Simpedia

Karen T., Illinois

I would like to hear from some teachers who have taken students through the Reading Program, and they are now learning some songs they bring in, and learning them from the page. I want to know how to lift those songs I fall in love with right off that page so I can take them with me wherever I go.

They only way I know is the non-working traditional way and I’m having some trouble “translating” this process into a SIMPLE way. Any and all help will be appreciated!

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[answer author="Karen G., Tennessee"]

My understanding is that you would want to look for and apply the various tools as we have been teaching them to learn other pieces …. looking for the patterns, mapping, fragmenting, etc. The more you look at the piece, the more you will begin to see these things. Or even hear them, as some of my students have found.

For instance, one of my reading students has taken on the project of working on the Batman theme … he had the music and once he began to study it, he recognized that there was a repeating pattern in the left hand … and he further realized that the positions in the LH were built around I, IV and V … with that as a foundation, he was able to ‘memorize’ the piece with a little additional work. By the way, he’s planning on playing it in public for the first time this Saturday at an event my students have been invited to play at.

Have you gone through Time for Music yet? This goes into this process in more detail.

Steven H., Alaska

Karen G’s answer is right on and her example of analyzing the Batman theme is excellent, I believe. The only thing I would add to that would be to encourage the student to frequently listen to a recording of the music so that he becomes very familiar with it even while he’s “deciphering” it off a page.

Then take it slow – depending on the specific Base Tool that is appropriate – one thought process at a time; one sentence at a time; one pattern at a time; one fragment at a time; one series of chords at a time; one hand at a time etc. … and always tying the latest part learned to everything before that (which is our SM Fragmenting Tool — always after learning a Fragment, begin from the top and play through to the Fragment just learned, so that all the pieces are tied together as you learn them.

Bernie A., California

I want to share my own personal experience as well. As of yet, I have not taken anyone completely through Reading Rhythm and Reading Notes programs, except myself. I can say that going through it myself has opened up literally a whole new world for me since now I am learning music that I have always wanted to learn.

I don’t have a traditional background other than the few weeks of lessons that I took as a child. As an SM trained adult, I make it now a regular practice to learn and memorize songs, about one every two months or so. For example, I took the original version of Minuet in G, taught it to myself, memorized it and can play without the sheet music in front of me.

I always add them to my Playlist and practice them regularly so I will never forget them. My (good) problem now is that my Playlist is getting so large and keeping up with it takes up a decent amount of time daily. But I can say that I know where I am taking my students – to become Self-generative just as I have become. This is very exciting for me and I am excited for my students!

When learning a piece, it is as you say: easy but a lot of hard work. I suspect that with every single Playing-based piece that Neil has broken down for us in the videos and Notesbook, has taken him a significant amount of time to do. That has been the case for me but as with any challenge I encounter, I work hard, going measure by measure and use all the Tools that I learned in SM. In the end it is so rewarding to play a piece effortlessly, thoughtlessly and with expression and know that you did it all by yourself.

So all those songs that you’ve always wanted to learn are within your reach the SM way (go slow, break it down, right hand, left hand, measure by measure…). And soon they will always be yours forevermore!:) Start with one piece and then trust the process.

PS. I have been reading music now for about 1 1/2 years: Here are the songs that I have recently added to my repertoire, as a result of now being able to read music:

The Pink Panther Theme – Henry Mancini
Jessica’s Theme (Man from Snowy River) – Bruce Rowland
How Beautiful (simplified) – Twila Paris
Minuet in G (original version)
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (simplified) – Bach
Linus and Lucy Theme (simplified) – Vince Guaraldi
Grace Flows Down – David Bell, Louie Giglio and Rod Pageant
Just Struttin’ Along (Jazz, Rags, & Blues) – Martha Mier
Don’t Want to Leave You Blues (Jazz, Rags, Blues) – Martha Mier
Ragtime Do-Si-Do (Jazz, Rags, Blues) – Martha Mier
Breathe (accompaniment) – Marie Barnett