Do you always need the sheet music?

[siraaji]

I don't have a piano teacher or anything (I had one for a few months the beginning of this year, got through a piano for beginner adults book, and then they went out of business and we ran out of money) so I need to ask advice here.

I can't read sheet music very well yet, though I practice each day, and when I get bored in school I'll write the notes down to some sheet music I bring to school in hopes that I'll learn faster. And instead of being smart and getting easy pieces of music to start with, I get pretty intermediate stuff and spend a VERY long time counting lines and such until I eventually get the song down.

Because it takes me so long to do that, I memorize the song and then I don't look at the sheet music anymore. But I've never forgotten a song - the first song I ever learned was Für Elise when I was in 7th grade (6 years ago), by making someone play it for me for about an hour and I learned the notes. (My fingering was waaay off, though, so earlier this year I found the sheet music to re-learn that.)

So, is that bad or unorthodox, or is it pretty normal? Will it take me a lot longer to learn to read sheet music that way? Does anyone else here memorize songs, or do they usually need the music in front of them?

[m1469]

Well, I am in a hurry now so I will try to be brief and hope it makes sense.

For some reason I love this topic.  When I first started learning how to play the piano I was a tiny child and my mom would sit down with me and show me where to put my hands and how to do different patterns and such.  That's how I started, and I think most people actually started similarly, whatever age they were.  Somebody showed them something in much the same way as my mom did for me.

I view the musical score as something very similar to what I just described above.  It is there to help us along, basically.  It tells us where to put our hands, which fingers to use, when this or that happens.... just like somebody sitting next to you on the bench.  The point behind it is to *aid* a person in learning the music and really, that's it.  Once it's learned, why does one need it anymore ?

So, if the point of the music is to help us learn it (and I generally try to commit everything I am serious about to memory) then why does it matter how long it takes ?   You are still using the score to learn from, and you are still gaining and utilizing necessary skills (otherwise you wouldn't be able to figure anything out at all).

The main thing that matters is whether or not one is deciphering the music correctly, and that is a whole different subject. 

Now I have to go.


m1469

[rhapsody in orange]

For me, the sheet music is some sort of a guide. It is definitely needed when I am at the stage of note-learning.. I would think that learning from the sheet music is better than learning by ear (have someone play it to you till you know the notes). At least then you'd be able to come up with your own interpretation of the piece instead of having someone influence you instead.
However, when the notes are secure, I can be less reliable on the sheet music.

[poltergeist]

i don't feel like I'm ready to begin really working on a piece until I've learned and memorized all the notes.....

[leucippus]

i don't feel like I'm ready to begin really working on a piece until I've learned and memorized all the notes.....

I feel the same way.  My goal is to become free from the sheet music ASAP.