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How I’d redesign piano sheet music

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Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#131

Post by baby »

bbx wrote: post #21

What happens if you rotate that first image 90° counter-clockwise? http://i.imgur.com/i2V57On.png You get a traditional sheet music with simpler graphics. What about the new features? - Easily printable: traditional scores already are - Screen and scroll-friendly: you can stack traditional score pages vertically - Chord names: already exist on traditional scores - Lyrics: same thing - Foot pedal arrows: same thing Th…

It's not like code, music sheets are unoptimized for learning. And at the end music sheets are just here for you to learn a music, they are nothing more.

Personally I'm very fond of that kind of music sheets: http://herbalcell.com/static/sheets/legend-of-zelda-twilight...

I've learned complex musics in weeks while it would have taken me month with a real music sheet.

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#133

Post by baby »

mattbasta wrote: post #4

I really love this. When I was young, I was really excited to learn to play the piano. The biggest problem I had was being able to read the sheet music. It was incredibly difficult for me to read and understand the notes for both hands at the same time. A big part of this was that when individual notes were off the normal staff (e.g., C is below the staff), you either had to have an innate sense of how far from the s…

I use such music sheets when they exist: http://herbalcell.com/static/sheets/legend-of-zelda-twilight...

it already simplifies reading A LOT.

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#134

Post by PepeGomez »

ta92929 wrote: post #128
vitd wrote: post #123

I love the idea of trying to come up with a better way of notating music to make it more accessible. That's a great idea. However, I'm skeptical that this is it. First, looking at the 2 notations of "Let it Be," we can see that the new notation does not convey the same data, or even a simplified version of it. It's a different version of it. I find that odd. Second, I don't think learning music notation is very diffi…

I have always wondered how dance/ballet is recorded, and I'm not surprised it comes down to video. But music is more limited data I think, an opinion supported by the fact that sheet music exists and sheet dance is still questionable. There's a passage in a piano piece I'm having trouble with and I tried watching videos of pros on youtube to figure out how to play it. It was frustrating and almost useless. The video…

You can slow down youtube videos in the gear menu and it still can't be seen. I suppose you would need 60fps to see that.

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#135

Post by PepeGomez »

baddox wrote: post #121
andrewliebchen wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's clearly stated that the solution is meant to be like guitar tabs for piano. It's a limited, instrument-centered approach and not intended as a complete or universal solution.

Traditional sheet music is already like guitar tabs for piano, because pianos (unlike guitars) only have one physical place where you can play a given note (like middle C). The reason guitar tabs make some sense [0] for guitar music is that "middle C" on a guitar can be played on several different strings. [0] I say "some sense," because tabs are still fairly limiting, particularly in depicting complex rhythms. Tradi…

Does it matter on which string the note is played, except to not get yourself into an unplayable position?

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#136

Post by baddox »

PepeGomez wrote: post #135
baddox wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traditional sheet music is already like guitar tabs for piano, because pianos (unlike guitars) only have one physical place where you can play a given note (like middle C). The reason guitar tabs make some sense [0] for guitar music is that "middle C" on a guitar can be played on several different strings. [0] I say "some sense," because tabs are still fairly limiting, particularly in depicting complex rhythms. Tradi…

Does it matter on which string the note is played, except to not get yourself into an unplayable position?

Yeah, it's mostly about playability. It's easy to get into a position where you're playing the notes in the current chord correctly, but there's no way to play the melody of shift elegantly to the next chord. Classical guitar sheet music contains a lot of hints for fingering. Fret bar indicators are quite common, and sometimes you'll see complete stacked fingering indicators. Some more difficult pieces will give you almost nothing, and it's up to your experience (and just brute force) to figure out the ideal fingerings.

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#137

Post by epsylon »

PepeGomez wrote: post #135
baddox wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traditional sheet music is already like guitar tabs for piano, because pianos (unlike guitars) only have one physical place where you can play a given note (like middle C). The reason guitar tabs make some sense [0] for guitar music is that "middle C" on a guitar can be played on several different strings. [0] I say "some sense," because tabs are still fairly limiting, particularly in depicting complex rhythms. Tradi…

Does it matter on which string the note is played, except to not get yourself into an unplayable position?

What baddox says is true, but I have to add that there is a noticeable difference in timbre between the same note played at two different places. So if you find yourself with the choice, you have to use your own judgment to decide which fingering you think sounds better.

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#138

Post by raverbashing »

baddox wrote: post #121
andrewliebchen wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's clearly stated that the solution is meant to be like guitar tabs for piano. It's a limited, instrument-centered approach and not intended as a complete or universal solution.

Traditional sheet music is already like guitar tabs for piano, because pianos (unlike guitars) only have one physical place where you can play a given note (like middle C). The reason guitar tabs make some sense [0] for guitar music is that "middle C" on a guitar can be played on several different strings. [0] I say "some sense," because tabs are still fairly limiting, particularly in depicting complex rhythms. Tradi…

> for guitar music is that "middle C" on a guitar can be played on several different strings.

True, and in the Piano you have to care about which finger to play it with (which is a similar problem)

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#139

Post by baddox »

raverbashing wrote: post #138
baddox wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traditional sheet music is already like guitar tabs for piano, because pianos (unlike guitars) only have one physical place where you can play a given note (like middle C). The reason guitar tabs make some sense [0] for guitar music is that "middle C" on a guitar can be played on several different strings. [0] I say "some sense," because tabs are still fairly limiting, particularly in depicting complex rhythms. Tradi…

> for guitar music is that "middle C" on a guitar can be played on several different strings. True, and in the Piano you have to care about which finger to play it with (which is a similar problem)

That's true, but I find it's generally a much simpler problem on piano than guitar, and thus sight reading on the piano is much more tenable than on the guitar.

Re: How I’d redesign piano sheet music

#140

Post by DanSmooth »

The best use I can imagine for this is as a progressive tool to learn traditional sheet music. You start with this (simple stuff, maybe even add the finger-numbers onto the dots so one knows which finger hits which key) and make it harder step by step. Introduce pedaling, remove the numbers on the dots or replace them with their note (first by letter, later by graphical representations on traditional sheets), before you gradually transform it into traditional sheet music. Last step would probably the switch from horizontal to vertical but at this point you will have the notes down and it should make it easier to transfer from notes to keys.
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