Simply Piano by JoyTunes is an amazing piano learning app!

Around the same I ordered two piano method books (that I talked about the last two posts), I discovered the iOS app Simply Piano (by a company called JoyTunes).

Tried the free lessons first. Introduced, middle C, D, E, where they are on the staff, intro on fingering, then some exercises using only those notes.

What's different about their method (compared to PlaygroundSessions) though, is that fingerings are only present in the first few notes, while the rest of the exercise just contains the notes (on the staff) themselves. So what happens is, you will actually be focussing on the notes, instead of the fingering.

Then F was added. Few exercises. Then G was added, and a few more exercises again.

Then in the final exercise (of the free chapter), I was given just a sheet music to play. No note names on it, no fingering, no accompaniment. My first thought was, "but I can't read sheet music yet!", but then quickly realized that the previous half hour or so of exercises has all been in preparation for this.

And true enough, I performed what's in the sheet music after just a few tries.

This app, their teaching approach, it's amazing!

And the focus on sight reading - this is what's missing from PlaygroundSessions.

---

Simply Piano is the second piano-learning app that JoyTunes made after their first hit app PianoMaestro.

I already stumbled upon PianoMaestro in my search for software-based-piano-learning apps before. I think the reason I never got to try it was, I searched for it on the iOS App Store using my iPhone, but didn't get any hits. So I assumed that the project must have ended already.

Turns out PianoMaestro is only designed for the iPad - which is why I didn't get any hits using an iPhone.

Simply Piano on the other hand is a universal app, which runs both on an iPhone and an iPad.

Had I discovered Simply Piano first, then I most likely would have gone with it. Most likely - because without the one-month experience using PlaygroundSessions; plus a few days of using and following the Piano Lessons section of GarageBand; plus a few sessions of using Skoove.com - then I most likely wouldn't even realize how much better Simply Piano is compared to the competition.

Amazon's CS is awesome!

I ordered two piano method books from Amazon three days ago (talked about the books here). The books were On Stock when ordered and should be ready to ship. Yet today, the order was still being processed and hasn't shipped yet.

And if they haven't shipped it yet, then there's no way they will hit their earliest delivery estimate. (the delivery estimate was Oct 25 to Nov 1)

I'm too excited to get my books, and I am not ready to give up the hope of getting them on the first day of the estimate yet. So I tried sending Amazon an email asking why the books haven't shipped yet.

Here's their reply:

Woot! A free upgrade to the fastest shipping method, just so they can meet the earliest delivery estimate!

Thanks Amazon!

Found a piano instructor on Youtube teaching & performing all exercises of piano method books!

Been browsing tons of piano learning books over the past few days. After reading what were probably several hundred detailed reviews, I decided to purchase these two: Bastien Piano for Adults, and Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course.

The reviews provided great insight about the books, yet the biggest thing that swayed me are the Youtube videos of a piano teacher that I *chanced* upon.

He posted hundreds of videos of him going thru the exercises on those books, talking as if the viewer is his student. It's essentially like having a teacher sitting next to you, giving you pointers about the material and the piece, and showing you the right way to perform it! Pretty amazing!

Loved his dry humour and no-nonsense attitude to teaching too!

Here's a video of the teacher describing his channel:

---

I also found videos of pieces from piano method books being performed, but it's all just straight performance of the exercise piece and nothing else.

Here's a side-by-side comparison:

Here's a guy performing the Scarborough Fair exercise from page 87 of Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Level 1: Scarborough Fair - PianoNoobAlexMan. 56-second of just the performance, nothing else.

Here's the piano instructor's treatment of page 87: Scarborough Fair - Lets Play Piano Methods

His video is almost 7 times longer, spending the better part of it discussing the new things that were introduced, giving pointers on how to play the piece of the exercise, and playing it.


Amazon says I should receive the books next week. So excited!

---

*chanced* = I discovered his Youtube channel after searching for additional additional info about the Bastien, Alfred's, and Faber (3rd book on my list) piano method books on Google. (because somehow, the hundreds of reviews already on Amazon didn't seem enough)

Not renewing my PlaygroundSessions Premium account

Last day of my 1-month PlaygroundSession Premium subscription. Almost completed all of the lessons on the Rookie Bootcamp. Not renewing.

It was good at first, because very early on you get a "hey I'm playing some notes that actually sound good" feeling. Makes you feel like you're actually "advancing".

A few weeks in though, I realized that I wasn't really learning, but mostly just imitating. Imitating where to place your fingers at the start of the piece, and imitating the instruction on which finger to play, and when.

Remove the fingering from the sheets, and you'll get lost.

I think that's PS's biggest weakness. Non-existent coverage of sight reading.

If your goal is to someday be able to read and perform sheet music, PlaygroundSessions will not get you there.

Realisation after 3.5 weeks of PlaygroundSessions...

Here's where I'm at:

- completed more than 70% of the Rookie Bootcamp
- completed the first 5 lessons of the Intermediate sections in one sitting, 80% to 100% on the exercises at first attempt

Reason I tried the Intermediate lessons is a combination of getting curious about what sorts of cool new lessons/exercises are in the Intermediate section, and getting bored of the Rookie exercises.

I think part of the reason I got bored is, I feel like the exercises are just robotic motions of following what keys to press (using specified finger), and when to press them.

1. Put hand in specified position
2. Follow the numbers on the sheet music to know what fingers to play/press, and when to play them
3. Get 80% or higher, then proceed to the next exercise

Take out the fingering numbers in the PS sheet music though, or print that sheet music (without the fingering) and give it to the student who's already performed that same exercise, but outside the context of PS - and that student will probably get lost.


Maybe the designers did it this way to make the exercises as simple as possible. At this point of the lessons though, I somehow feel they should already be introducing, and/or expecting students to read the notes at the beginning of each lesson, and not just completely rely on the fingering.

Finger Numbers / Note Names / None

Luckily, there's a setting that allows you to turn off fingering.

Or if you don't want to turn it off completely, you can also replace it with note names (probably defeats half the reason of turning it off in the first place).

If students are doing the exercises two ways, wouldn't it also be neat if PS also recorded the exercise progress & ratings in two ways? One with fingering on, the other with fingering turned off.


Admittedly, doing the exercises this way will likely double the amount of time students need to spend on one exercise... and that brings me to this realisation...

The reason I chose online/computerised piano tutorial method is, I thought it will be faster compared to following more serious learning media, like a book. But it looks like if you really want to learn, you must still consume the lessons at the same pace and focus that you'd give when following a book.

Next update might be about whichever book/s I decide to get...

Man, playing with both hands is tough!

Or barely-even-playing in my case. And it doesn't help that in PlaygroundSessions, memorizing the notes, and where these notes are on the keyboard is not a priority. So sometimes when I need to move my hands out of position, I have to look down at the keyboard to find my way back again.

One week remaining in my PS Premium membership, and still presently just at Rookie Lesson 30 so far - still slowly chugging along with these both-hands-practice exercises.

My progress is slowwww......

Two weeks remaining in the 1-month PlaygroundSessions membership.

I have completed the first 24 Rookie lessons so far,  presently doing practice exercises using both hands to play different notes. These exercises make up the bulk of the remaining lessons, and I can understand why. Playing different notes, with independent timings in each hand is tough!

"Dangling" keyboard keys already?!... Oh wait...

I presently don't have enough room to permanently have my keyboard mounted in a ready-for-playing position. I store it in a semi-hard case, take out every time I want to practice, put it back in the case when I'm done, then store standing on it's side.

While I was taking it out the other night though, I noticed that the keys weren't aligned while it was still standing up.

After a brief moment of panic, I realised that since this thing has weighted keys, the other end of the keys must have counter-weights, and when positioned on it's side, the weights probably cancel each other, causing the "dangling".

And true enough, the keys went back to normal after I placed it in a horizontal and ready-to-play position

Tried Googling whether vertical storage is harmful or not, but it there seems to be no clear consensus on whether this is bad for the keyboard or not.

Our apartment's lease expires in seven weeks though, and we're planning on moving to a more spacious one. If that happens, then I should be able to permanently position the keyboard horizontally.

Guess I should hit the classifieds again, look for more leads.