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The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

freepianomethod.com

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Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#261

Post by schwartzworld »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #155
LeSaucy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most method books will touch on a wide variety of genres, usually to illustrate specific topics in music theory. If you can’t reason about intervals/scales, key, and chord progressions, “learning” genres like jazz will be like trying to learn differential calculus before linear algebra.

Calculus in practice involves a lot of symbol manipulation, so it's important to understand the symbols. Jazz in practice involves a lot of playing an instrument, so it's important to understand… Fill in the blank. I don't know about you, but I don't fill it in with “music theory”.

> Fill in the blank. I don't know about you, but I don't fill it in with “music theory”.

That's because you aren't a jazz musician. Jazz features lots of complex harmonies, and theory is a big part of writing and playing it. Certain subgenres are virtually impossible to perform without a solid theory foundation. You think you can just solo over Giant Steps by feel?

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#262

Post by powersnail »

simias wrote: post #244
powersnail wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that even bad practice is good practice May I try to persuade you otherwise? Bad habits are often linked to repetitive injuries in the long run. This is something that you don't really notice several months in, but will bite you when you start to play a lot. If you really want to self-teach, I would suggest at least take some classes in the beginning to properly form your posture.

I feel like it's overstated. Take people's postures in front of a computer: it's often terrible. Bad posture, bad keyboard usage, non ergonomic hardware etc... Yet we survive. Sure, it can create problems after years of constant abuse (RSI etc...) but generally that's true for people who spend multiple hours every day doing it wrong. If you learn to play piano 30 minutes every day for a year you'd really have to be d…

> Bad posture, bad keyboard usage, non ergonomic hardware etc... Yet we survive. Sure, it can create problems after years of constant abuse (RSI etc...)

Surely we’ve survived worse things. But that’s not the point.

The point is weighing the cost of a few months of lessons, and the risk of injuries.

Usually beginners don’t have to find the most expensive teacher; a undergraduate would suffice.

Why risk bad habits when there is an affordable alternative?

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#263

Post by sandGorgon »

jacquesm wrote: post #250
sandGorgon wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you able to mention a bit about your self learning/practice approach ? Im wondering about the next steps from Simply Piano in a couple of months. I have been told Czerny. But I'm not sure if that's the path that takes me to eventually playing Chopin. Would love to know if you figured out a "hacker way".

The 'hacker way' to me was to use my programming skills to write some software that helps me to achieve my goals. The project is steadily picking up steam and now has a small but quite dedicated following. It has helped me to build up a repertoire of pieces that I can play well enough to execute them fault less which leaves me free to concentrate on how I want to play them, good enough that the people I live with wil…

I actually saw the software and want to use it !

However what is the self-learning path to follow ? What is the pieces to practice ?

Im hoping you have an opinionated idea- it may not be perfect, but for a person like me ..super valuable!

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#264

Post by jacquesm »

sandGorgon wrote: post #263
jacquesm wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 'hacker way' to me was to use my programming skills to write some software that helps me to achieve my goals. The project is steadily picking up steam and now has a small but quite dedicated following. It has helped me to build up a repertoire of pieces that I can play well enough to execute them fault less which leaves me free to concentrate on how I want to play them, good enough that the people I live with wil…

I actually saw the software and want to use it ! However what is the self-learning path to follow ? What is the pieces to practice ? Im hoping you have an opinionated idea- it may not be perfect, but for a person like me ..super valuable!

This is why I'm so happy with the Mayron Cole material, I will try to transcribe all of it to midi files so it can be used with the software. It turns a 'neat little toy' into a complete computer assisted piano course.

For the moment though your best bet is to simply download a bunch of midi files and pick some that you would like to learn.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#265

Post by madhadron »

cipherboy wrote: post #209
madhadron wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a lot of people (myself included) started with tape on their fingerboard. I have come to dislike this method. It gets the student focused on looking at the fingerboard and using the small lateral muscles in their fingers to try to reach for the tape rather than finding the large muscle positioning and biomechanics that produces in tune fingerings. Hold up your hand with fingers straight. Try spreading your fingers…

OP was using frets, so I mentioned tapes... :-) Fundamentally, technique differs a lot based on size of the player. Ricci vs Perlman vs Shaham vs Midori vs Hahn vs Paganini, they all make the technique looks effortless. And the a lot reason why is because they've spent a lot of time removing bad tension from their playing. While elbow positioning does matter, it is more a function of string and third vs fifth hand po…

> Fundamentally, technique differs a lot based on size of the player.

I'm not sure about this. I'm tall and have huge hands, but I've seen the same approach work for quite small people. The actual technique you end up with can look quite different, but I think the goal is pedagogy that directs attention to the right things and let the rest fall in place around it.

> you want the finger to land normal to the board for any given string.

It's not clear to me why that would be.

I don't have access to a music library anymore, so the Babitz stuff looks like it might be hard to find, but the Martinic-Jercic book looks really interesting. Thanks!

> For me, what helped the most was removing the shoulder rest during practice.

When I decided I didn't have time to maintain both a Baroque and a modern technique, I ended up merging them. Haven't used a shoulder rest in years, but I do use a low, center mount chinrest with a gel pad on it.

I'm actually starting on the Bach two part inventions on piano these days in my small amount of time I allocate to music. I haven't touched my violin in months, sadly.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#266

Post by madhadron »

Kaibeezy wrote: post #206
madhadron wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm told it's easier to self-learn the guitar This is false. If you want to strum some chords, then, yes. Guitar's difficulty curve starts out very gentle. But then it quickly gets really, really steep. I self taught classical guitar for a couple of years (after already having played violin for many years), and it's easy to get yourself to the point where it's hard to advance without a teacher. And the harder you p…

Interesting multidimensional analysis. I’d like to see a collection and ongoing discussion of these graphs. Not just for musical instruments but everything. Start a blog, friend, or point me at ones you’ve seen.

I'll add a todo to my list to write up the idea. As far as I know I came up with it, and I've been telling it to people in person for at least a decade.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#267

Post by dang »

I thought you all might like to know that we received the following email from Mayron (shared here with permission):

My www.freepianomethod.com website continues to thrive thanks to your generous mentioning of it in your Hacker News. I am receiving emails from all over the world from people who, until now, had no way to learn music or to play the piano. I am 80 years old, and my dream of sharing my piano method, for free, with the world is coming true. Thank you for all you have done!

I just received an email from a music studio in Mongolia; the owner of the studio told me he is now using my extensive free piano method as the only teaching literature in his studio. And several school districts have emailed me that they are conducting "at home" teaching via computer and my piano method for students who are unable to attend school due to Covid lockdowns. You have no idea how happy these emails make me! My piano method is my life's work, and now it will continue to live throughout the world long after I am gone!

--Mayron Cole

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