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I had no idea, I thought this was a piano forum where anything piano was open for discussion. I'm not looking to compete.



None of the above! I think you're reading too much into this, it's actually very simple. I loved the song, I saw the video, I saw how much fun he was having playing it, I looked at the way he played and it looked like he was just toying with the keys at times with his left index finger and having total mastery over it, almost effortless... I would love to be able to play like that, that's all; it was my inspiration to buy the MP6, though it took until now for me to actually start learning.



I purchased the Kawai MP6 because at the time it was the digital piano most like a piano without taking up a huge amount of real estate.I wanted something of quality that felt just like a piano and that I can move around or stow away if necessary. I never researched what instruments Hornsby used because I knew that buying his instruments wasn't going to make me a great musician nor turn me into a Bruce Hornsby. I already know I will never be as good as Hornsby, he has devoted his life to this and for me this will be a hobby not a career. It will be many years before I can even attempt to perform that song the right way, and honestly I don't know if I will ever achieve such mastery over the instrument to play it with the non-chalance he seems to be able to play it, but I can always dream.

Tyrone, the pieces are simply too hard for him. Some of the pieces I would consider the method perhaps. The Mendelssohn, he has seemed to got the basic rhythm and fingers are good. The pedal he cannot use. It is completely blurred but this is fixable. The finger legato is not there but again a skill you can learn. Overall passable and very very good for a beginner. The Listz however when the basic, 4:3, is incorrect throughout, it is a painful listen. He is rushing and its far too hard. What a shame.

Oh I know Moo. I am really only talking about his experimental method of learning. Not about the specific results he has achieved. I think he picked pieces which are too hard to use his learning method on, and he further crippled himself by insisting on not learning any musical notation and not wanting to follow any of the composer's directions (e.g., articulation, dynamics, etc.). It reminds me of the recent machine learning programs that strive for world champion strength in a game after only learning the rules of that game. Not sure this knowledgeless learning technique is as effective when used for an aesthetic activity such as music making/piano. But I can certainly imagine his basic techniques used in combination with some of the elements that he shunned to actually be rather effective.

Whatever he is doing, this certainly is a skill. I myself have never 'memorised' anything and can only play Fur Elise from memory. I perhaps think the piece choice is wrong. Does he have a teacher or is this all solo ?

He flies solo using Synthesia as at least an initial guide. See the PW thread(s) I linked where he describes his methodology that he invented for himself.

See, this is what I'm talking about. Here's an area where someone is experimenting with a new way to learn and has made remarkable progress in a short amount of time. I do not have the ability to say whether or not it's good, and a couple of you guys have mentioned mistakes and issues with the playing, but nonetheless you both agree this is phenomenal progress for a beginner. I wonder if ideas like this, paired with a really good teacher, would revolutionize the learning process.

The Chopin Etude which has up down pattern is very good for the experience. I dont think I can play this piece and dont think I could do much better with about 14 years lessons. I suspect his method may work for this sort of piece where the difficulty is a fast finger pattern. However the Listz and the quite a lot of the other pieces have some fundamental major problems with the basics. I would think it would be better to pick simpler pieces and polish them properly. I dont understand the logic or the rush to play hard pieces not well. I'll keep an open mind and sent him a message on reddit. Should be an interesting discussion if there is a response.

I also sent him an email and asked him to join us in this thread.

Well I think I'm right, piece choice is the problem.

The first half is absolutely fantastic.



Second half - without pedal - would also be fantastic.

Lets hope there is a response.

It should be noted that the instruments and the recording device are of poor quality.
It is far more difficult to play "musical" when playing from memory.
Most of the pieces were learned and performed in 2-3 weeks from memory.

It's a bit unfair to compare the quality to others who have spent far more time per piece.
My method is far faster than traditional methods in getting a piece to 80%
The last 20% is simply a matter of more hours/experience polishing each piece on an expensive grand piano

Hello, thank you for joining

I didnt mention the piano or the device, I dont own an expensive piano or expensive recording devices either, this was Tyrone.

Are you dead set on your method then and so not open to any suggestions ?

There definitely is a lot of inefficiency in the traditional methods :

music sheets ~ Synthesia is far faster
scales/exercises ~ irrelevant since technique is relative to the piece
slow practice with gradual metronome ~ results in speed walls and wastes more time/effort per piece

I think as a beginner yes you can perhaps learn faster your way synthesia way as learning to read music can be difficult. However you may never learn to read music you will never learn how useful it is. Once you can do it, you can pick up and learn pieces instantly. I flick through books and just play them. Its a very nice skill to have.

I think scales and arpeggios I'm not sure about. I have not practised these at all in several years but I grew up on them. I do think perhaps my faster scale and arpeggios are a bit weak now because I never practice them. I tend to learn from pieces now but I wouldnt suggest for a beginner.

Slow practice is very good for accuracy. You iron out the problems. But yes gradual increase with metronome I've never used that. I think I had a metronome as a child but it was one of the big tick tock ones and used to annoy me. I increase the tempo by feel. We had a video the other week for the techniques we use to develop speed.

I am open to suggestions and would love answers to question such as...

What type of repetition is best suited for:

speed/accuracy
memorization
musicality


What are efficient ways of:

working through the piece
preparing a recital such as the 24 Chopin etudes


Regarding my recording of Liszt consolation 3,
I prefer the faster tempo
I only spent about 5 hours total (2-3 weeks)
When I record the piece I am more focused on hitting the right notes and buffering the next measure while keeping track of the section.

I will polish the pieces in the future since it is more important to build a repertoire.

The main reasons why I didn't bother learning to read sheets were

I only want to perform from memory.
I want to play pieces I like.
I don't care to perform a Urtext rendition.

thus Synthesia is more efficient

You can go with a portable wireless MIDI keyboard (like AKAI LPK 25, or its equivalent - I believe there is a ton of them around). You can pair it with your iPhone/iPad, install some piano sampler and you can put it on your laps and play while you are taking a subway train.

However, I can agree that it does not make too much sense. Playing piano is not just about stomping the keys. When you play a more or less serious piece, you want not just "take a note A", but have the piano to sign it, moan it, whisper it or shout it. In other way, finding a location of a particular note on a keyboard is just 10% of success, the remaining work is to play this note in the way you need. It is a big difference if you hit a key with a finger or move your finger to the key and transfer the weight of your hand to it.

On a cheap MIDI keyboard no matter how you play, it will sound more or less the same (maybe you can control the volume, but not the sound). Another problem is when you put it on your laps, you won't be able to place your hands properly.

So it can help you finding proper notes more or less quickly, but I believe in several months you won't have this problem. In this case, you may want to look for the keys which size is more or less close to your piano.

I am from the software engineering industry too, so I understand the desire to go a geeky way. Maybe it will be helpful for you to get a portable keyboard, learn how to use it with iOS devices, etc. It may be useful in future if you decide to learn how to record your music and stuff like this.

Baudelairepianist -

I cannot answer the questions you posed. However, I have to admit I'm impressed with your ability given the limited time you state you've put into piano and into these pieces - did you say 5 hours to memorize the entire Liszt piece? That's really remarkable; you must be of superior intelligence to have learned the entire thing without even understanding the piece, in terms of chord structure, key modulation, etc.

I would suggest, if you're open to suggestions, that a little effort into musicality can really transform your playing from hitting the right notes into beautiful music. A teacher could help you with this, or some forum members could offer some suggestions to tweak the musicality. It's up to you.

Finally, I would like to present you with a perspective on sheet reading you may not have considered. Learning to play a complicated piece without learning to read sheet music is like memorizing a Shakespeare play like Hamlet without knowing how to read. It can be done, but if you want to learn another one, say Macbeth, you have to begin the process again from scratch. When you learn to read sheet music, you can play anything you'd like to, just as you can now read any book you'd like. That's what Moo was getting at....I'm not there yet, but moving along.

Who told you that? It is completely wrong.

Eh, you should've been able to understand the meaning of the velocity in the MIDI note on event.

[quote=AnthonyPaulO[I purchased the Kawai MP6 because at the time it was the digital piano most like a piano without taking up a huge amount of real estate.I wanted something of quality that felt just like a piano and that I can move around or stow away if necessary. I never researched what instruments Hornsby used because I knew that buying his instruments wasn't going to make me a great musician nor turn me into a Bruce Hornsby. I already know I will never be as good as Hornsby, he has devoted his life to this and for me this will be a hobby not a career. It will be many years before I can even attempt to perform that song the right way, and honestly I don't know if I will ever achieve such mastery over the instrument to play it with the non-chalance he seems to be able to play it, but I can always dream.
[/quote]
Thanks for responding. I now understand your techno-phobia towards the musical instruments. Many people professionally involved in programming or IT look into music as a respite from the technological pressures they face at work. The last thing they need is following the technological developments affecting their hobby.

Well, ok, you are right. You may control volume and velocity. Still not enough for the realistic piano performance.