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Piano By Number Basics
Piano By Number basics are the same as conventional piano basics, except that they are expressed in numbers instead of notes. Reading music is not the best starting platform for kids, and many find it confusing.
In addition, reading music prevents kids from diving into the fun sport of making music right away. Of course they have to read music, just not right away.
Piano Is Easy
What The Academics Say
Academics will argue that piano cannot be simplified for the sake of anyone. Perhaps that is why 90% of the kids who use the conventional method will quit within a year. In conventional lessons, you will read boring exercise pieces for years before you ever get to an interesting or familiar piece of music. Playing Jingle Bells for 10 years is not a good diet.
Numbers Are Transparently Simple
In the drawing above, Piano By Number puts numbered stickers on the keys as a reference point. It is transparently simple to a child. In contrast, look at the drawing below, which shows the mysterious tools your child is given to start reading music on their first lesson.
The drawing above is infinitely confusing to kids, involving conflicting geometric planes and multiple dimensions that a child cannot even imagine. Read more about these complexities. This conventional method has a 90% failure rate. Piano By Number has a 10% failure rate.
Multiple Dimensions Are The Problem
So what is it about musical notation that kids and almost all adults find so confusing, especially in the beginning? The problem is dimensional. Conventional sheet music requires the child to immediately think in several, abstract dimensions such as left-right, up-down, time-space. Plus they must grasp a myriad of other conceptual and physical problems.
Where do your fingers go, what finger do I use, what shape should my hand be in? The list is endless, at least to a six year-old. Teachers make almost no allowance for a child’s confusion and push these concepts at them. They repeat the ideas again and again until the kids are dazed and confused.
Then, the lesson is over and we do it all again next week. And you wonder why the kids quit. Piano by number is extremely one-dimensional, that's why kids love it. It suits their brains.
REFERENCES
Introductory
Eight Best Ways To Learn Piano For Beginners
Playing Piano By Number
Playing Piano By Number – Complete
Starting To Play Piano By Number
Beginning Piano Music With Numbers
Beginner Piano Tutorial
Beginner Piano Books for Kids
Introduction To Piano By Number
Music On The Mind: Newsweek Articles
Piano By Number Basics
Piano By Number Is The Missing Step
There Are Many Ways To Start Piano
A History of Piano and Numbers
Basic Piano Skills for Kids
Easy Piano Songs for Beginners with Letters
Easy Piano Notes for Popular Songs
