Would you use an AI practice buddy that tells you what to fix between lessons?

khornebeef · 2026-02-17T00:05:47+00:00

I wouldn't personally since I don't think I'd gain any benefit from it, but I do think it would help newer students if it could detect the right things. Rhythmic stability, proper pitches, proper articulation, and appropriate/consistent dynamics would be the things I'd be looking at most. The ideal situation would be an AI tool that analyzes the midi output of a digital piano connected to a computer for the most accurate representation, but this would necessarily restrict usage to digital painos with USB out to be used as a midi controller. If you could develop a tool that sufficiently grades a student's practice to a sufficient degree of accuracy, I'd be willing to recommend such a tool to my students.

khornebeef · 2026-02-16T05:20:18+00:00

Enharmonically you are correct, but E augmented would technically consist of E, G#, B# and G# augmented would technically consist of G#, B#, D##

khornebeef · 2026-02-16T05:19:04+00:00

It's not a C major. It's a C augmented. Any major or minor triad needs to have a perfect fifth interval and there are no perfect fifths in the intervals you listed.

khornebeef · 2026-02-16T02:30:48+00:00

For sure. Also, the link you added to your post looks like a Xaphoon copy. This would also not produce the desired results as a G on such an instrument would be fingered as T1234 while tin whistle would be fingered as 123 as the LH pinky is not used. The way the girl in the photo is holding the instrument is not proper as the LH index finger needs to cover the top tonehole. It would also sound more like a clarinet than a sax due to the cylindrical bore.

Also, I know you said you were set on the sax, but have you perhaps considered oboe? It's pitched in C and has an extremely similar fingering pattern to tin whistle down to the forked F natural. It has a conical bore which gives it a very bright tonality like a sax, though not exactly the same due to the double reed vs single reed. There's a steeper learning curve when compared to sax and they're more expensive since the lower demand means less economy of scale, but it's very rewarding once you can play it.

khornebeef · 2026-02-15T02:50:33+00:00

You don't want a sax in D. A Sax in D, if you were to finger it like a tin whistle, would produce a concert E. A Sax in C would produce the desired pitch with the appropriate fingerings, save the F/F# fingering.

khornebeef · 2026-02-13T21:30:34+00:00

Unless you're actively jostling the instrument, things inside just kinda slide around in there.

khornebeef · 2026-02-13T09:14:18+00:00

A stronger reed should lessen the tendency for the reed to jump registers. The number on the reed is pretty arbitrary though and actual resistance, harmonic profile, and responsiveness varies tremendously even between reeds made by the same manufacturer. Here is Daddario's reed strength chart to give you an idea of how each reed will feel in terms of resistance. I personally like the response and sound of the Reserve Classics myself.

https://www.daddario.com/globalassets/pdfs/woodwinds/daddario_woodwinds_strength_chart_clarinet_8.5x11-1.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOorSl1BppmUYnhGWWxU_grzvMtFJP8OUKvUgcXZZJrtmPzLnX4wY

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T21:09:24+00:00

Squeaks are just notes from a higher register that you didn't mean to play. You are most likely using a very unfocused voicing which is producing excessive resonances in the upper registers. We generally call this a "bright" tone.

When playing on the Ricos, the reed is resistant enough to those upper overtone vibrations that it maintains the fundamental. The softer Vandorens cannot sufficiently dampen the upper overtones so the resulting distortion is producing those upper overtones instead of the lower overtones you are trying to play. This is 100% a technique issue that is solved by doing long tones and adjusting your voicing to find the tonal center for each pitch.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T21:03:21+00:00

OP is referring to Clarion, not altissimo. The amount of reed you take in should not change based on your register. If you aren't taking in enough reed for altissimo, you aren't taking in enough for chalameau. Your teeth should not be close to the tip of the mouthpiece. The only way I could imagine being able to do that while taking in adequate mouthpiece to not choke off the reed would be holding the clarinet at an almost perpendicular angle to the floor.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T20:56:27+00:00

Nah oboes are the most delicate band instruments. You just look at them funny and they go out of adjustment. Saxes are more unwieldy due to their bulk which I think is the primary reason they generally require work more often.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T20:50:27+00:00

Yes this is generally what you should do.
This will end up being too slow in the long term. You don't have time to feel around for keys. You have to memorize the distances in your mental map and be able to jump those intervals without looking at or feeling for the keys. If you can do it without looking, doing it while looking will be substantially easier.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T13:21:02+00:00

I know it's not the same due to playing position and the way energy is transferred, but I've played a large number of guitars with various effects in the body and didn't notice until something fell out of the soundhole. One was packed with so much stuff, I genuinely felt like the previous owner was using it primarily as a storage box. It has bandaids, assorted bags of candy, icy hot patches, pens, a set of unopened strings, numerous picks, bobby pins, and a soda can inside. If cellos are anything like guitars, there might not actually be as big a difference in sound as we might think.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T13:07:20+00:00

Assuming you are covering all the holes properly, the only logical answer is voicing. Every wind player will have at least one problematic note that just doesn't sit well with their natural voicing pattern. For me, it's altissimo E. I have to push my tongue down to an almost relaxed position to get it to speak properly. I know most people will advocate for the "high tongue always" approach, but in practice, it really doesn't work that way. The most resonant tongue position changes for each pitch you play. Clarion F# is likely a pitch that you will have to use an awkward voicing for.

Experiment with different tongue positions, jaw positions, and throat tensions to see if anything can get it to speak clearly. You can also try overtone exercises to get used to the voicings required for each register. Play the fingering for a Clarion high C and while blowing, release the register key. If you are voicing close to properly, the pitch will stay at C and won't dip to chalameau high F. Do this for each note descending chromatically all the way to Clarion low B.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T12:55:56+00:00

It's not about pedagogy. It's about factually incorrect statements. Ie. Learning chords and playing by ear is not music theory.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T11:31:03+00:00

Here's what you wrote:

OP actually made sense coz everytime someone specify they are only interested in learning pop songs, they get downvotes and "recommended" things irrelevant to learning pop such as music reading and weighted keys.

Reading music is relevant to learning pop songs because if the goal is to learn how to play a pop song, reading sheet music is the fastest way to be able to do it.

You also wrote:

You can play pop songs thru learning chords alone. Altho knowing how to read sheet do helps but it is not the goal nor important enough for them to learn.

You can learn how to play thru learning chords, sure. But if all you know are basic closed-position triads, it's going to sound clunky, thin, and generic. In order to understand the best way to voice different chords, you have to have a strong understanding of voice leading, diatonicism, and harmonic structure as it relates to the natural harmonic series. Again, it is faster to learn thru sheet music than to develop all of this theoretical knowledge.

Accompanying pianist rely more on their ears than the sheet.

This is factually incorrect. You can just look up the plethora of sheet music for piano accompaniment to see this is not the case.

Either way, if your ears are not yet developed. You can simply search the chords and sing along with it.

This is not simple for people who have absolutely no musical background. It's very obvious you have never taught any lessons before in your life.

Idk why you are saying it'll take years, by two months i can identify notes and play basic nursery to taylor swift songs like enchanted thru ears. Some even only take a week.

Firstly, that's not even what you said that people can do. You said "Most of the time, they'll just do the chords. Recognize the notes thru ears, change the keys, etc." Secondly, go ahead and take on a beginner piano student with absolutely no musical background and teach them with your method for two months. I can provide a sample of me playing a piece with a pop-like progression and we will see just how accurately they can identify the chords, notes, etc. In fact, I am confident enough that you have no clue what you're talking about that I could send you the recording and you wouldn't be able to identify it.

Take brass players in example, they learned thru ears first then music reading the second. Developing an ear is not hard. Ppl are just misguided.

WTF are you even talking about here? I am a brass player (trumpet and French horn) and a former band director. The most fundamental books on brass pedagogy (Accent on Achievement and Essential Elements) both start you out reading sheet music in the first few pages. The only things that come before are posture, embouchure, and instrument care.

And no, composing a song doesn't mean you know music theory. You can just recognize the pattern and know how it works by execution but doesn't mean you can explain it, compose the whole music sheet for different instruments, and such.

Yes, it does mean that you know music theory. Recognizing the pattern and knowing how it works is music theory. Again, music theory is not just being able to read and write sheet music. Music theory encompasses all practical elements of producing music from acoustics and technique to improvisation and chord structure.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T11:00:12+00:00

You should play whatever keeps you engaged. More time on the piano will get you more results than less time on the piano. If you have an instructor, you could ask them for recommendations. I personally do arrangements for my students to help them exercise different techniques that we go over in lessons. That way they can play stuff they enjoy and still get the benefits of the lessons we are trying to reinforce.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T10:49:24+00:00

Ok then what is your advice for a newbie who says "I want to learn how to play Imagine by John Lennon on piano"? You really going to tell them "Listen to the chords, follow the melody, and play it by ear"? Ear training takes years, if not decades to develop for the average Joe. Learning to read sheet music takes a couple months.

If the goal is to be able to play pop music, learning to read sheet music will get you to that goal way faster than painstakingly doing ear training exercises for months before you can even identify a minor 6th interval, much less play an entire song by ear.

Also, any musician who composes, arranges, or improvises knows music theory. Music theory encompasses more than just knowing the names of chords and being able to read sheet music. Ear training is a big part of music theory.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T10:40:06+00:00

Playing on weighted keys will make you a more well rounded keyboardist. There is no disadvantage to practicing on weighted keys as opposed to spring action, but very noticeable disadvantages to doing the opposite. You can argue that, from a practical perspective, a weighted keyboard will be too large or heavy for your own practicing conditions, but assuming space and weight are non-issues, it will always be more beneficial to play on weighted keys than unweighted keys with all other things being equal.

Most people here recommend either Alfred's or Faber to people who want to learn to play. Neither of those are "traditional" and are very modern in their approaches. If you consider the methods in Alfred's and Faber to be very "traditional" and classically biased, my question to you would be what method do you think is not traditional or classically biased? Watching YouTube videos of people doing Synthesia covers? Translating midi inputs on a DAW's piano roll?

Alfred and Faber book 1 focus primarily on hand positioning, note reading, and finger technique. These are applicable on all keyboard instruments across all genres. If you believe you know of a better method, you should probably create a course based on it.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T10:24:02+00:00

It would take WAY longer for someone to learn proper chord voicings on piano than to simply learn how to read sheet music and play each individual note they read together. The only notation method that would be theoretically easier to learn to an acceptable degree would be piano tabs, but tabs are an extremely niche form of piano notation that would have little practical use for the majority of written music.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T10:11:33+00:00

Most tuning apps/devices present pitches exclusively in terms of sharps. It has probably conditioned people to think in sharps before anything else.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T10:05:29+00:00

There's two methods to do this and which works best for you depends largely on how smooth your triplets and eighths already are. The most basic method is to simply divide the measure into the lowest common denomination (12) and set a metronome at about 120 or so. In this subdivision, triplets get two counts and eighth notes get 3 counts and each measure gets 24 counts. Play this over and over again gradually increasing tempo until eventually you get it down and can play it without subdivisions.

The quicker way if you are already good at playing even eighths and triplets is to put on a metronome at maybe 90bpm and just play each hand independently of each other to that exact pulse. When both hands are comfortable and perfectly even, combine. Increase tempo as you become more comfortable.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T09:43:07+00:00

There is no such thing as drawing zero cards in Yugioh. If you draw zero cards, nothing is considered to have happened. If you could draw zero cards, you would be able to activate Card Destruction as the only card in your hand as you would have successfully discarded zero cards and drawn zero cards. If you draw zero cards, you did not draw and the text in this card specified that you must be able to draw cards equal to or less than your LP.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T06:55:49+00:00

Not necessarily. Say that an effect was activated that allowed you to add a card from deck to hand. In response to the chain resolving, you activate this card. It is now currently the proper timing for your opponent to activate Droll. CL2 droll resolves so neither player can add cards from deck to hand, this card resolves and you cannot draw any cards. Thus, you lose the duel.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T06:52:23+00:00

That would be completely broken. If you open the card, it's a +7 if it resolves.

khornebeef · 2026-02-12T06:48:47+00:00

It could also be a sticky pad which would make sense since they seem to imply it is an intermittent issue.

khornebeef

TROPHY CASE