What You'll Find on This Site. This site provides free innovative learning materials and sheet music
for playing the piano. Our Music Innovators Workshop is basically a research and development project. We have been working for over 20 years to discover and develop easier ways of learning the piano and more effective ways of teaching the piano. The main focus of the research that we are reporting on are improvements to the grand staff notation of piano music and its effects on learning and teaching the piano.
User-Friendly Format. The site provides extended examples of the upgraded format for the traditional grand staff
that is more user-friendly. The upgraded format is a great deal easier to read, and is also easier to learn. This format was designed for the keyboard, but is just as useful for any musical instrument and voice.
Direct Links to All Major Sections of this Site | How Does This Notation Work? To begin, this notation is derived from, and resembles traditional notation. The two formats are compatible. All aspects of the traditional notation are retained in the grand staff upgrade except for the changes to rhythm and pitch notation described below. A person who knows how to read and play from traditional notation can make the transition to the upgrade format with little or no extra effort. Those who are just learning how to play will find the upgraded format much easier to learn and play because there is less coding to learn (rhythm), and less coding to interpret on the fly (sharps and flats). The explanations on this page are expanded and illustrated in Unit PG-01 - About the Grand Staff Upgrade that you can view by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. Recommended Reading! The Upgrade in Rhythm Notation. The most noticeable change is in the rhythm. The upgrade format shows the rhythm as a timeline. This is done by stretching the notes in the horizontal direction. Once the length of a one-beat note is set at the beginning of a piece, all other notes are made to be proportional in length to that note. A 2-beat note is physically twice as long. A 1/2-beat note is 1/2 as long, and so on. Vertical lines showing the locations of the beats are included on the staff along with the standard measure lines. This change of rhythm to a timeline format provides a direct logical, visual connection to the sound of the rhythm. It eliminates the complicated rhythm code that is so troublesome for beginners - and for many others as well. This change makes it unnecessary to use color (black and white) to distinguish between the half-notes and quarter-notes as is the case with the rhythm in traditional notation. This change frees up the notation for many other uses of color that great;u enhance the notation! The Upgrade in Pitch Notation. The most important and helpful change is in the pitch notation. This change gives every sharp and flat note a unique identifier. instead of having to depend on the key signature code for this information. With this format, the following note colors are used, providing positive identification for every note. Natural notes: white Flat notes: black Sharp notes: gray. This is an incredibly simple, but effective, change. Sharps, flats, double sharps, and double flats are notated as their enharmonic equivalent white keys. |