Using synthesia to learn my repertoire?

[sv3nno]

Right now, i'm practicing on a crappy old upright piano, but i'll be getting a full-size (88 keys) digital piano soon.
i can't wait to start practicing Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 with Synthesia and my new digi-piano but do you think it's good to use synthesia?
thanks.

[mikeowski]

Simple answer: no.
Music sheets are what you want to use, because they contain much more information than just showing you which notes you need to play in which order. For example time signature, tempo markings, dynamics, etc. etc. etc., which are all not included in synthesia.
Once you get used to sheets, nothing else is acceptable anymore.
Btw, I think you should play something else than the HR 2 if you haven't yet gotten to the point of using sheet music. I can't say for sure, because I haven't played it myself but henle lists it as level 8, so it's certainly not a beginner piece (I'm just assuming you are one, I could be wrong ofc).

[sv3nno]

Simple answer: no.
Music sheets are what you want to use, because they contain much more information than just showing you which notes you need to play in which order. For example time signature, tempo markings, dynamics, etc. etc. etc., which are all not included in synthesia.
Once you get used to sheets, nothing else is acceptable anymore.
Btw, I think you should play something else than the HR 2 if you haven't yet gotten to the point of using sheet music. I can't say for sure, because I haven't played it myself but henle lists it as level 8, so it's certainly not a beginner piece (I'm just assuming you are one, I could be wrong ofc).

Lol, you misunderstood me horribly:) For the 11 years i've been practicing the piano, sheet music has been the only way i learn music...and i plan to keep it that way. I just thought i could use Synthesia After i've memorized the sheet music, fingering and markings

[mikeowski]

oh sry, I thought so because I imagined you were talking about using synthesia for learning notes (I used it that way when I started ). Anyway I still don't think it's a good idea as you can just write markings and fingerings on the sheet music. Also it might be annoying to navigate in synthesia, because you have to go to the right spot to see your markings and fingerings while sheet music displays a big amount of information at once. Of course no harm in trying, but I can't see how it is better than sheet music.

[kakeithewolf]

In a word: No.

Synthesia does tell you where notes are, that much is about all it does, though. When you purchase it, you can get the key signature at any given point as well as a very terrible sheet interpretation of it. Problem with the sheet interpretation is that it doesn't register anything shorter than 16th notes correctly, it uses no articulations, and only uses single flats and sharps.

With Synthesia, you won't get a time signature, you won't get dynamics, you won't get expressive text, you won't get articulations. You get the notes and very little else. Sheet music provides everything, and it provides it much better than Synthesia likely ever will.

[nyiregyhazi]

Lol, you misunderstood me horribly:) For the 11 years i've been practicing the piano, sheet music has been the only way i learn music...and i plan to keep it that way. I just thought i could use Synthesia After i've memorized the sheet music, fingering and markings

One word- why?

[senanserat]

I think you should just use both, thats what I do. it helps to vizualise difficult or things you don't recognise quickly on paper.

[nyiregyhazi]

I think you should just use both, thats what I do. it helps to vizualise difficult or things you don't recognise quickly on paper.

If that's the case, it's definitely a crutch for bad reading skills and will perpetuate the lack of reading skill. when I read music, I have the equivalent of a perfectly clear synthesia diagram in my head in direct response to reading. to read a note and to map it to the piano are one and the same event. you simply need to practise correlating the notation to how you play it on the piano. I can get an even more direct equivalent by watching the keys while doing slow practise. Any diagram on synthesia just removes it a step further from the ability to turn notation  straight into a picture of the notes on the piano. if I wasted time on synaesthesia then the level of music that I can currently play to a half-decent level at very first sight would not have come near what it is now.


don't hinder your long term process by becoming dependent on a crutch that is way slower than developed reading skill.

[francisco40295]

Sight reading might be the best way. But against everything that has been said by everyone around me, I learned hard pieces with synthesia, and tempo markings and pedals and interpretations are easy with ear. I can give a good emotional interpretation of pieces I learn on synthesia.

Now if you want to nit pick you can, and it's easier to look at a sheet music than to turn your PC on every time you want to learn a new piece.

All in all, I'd recomment you to sight read, but don't let them tell you that the lack of tempo markings or pedalling in synthesia is a drawback, because it's not.

[nyiregyhazi]

Sight reading might be the best way. But against everything that has been said by everyone around me, I learned hard pieces with synthesia, and tempo markings and pedals and interpretations are easy with ear. I can give a good emotional interpretation of pieces I learn on synthesia.

Now if you want to nit pick you can, and it's easier to look at a sheet music than to turn your PC on every time you want to learn a new piece.

All in all, I'd recomment you to sight read, but don't let them tell you that the lack of tempo markings or pedalling in synthesia is a drawback, because it's not.

You are not "interpreting" by ear. You are parroting a sound (probably complete with definable musical errors in terms of how voices are balanced and distinguished from each other, if it's the usual deadpan midi run-off) minus any understanding of the actual instructions that led to that single interpretation. It's Chinese whispers, not interpretation. Sorry to be blunt, but you need to be honest about the objective difference between actually knowing what the composer wrote down as musical instructions, compared to a realisation of the notes in the right order. When I've taught students who learned this way, it was impossible to teach anything about sound or interpretation. All they could do is repeat learned movements. They couldn't sculpt those movements to produce a musical result, because they had no real point of reference other than movement habits. Habits of movements led the musical results, not vice versa.