problem for me since i always tend to not read the notes anyway. i went to the other app for awhile to improve my sight reading ability because in the end if you cant read the notes you cant play it. im not looking to be a professor or doctorate level of sight reading but its not even halfway decent. which is why i need the repetitive exercises. ive only been using it over a week and half and my sight reading has improved. There is a difference between training yourself to read the notes and another teaching yourself how to play a song. A song yes is going to take memorization because i dont know to many people that can sight read a piece of music with 100 measures to it and play it all the way through with no mistakes on the first go. It takes multiple time and breaking it down into small chunks Its two totally different frames of mind. Its great breaking down each part of a long song to learn but its different than sight reading practice. its great to learn songs but once again hard to do if your sight reading isnt up to par. you cant have one without the other.
After you've learned 20+ songs you'll see patterns and "know" what is probably coming next. You'll probably notice this first in the bass. A lot of pop songs are written in the same key - G Major or C Major. What would have taken 2 months to learn now takes 2 weeks. That's the long game. If you keep at it and practice for years eventually what might have taken 2 weeks might take 3 days to learn.

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