Piano / Keyboard - Grades vs play by ear?

unreggd

Just something I've been thinkin about for this

I used to play keyboard ages ago, and I'd just learn whole songs by ear, but I only played with one hand

Im startin back learning in the new year, and I was planning to go down the route of grades; playing from sheet music

So, my question about learning to play from sheet is would it be likely that I get dependant on having sheet music to play from, and would I lose my sense of playing by ear?

Obviously this depends on the person, but just wonderin if anyone else here has any experience of it

Thanks!!

Rigsby

I dont play keyboards, so I'm only talking generally. IMO, the more you learn about all aspects of playing music, the better you will become and your enjoyment of it will increase. Having a good ear is definitely an asset as is being able to play from sheet music. One should not cancel out the other. You can always keep your ear sharp by playing along to songs and play from sheet music, depending on what the situation requires. The more tools in your arsenal the better IMO.

Hayte

unreggd wrote: »

Just something I've been thinkin about for this

I used to play keyboard ages ago, and I'd just learn whole songs by ear, but I only played with one hand

Im startin back learning in the new year, and I was planning to go down the route of grades; playing from sheet music

So, my question about learning to play from sheet is would it be likely that I get dependant on having sheet music to play from, and would I lose my sense of playing by ear?

Obviously this depends on the person, but just wonderin if anyone else here has any experience of it

Thanks!!

If you can afford schooling, absolutely do it because there are zero downsides like Rigsby said. I don't think about theory when I'm playing nor do I think about reading a staff because its all reflexive. Its a bit like how I'm touch typing this message to you without ever looking at my typing keyboard or thinking about what keys I need to press.

Being able to understand a musical staff and being able to write on one is very useful for quickly recording musical sketches so you can play them again later. Its much quicker than a piano roll which requires alot of vertical and horizontal distance to see the whole song on paper.

The problem of approaching music with rigid thinking is a separate issue to theory. There are ways to get out of this frame of mind but a great deal of it is psychological and so the solutions are often confidence and technique building exercises - anything that helps you to become supremely confident, which includes correcting posture and breath control. Breath control is important for all musicians and is critical for singers who need to take controlled breaths when they sing to prevent their vocal chords from getting shot to pieces. Everyone else just needs to take controlled breaths so they don't crumple mid performance. Posture is important for supporting a controlled breath, so all those times your parents and school teachers told you to sit up straight? Well, they were right.

When you are performing, you ideally want to be in a frame of mind where you are not really...conscious? Its hard to describe but I call it "being in the zone". Its kind of like a zen like state where you don't really think about what you are doing and it just comes out instinctively. I used to know a lass who went to the Royal College of Music and she was a far more accomplished musician than I am. She could basically get into the zone at will and just needed a few seconds to settle her breathing, get the right poise and she was off. That was the one thing I found most remarkable about it - that she could control it at will.

Most people that don't have training usually slip in and out of that place accidentally. A big part of it is to do with confidence, so if you have supreme confidence (in your ability) you can stay in that frame of mind for a long time. When you get to a certain level with your training, you will be taught how to do all of these things so it isn't exactly wrong to say that the ultimate aim of music theory is to learn it so you can forget it. They show you the structure of it, then techniques that allow you to distance yourself from it to avoid rigid thinking.

Oh and you won't lose your ability to play by ear. If anything, you should become even better at playing by ear.

Busi Girl

Hey Is there anywhere on the internet you can download sheet music for piano/keyboard for free?? Or any good secondhand music/bookshop where I could pick up a few good books in Dublin?
Student budget and all that :rolleyes::rolleyes:
Thanks!

evolving_doors

Busi Girl wrote: »

Hey Is there anywhere on the internet you can download sheet music for piano/keyboard for free?? Or any good secondhand music/bookshop where I could pick up a few good books in Dublin?
Student budget and all that :rolleyes::rolleyes:
Thanks!

Pop or Classical?

Classsical = IMSLP

Busi Girl

Armelodie wrote: »

Pop or Classical?

Classsical = IMSLP

More pop/stuff in the charts today?