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Yes, you too can learn to play ... Rachmaninoff


Dave Horne

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I bumped into his Youtube where he explains his method

 

Mr Creek explained he started piano lessons at 8, and struggled with notation. So his teacher used the alternative. Somewhat later, he mastered notation and recommends to everyone

 

However, along the way, he met many piano students who had talent but simply struggled with notation. They were discouraged and would have given up playing.

He brought back that white board technique to help these students out.

 

I am slow at bass clef notation and get impatient with complex notation.

 

I don't object to his method. I noticed he has about 200 free instructional youtube piano videos.

 

Please continue the Internet dork-a-thon

:D

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

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Well, there's always a million shortcuts.... become a guitar hero in 30 days etc. etc.

 

But there are sometimes more efficient ways to do things.. ways to cut to the chase, and there IS a difference.

 

And it depends to some degree on what the student wants to do, doesn't it? The kids in the church band playing guitar on a primitive level... I try to teach them basics of theory and technique, but they don't need to know how to solo over Giant Steps or play Bach pieces to play 3 or 4 chord tunes.. So I don't try and cram it down their throats. I cram it down my OWN throat.... LOL!

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Looked and sounded fine to me... Except he has to always be there next to you to explain all the things that are not displayed in the notation :) Job security. You are not allowed to learn/practice it by yourself.

 

Hamburg Steinway O, Crumar Mojo, Nord Electro 4 HP 73, EV ZXA1

 

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+2 for nonsense.

 

I used to play this a bit a few years ago after I heard it in the movie Shine. I didn't use the fingering that Shawn suggests - that crossing over and playing in octaves doesn't really seem necessary to me - am I missing something? How do you guys finger this? - I'm sure lots of you have also played it.

 

OK, so I actually went back to the sheet music - what do know its actually got two versions with the fingering different according to whether your piano has a sostenuto pedal. Its all coming back to me now. I just had my grand tuned in the last couple of weeks for the first time in maybe 8 or 9 years and its fun to try and play this again.

I like to move it, move it (except The Wurly which can be a bit temperamental and the 122 for obvious reasons)
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I don't laugh out loud too often when I click on a link, but when this video fired up and I saw that huge ridiculous card, I lost it!!

 

Is there anything better than Dave Horne prowling YouTube and bringing before us the ridiculous and inane for all to see?

 

It would be easier to just take a video of your freaking hands and talk someone through the piece than make a giant cardboard sheet with all the notes on it. Rachmaninoff of all pieces too! What about the technique you need to play that piece?

 

Shortcut dudes like Scott the piano guy and this toolbox promise a shortcut to playing amazing arrangements without lots of playing and practice when in reality you only get proficient at the piano by carving out a style and putting in time. It's all about reps at the instrument. How the hell are you supposed to acquire the technique to play half this stuff and how the hell are you supposed to learn a piece that isn't prenotated in ridiculous cardboard?

 

Why attempt to improve what's already very efficient? (to make $150.00 a pop that's why)

Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37

 

My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section

https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native

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Last night my 17 year old nephew came by and started playing the acoustic in the living room. We've given him the job to come by every weekday and take care of our dogs, and it turns out he's been sitting down at the piano while he's waiting on them, and just picking out melodies. So now he has the desire to really learn how to play. So, he got a lesson in reading music on the spot. It was NOT that ridiculous piece of cardboard, it was standard notation taken from a fake book.

 

Now he's deciding a song he wants to learn, and I'll download (legally, of course) the sheet music and teach it to him from there.

 

So, he'll be learning the correct way to read, not some "Shortcut" that won't work.

 

 

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

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Last night my 17 year old nephew came by and started playing the acoustic in the living room. We've given him the job to come by every weekday and take care of our dogs, and it turns out he's been sitting down at the piano while he's waiting on them, and just picking out melodies. So now he has the desire to really learn how to play. So, he got a lesson in reading music on the spot. It was NOT that ridiculous piece of cardboard, it was standard notation taken from a fake book.

 

Now he's deciding a song he wants to learn, and I'll download (legally, of course) the sheet music and teach it to him from there.

 

So, he'll be learning the correct way to read, not some "Shortcut" that won't work.

 

 

There you go. It's not the hardest thing in the world to teach someone how to read, or to teach yourself for that matter. Like anything, you start simple and go from there. Middle C, then maybe treble G and Bass F, and then play some 5 finger tunes in that register, then fill it out to treble C and Bass C, then introduce an accidental or two and you're cruising. I teach adults how to do this all the time and with a couple weeks of practice, you can do it.

Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37

 

My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section

https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native

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You guys gotta check this out. I bought this loaf of bread and I have found something even better than slicing it!!!!! Of course, I can't just give this secret away, so for $150.00/yr, I will let you into my super secret bread club. Any suckers...errr takers?
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Anyone else think that Scott is secretly CEO of The Acme Giant Cardboard Co?

Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37

Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D

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Anyone else think that Scott is secretly CEO of The Acme Giant Cardboard Co?

 

I feel we're doing a disservice to anyone named Scott. The idiot, I mean, the businessman/music teacher with more than 20,545,999 success stories ... is named Shawn Cheek.

 

 

 

No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message.

 

In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments.

 

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This is still my favorite way to play Rachmaninov -

 

+1 That's hilarious!

Instrumentation is meaningless - a song either stands on its own merit, or it requires bells and whistles to cover its lack of adequacy, much less quality. - kanker
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I certainly would not recommend that method to anyone, but if it gets people to start playing, then who cares how they learned it. Errol Garner, one of the jazz piano greats, never learned how to read music, and he once said "nobody can hear you read." When it comes right down to it, that's pretty much all that matters: how you play. How you get there is of little significance in the long run. Music notation is just a communicative device. It's by no means a requirement for playing music.

 

But it does help, for sure!

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I certainly would not recommend that method to anyone, but if it gets people to start playing, then who cares how they learned it. Errol Garner, one of the jazz piano greats, never learned how to read music, and he once said "nobody can hear you read." When it comes right down to it, that's pretty much all that matters: how you play. How you get there is of little significance in the long run. Music notation is just a communicative device. It's by no means a requirement for playing music.

 

But it does help, for sure!

 

Speaking as someone who hates to read music, the problem is that he is still forcing you to read. Just in an alternate way that's no easier.

 

Now if you said let's learn this by ear, I'd find that a completely valid approach too.

 

His approach just delays the reality that if you're going to read something, it better have more information than what he is presenting, which has tons of holes in it.

Hamburg Steinway O, Crumar Mojo, Nord Electro 4 HP 73, EV ZXA1

 

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When you try to replace a method that was being developed, debugged and picked away at by some of the finest musical minds during several centuries, you have to be pretty good.

 

Or have delusions of grandeur.

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This is still my favorite way to play Rachmaninov -

 

+1

 

... and how about a toast for Valentina doing her best

.

 

Larry.

 

Valentina is truly amazing - her technique is scary. I just wish I hadn't watched that right before heading out to a performance. :(:freak::D

Reality is like the sun - you can block it out for a time but it ain't goin' away...
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Speaking as someone who hates to read music, the problem is that he is still forcing you to read. Just in an alternate way that's no easier.
Well, I would say, an alternate way that's easier for some, and only in the short run. And with lots of important information missing.
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Yes, this method is outrgeous. But why are guitar tabs so accepted? They are very similar to this method..

 

Guitar tabs aren't meant to replace notation. Actually, tablature for string instruments has been around at least as long as our modern staff notation, so it's no less "legit" in that respect. It's just a different system. Not only that, tablature can convey basic rhythm, but not to the extent that staff notation does.

 

Modern tablature, especially that commonly passed around the internet on tab sites, has tended to abandon the rhythmic part. These days, it's mostly used as a type of shorthand for people who basically know how a song goes or what it should sound like, but might not know or be able to figure out the exact notes (or are too lazy to figure it out). It's generally expected that you use your ears to figure out how it's actually played.

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Also remember that guitar tab can convey a lot of the things guitar players do that staff notation does not, such as hammer ons, pull offs, harmonics, slides, etc. I suppose staff notation could show those things, but I'd rather not see it. Let the guitar players keep those things to themselves. :)

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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