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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

#131

Post by corytheboyd »

gjulianm wrote: post #39
sandGorgon wrote: post #18

I just started learning piano in the COVID lockdown. The best and cheapest way to learn is use an app: Simply Piano(android+ios), Piano Marvel(ios), etc and connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard. this allows you to spend the next 6 months learning without anyone getting disturbed..while the app gives you realtime feedback about which keys you are pressing. you wont miss the lack of a teacher...especially during th…

Sorry but I have to disagree a lot. An app is not the best way to learn piano. Piano is not just about pressing keys. Does the app correct your position (important if you don't want to get fatigue and cramps), your volume, fingerings, etc? Does it tell you how to practice the parts where you're struggling? > connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard Please don't do that. I mean, if you just want to give it a try to pi…

Going to shamelessly use this thread to pulse check something I am working on.

I too have been learning piano over the last five months or so, but I found a private teacher through a local music school. Very glad I made that decision, we work well together and it’s amazing having someone for 1hr a week to keep you on track, motivated, correcting you in real time.

Apps cannot do that, but there IS room for technology to assist remote learning. Neither of us has an amazing camera setup that can capture a full 88 key piano, which is tricky for performances that span many octaves... so you know pretty much any song :P We both have MIDI out though, which got me to thinking you could pretty easily stream that MIDI data through a p2p connection to render keys on a remote end in near real time.

I have been working on a prototype on and off for a few months on a prototype and testing it with my teacher. It’s been useful for picking up the slack of not having complex camera rigging, and the cost of entry is buying a midi-to-usb cable.

Anyway I’ve been ramping up to get it ready for letting other people try it out and wanted to hop into this very relevant thread and drop the pitch to see if there is interest in the idea!

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#132

Post by jacquesm »

kranner wrote: post #121
alisonkisk wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100 vs $1000+ is a big deal.

Digital pianos around the $500 mark are pretty good these days.

Seconded, Yamaha, Kawai and Roland all make gear in that price range that is nothing short of incredible in terms of quality and sound. Besides the fact that they don't need tuning like an acoustic would and which tends to add up over time.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#133

Post by wolco2 »

vixen99 wrote: post #96

Worth mentioning for anyone who happens not to know about it that there's a massive repository of out-of-copyright (either by time or decision of the composer) music scores and recordings for all instruments by a huge number of composers. Using the 'genre' section is useful for finding music of an appropriate level for performers. https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Composers https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page https://imsl…

Love the business model.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#134

Post by jacquesm »

corytheboyd wrote: post #131
gjulianm wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but I have to disagree a lot. An app is not the best way to learn piano. Piano is not just about pressing keys. Does the app correct your position (important if you don't want to get fatigue and cramps), your volume, fingerings, etc? Does it tell you how to practice the parts where you're struggling? > connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard Please don't do that. I mean, if you just want to give it a try to pi…

Going to shamelessly use this thread to pulse check something I am working on. I too have been learning piano over the last five months or so, but I found a private teacher through a local music school. Very glad I made that decision, we work well together and it’s amazing having someone for 1hr a week to keep you on track, motivated, correcting you in real time. Apps cannot do that, but there IS room for technology…

If you get real-time reliable detection of notes and chords working in the browser then please let me now. Meanwhile, I'll plug https://pianojacq.com/ which I wrote to help practice (digital or silent) piano.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#135

Post by rubyn00bie »

sandGorgon wrote: post #18

I just started learning piano in the COVID lockdown. The best and cheapest way to learn is use an app: Simply Piano(android+ios), Piano Marvel(ios), etc and connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard. this allows you to spend the next 6 months learning without anyone getting disturbed..while the app gives you realtime feedback about which keys you are pressing. you wont miss the lack of a teacher...especially during th…

Nice slur drop... for literally no reason.

> to an el cheapo midi keyboard.

El cheapo? You could just have said cheap and not come across as prick.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#136

Post by bananapear »

vixen99 wrote: post #96

Worth mentioning for anyone who happens not to know about it that there's a massive repository of out-of-copyright (either by time or decision of the composer) music scores and recordings for all instruments by a huge number of composers. Using the 'genre' section is useful for finding music of an appropriate level for performers. https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Composers https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page https://imsl…

There’s also the Mutopia project:

https://www.mutopiaproject.org/

They are working to typeset out of copyright works using GNU LilyPond. The scores are particularly beautifully typeset and very easy to read when printed.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#137

Post by scarecrowbob »

amelius wrote: post #3

I wish piano methods would offer me the choice of genre (jazz, latin, classical, ...) and that they would start with songs that are perhaps technically simple, but still interesting from a musical viewpoint.

I play a lot of jazz and blues on the piano, well enough that people pay me to do that. I can't read very well, and if I had to play Bach correctly (or, I'd really struggle even reading student etudes), but when I've played in big bands I've gotten by okay.

It's possible to learn the way I did, which was to first learn guitar and bass, and get an idea of how chord progressions work...

At that point, you can approach the piano like guitar, and play a bass line with your left hand and whatever chords you want on the right, and slowly move into reading and playing melodies from fakebooks.

That isn't, I think, a very hard approach to the instrument, and it gives you a lot of latitude on what you get from it. The first song I played on piano was Grateful Dead's tune Ripple... it's 3 chords and I just alternated the bass notes and sang the melody.

You're not going to find a method book that does that, because there's not a lot of method to it.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#138

Post by jacquesm »

maille wrote: post #24
sandGorgon wrote: post #18

I just started learning piano in the COVID lockdown. The best and cheapest way to learn is use an app: Simply Piano(android+ios), Piano Marvel(ios), etc and connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard. this allows you to spend the next 6 months learning without anyone getting disturbed..while the app gives you realtime feedback about which keys you are pressing. you wont miss the lack of a teacher...especially during th…

what kind of cheap keyboard would you recommend?

I'd scrounge craigslist and ebay for a lightly used Yamaha, Kawai or Roland digital piano. $300-400 should get you something that is next to brand new. People do a lot of impulse buying find out that it is hard work and then get rid of them again.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#139

Post by asimpletune »

Playing piano starts with melody [1]. Kids have the best method for learning something new. They are epistemologists of their own world.

1. https://youtu.be/hkQOtL6gzX4 (this title might throw you off, but she truly communicates what I mean so well about starting with melody.)

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#140

Post by JKCalhoun »

XCSme wrote: post #117
_jal wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference between being honest and clear and being a jerk. Most humans are not so bad at figuring that out.

I agree, although my point was that some people just want to have fun doing something, their goal isn't necessarily to get really good at it or to do it correctly. Many prefer doing things their own way rather than the right way, so they might not like being constantly told what they should do.

Also, perhaps it's mastery vs. creativity.

People who are learning an instrument are arguably at their most creative in fact because they don't know the right way to use the instrument. As they become more proficient it seems they "fall in line" and naïveté and serendipity go by the wayside.

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