Category: Jam Session
Hello all,
This Christmas I asked for and recieved private piano/keyboard lessons. I've always been rather talented with the piano, but possess very little skill. Since I can't read printed music, I've learned everything by ear. I know very little theory. My question to anyone studying or who has studied the instrument is how did you go about learning? Of course everyone learns differently, but I thought I'd ask for some other people's perspectives.
I could probably give you better answers if you were a bit more specific, but here's some stuff just off the top of my head. First of all, nothing works more wonders than a good teacher. Make sure you find a teacher who is good for you and even consider switching or studying with someone else for a few lessons here and there. I've studied with the same teacher for many years now and it's almost like he's used to my playing style. Little mistakes here and there that he might miss eventually add up to become a limitation that no amount of practice could fix. When I started taking lessons with my new instructor at college this last semester he immediately spotted these and helped me fix them, increasing my potential in ways that my other instructor missed or didn't think important. Also, nothing is more important than scales. Know your scales, your four types of triads, and at least the I, IV, and V chords in each key. You can play so much music with just those three chords and knowing them in every key would make your playing that much more flexible. I hope you enjoy your lessons and feel free to send me a message on here. I'd be happy to help out.
That was helpful Dead knight. I realize I wasn't all that specific at all. I think what I'm concernned about the most is the theory part of things. I can't at this time read music. I see enough to read large print, and I do read braille, but I doubt I'll have access to braille music. I figure there's enough on youtube to learn the things you suggested however. it will just take practice. I guess I really wanted some pointers from someone who has lear4ned without sight. These were a good start.:)
You absolutely don't have to know your braille music or print music for that matter to be able to learn music theory. As poster 2 said a good teacher is everything when it comes to theory as well as physical skill. I have never in my life had a single lesson only devoted to music theory but I have with a friend of mine written a book on braille music and music theory so this is something that's very possible. So if you find yourself a teacher who knows his theory you should be good to go, even though I don't want to be judgmental I believe a teacher who has his training in rhythmic music instead of classical is more likely to be able to explain it to you without notation.
depends on what you want to do with your music. i mean, there is nothing stopping you from learning purely from ear. There are specirfic tecnics that just, do that, play by ear. It is some Japanese tecnic that has been use world wide. But, if you are talking about going for some music exam in the future, or have better knowledge about Music theory and all that stuff, then, i suppose, sooner or later you would, like to learn at leat, some basic of music theory, or the basic of braille music. Braille music is like, learning a set of different code, completely different from r what you would have learn with braille. But again, as i said, nothing stoppingyou from just learn to play from ear.
Thank you both. perhaps I'll gently interview my prospective instructor and see what their background is. It's a pretty loose and free program as I understand. As for what I'm hoping to do: I've got musical talent, but no skill as I may have mentioned. I want to compose my own music, though I'm not aiming for anything technically stunning. More like melodically pleasant. I do a lot of audio engineering and it would be nice to compose scores of my own, at least to a degree rather than finding pre-existing (and often copywritten music.