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...