Can one learn the piano without reading music ?

[deleted]

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[dacaumodo]

btw, anyone think i could get some nasty habits by practicing even the very basics on my own ?
i mean scales, chords fingerings, inversions, build my ear at the same time etc ; cause i was really thinking of getting the bulk of this down before starting lessons...

I think if you go about it carefully, like trying to conform to some advice you read, I don't see what bad habits you could get. I think the "bad habits" thing is pretty much a classical music concept, because, once again, interpretation is so bound by conventions and long standing traditions that you'd better bend you fingers like this and not like that...
Personnally I was taught the piano by a classical teacher and a lot of what I learnt re: proper fingering, etc. is precious when trying to play an intricate classical piece (which I still can't, or have forgotten how to) but not so much when improvising, etc. Look at videos of people like Erroll Garner and see how they play, not exactly a classical model and yet...

Don't worry about bad habits, man. Start now, the rest is detail

[dark.nowhere]

You'll be a lot happier once you learn to read staff.

Personally I hated it for a long time, and ended up learning to read by accident. If you're just trying to get it down, you probably won't. For me, it came when I was working with a friend to put together a cover of a pop song. The key was not caring about the act of reading and starting of with something relatively simple. After a while, complex chords really don't look so bad on staves.

Besides, if you can already read music from pianoroll then the hard part is covered. The rest is what all the stupid marks mean.

I say this with some generalization, but if you get very good, you'll want staff. There are simpler notations, but nothing packs more information into a simple space than staff. If what you're seeing is too complex, start with some monadic stuff and listen to the piece as you read it a few times and play along.

[wrench45us]

a lot of gospel piano is handed down without notation

when 'arrangements' are shared they use a form like:

G B D F / G D right hand over left hand

I find this a useful system when I want to record a sequence. I can read a bit, but it's still slow for me

I've noticed within certain gospel circles that what theory does get passed around is less than orthodox and can take peculiar turns
all in all it's best to get the standard lessons

[Bonteburg]

Can one learn to play the piano without reading sheet music? By all means yes!!

Can one sit down, look at a piece of paper and start playing a tune they've never even heard without reading music? No

I tend to think being able to play is vastly more important than being able to read music but I guess you need sheet music for orchestral porposes and last but not least as a means of data storage.

It's not unlike a form of MIDI isn't it? invented 400 years earler

[disturb]

well i just ordered an 88-keys fatar board, should be able to get on with it by the end of the week

[kilon]

There some things books cannot teach.

And those things are usually the most important.

[nuffink]

There some things books cannot teach.

And those things are usually the most important.

Go on then, tell us.

[dacaumodo]

There some things books cannot teach.

And those things are usually the most important.

Go on then, tell us.

It's the force, Luke

[kilon]

There some things books cannot teach.

And those things are usually the most important.

Go on then, tell us.

Let me explain to you further the meaning then

"some things (that) cannot be taught"

example= personal style

the means to understand a subjective state as an autonomous universe . Things that cannot be classified as common or regular so they cannot fall inside general theories like the musical theory. Or even things that can be taught but either there is very few information - theories- studies or too many of them but not organized good enough to be classified as musical theory. Unprocessed knowledge.

And then they are things that need not to be taught. Things that are so obvious that it is inevitable that the artist soon later will both understand and use through constant practice.

[nuffink]

There some things books cannot teach.

And those things are usually the most important.

Go on then, tell us.

It's the force, Luke

Apparently so.

[kilon]

There some things books cannot teach.

And those things are usually the most important.

Go on then, tell us.

It's the force, Luke

Exactly my point. I call it the subconscious bridge of music. Music exist and dwell inside our most fundamental emotional and mental stimuli. An area so dark and complex that is impossible to adequately understand with common logic and of course generalized theories like musical theory.

[hseiken]

if you learn scales, chords and technique, and plan on writing your own music, then sheet music would be useless cause you're writing your own stuff. Just my two cents as a guy who took 8 years of piano and haven't read a single piece of sheet music in about as much time.

Playing other people's music (which you'd have to read) can help build technique, but it's not necessary to play piano. Just like a lot of guitar players don't mess with tabs.

[eduardo_b]

What learning the piano is depends on what you want to accomplish. Noodling around requires no ability to read music, whereas learning a classical composition certainly does. Your goals and ambitions will ultimately lead you to the level of learning you will need to conquer. Or you could change your goals.

[VicDiesel]

Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles spring to mind.

You do know that there is Braille music notation? It's like normal music notation, but with letters and digits, and one staff at a time. Of course blind players still need to memorize that stuff, but they can still learn by reading instead of by listening.

Victor.