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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

#181

Post by _jal »

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.

> so they might not like

No shit. I said, 'most people are not so bad at figuring this out'.

You're conflating an approach to niche skill development with jerks who don't know how to behave in public. They're not the same thing, and again, most normal people seem more than capable of figuring this out.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#182

Post by nautilus12 »

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…

This will teach you to play keyboard but not piano. There is ALOT more to piano than pressing keys at the right time. It's as nuanced an instrument as the violin, but you don't know that unless you've studied professionally or played on a good instrument

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#183

Post by biophysboy »

Long-time pianist here, here's a resource I also like:

https://fundamentals-of-piano-practice.readthedocs.io/

I like this resource because it is anti-workaholic and principled. It also really focuses on developing good habits, which is a huge part of piano. A strategic approach to practice can make it MUCH more efficient.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#184

Post by kidproquo »

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…

Completely agree on the Simply Piano plus MIDI approach. My autistic son is musically inclined, can play piano by ear. We have struggled trying to get him formally trained to read music. Then we found Simply Piano. He's taken to it very well, treating it as a game. This is the only way we have managed to get him to read music. We use it in conjunction with a music teacher via Zoom. Here's a video of him playing https://youtu.be/NEa9X36e7Vo

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#185

Post by gjulianm »

jacquesm wrote: post #178
gjulianm wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, and to make decisions you need information, that's what I'm trying to do. Also, you can have a teacher where the focus is to have fun with it and not drilling boring stuff. That's precisely the conversation I had with my current clarinet teacher. We still do boring stuff but he also brings me jazz songs and classical duets to play according to my level. It's a matter of establishing your goals with the tea…

So, the takeaways for me are: - Teachers can not give you motivation but they can sure kill it. - An app that keeps people motivated is better than nothing at all. - Horses for courses (not everybody is the same, and equally affluent, what works for you may not work for someone else) and if people are on a budget and they find a way that can make them enjoy what they are doing without breaking the bank on teachers an…

Yeah, I fully agree with that. Only thing is that I do think that a teacher can give you motivation by pointing you towards a next step that is both achievable and interesting for you.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#186

Post by porknubbins »

biophysboy wrote: post #183

Long-time pianist here, here's a resource I also like: https://fundamentals-of-piano-practice.readthedocs.io/ I like this resource because it is anti-workaholic and principled. It also really focuses on developing good habits, which is a huge part of piano. A strategic approach to practice can make it MUCH more efficient.

This sounds like a great resource, am I missing something or are there only two chapters and one is dedicated to piano tuning? Or is this more of a meta resource that tells you where to go to learn something like chord theory etc?

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#187

Post by biophysboy »

porknubbins wrote: post #186
biophysboy wrote: post #183

Long-time pianist here, here's a resource I also like: https://fundamentals-of-piano-practice.readthedocs.io/ I like this resource because it is anti-workaholic and principled. It also really focuses on developing good habits, which is a huge part of piano. A strategic approach to practice can make it MUCH more efficient.

This sounds like a great resource, am I missing something or are there only two chapters and one is dedicated to piano tuning? Or is this more of a meta resource that tells you where to go to learn something like chord theory etc?

Yeah, I don't know why he organizes like that. If you click on chapter one, you'll find basically an entire book of information in that one chapter.

This resource doesn't actually teach piano per se - it teaches "piano practice". In principle, you could use this to learn whatever you want.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#188

Post by palimpsests »

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”.

... how to use music theory to develop efficient practice routines for your instrument(s), goals, and current abilities.

— jazz musician of 25 years

(this calculus metaphor is pretty far off - music theory in practice, by a working jazz musician, doesn’t involve “manipulation of symbols”, at least not in the same way as one works mathematical problems and proofs. it involves a lot of time on your instrument, applying theory in practical and experiental ways. oftentimes we will write out a lead sheet, or transpose something, and use theory to do that. and so there’s some calculations happening. it becomes second nature with practice).

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#189

Post by XCSme »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #140
XCSme wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is so true, as soon as I started learning more music theory I felt that my creativity went down as I started recognizing chords/progressions and I feel slowly getting stuck trying to play by the rules.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#190

Post by palimpsests »

actuator wrote: post #6

Has someone here picked a musical instrument seriously for the first time in their 20s and managed to self learn? If yes, it would be helpful if you could point to resources that were helpful to you and any daily practice schedule you followed? I have tried learning piano and I found a lot of stuff irritatingly hard to get right and got bored. Like for some reason I am not able to transition to other keys well when I…

In my 20s, I self-taught myself drums, percussion, piano/keyboard, Ableton, DJ (live mixing and remixing in multihour sets using vinyl records, samplers, and other bits of gear - very much a kind of musical instrument - perhaps it’s more of a meta-instrument).

I play a lot of instruments (have been playing guitar, bass, woodwinds, and singing since age 10), and my practice routines on various instruments have a lovely way of informing my development and expression on others.

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