Presently, I am teaching a group of students in Hong Kong to play by ear.
Many of them have difficulty reading the standard music notation. They want to play the piano but reading music slows them down. In the process of teaching, I started coming up with this method that works effectively for them.
That´s how I started teaching them how to play by ear a year ago. In the process, I started coming up with a method that works effectively for them
Most people in Hong Kong are aware of another kind of music notation that is used widely among the older generation.
The system is simple, known by the Chinese as Jianpu which means ¨simplified music notation¨.
We sometimes see this Asian Music Notation in the older books
but we seldom pay much attention to it because we´ve been trained to study the Western
standard music notation when learning music.
In the process of teaching my students to play by ear,
I discover that they pick up this Asian Numeric Music Notation easily,
and their play by ear skill thrives as a result.
One of my students started playing by ear publicly as a church pianist half a year into the course.
He is even able to compose his music at the piano and performs for us. You should see the glowing joy on his face.
About the POWERFUL Asian Music Notation System:
The Asian notation is intuitive and effective in communicating music.
It is a music notation that is consistent, uniform and succinct.
You can learn the system in one day. That´s how simple and easy it is.
It allows you to intuitively SEE patterns and many elements of music at a glance.
Its simplicity promotes efficient learning particularly in playing songs by ear.
The same score allows you to play a given song in all 12 keys if you are familiar with the 12 scales.
It is a definite breakthrough and short-cut to sight read music.
It is time-saving for performers to produce music from paper to sound without worrying about key signature.
This notation is key independent; therefore there is no need to rewrite the music for different keys.
The notation is an easy way for composers to record and communicate their ideas quickly.
In the Play By Ear series, I provide you with many tips and analysis to show you how to take full advantage of this system.
As I said earlier, it only takes a few hours to learn the system, maybe only one hour. That´s how simple the system is.
You don´t believe me? Tell me about it after you learn the system from the PBE course.
To guide you to use the system comfortably, I provide 40 songs in Play By Ear Volume 1 for you to work on,
so that you get lots of practice to become proficient with the Asian Music Notation.
By the end of the course, you will be able to notate your own songs in this numeric notation.
It totally simplifies the thought process when you play songs.
To me this is most valuable because it frees the student from reading the more complicated music staff notation,
and helps the student to acquire a QUIET mind to listen to the sounds deeply, to play with ease and with creative freedom.
You don´t need to use this Asian Music Notation to learn to play by ear, but for my students,
it is certainly a fast track to get them playing songs by ear in 3 months.
You will too if you commit yourself to work through the whole course. Have FUN!
Go to the links at the top left of this page to find out more about this exciting series.
