Learning to play keys for composition not performance

The Lounge General Discussion
61

I just skimmed through this thread and it’s a pretty nice read but pretty misguided. Nobody needs an isomorphic keyboard to learn to use music theory and since music theory is described using piano keys or words, getting a non-standard keyboard to learn music theory is making it harder on yourself.

Basic music theory is very easy, you need to learn the most basic pattern recognition in shuffling around the positions of notes in a chord either together or one after the other. That’s all you need.

That said, I believe the OP ducked out already. And anyone who has or wants a non-standard keybed, enjoy it. They are fun when not trying to learn music theory.

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62

Very well said!

And the piano keybed is actually a direct physical representation of music theory and harmonic and frequency theory… all in one. they are all expressions of the way the human ear interprets sound, and physics. It is a constant.

And the patterns are all the same for all the scales, with the natural halfsteps being the confounding thing for most… myself included. other than those, its linear.

The funny thing about music theory, is that it is inherent in all music… including atonal… and if someone is making anything that sounds like music or not, it is all expressing the values of musical theory… even the bad by ignoring the rules…

Now… so I dont get punitively flagged for going off topic (which is way overboard on here… stifles discourse…) let me include the initial post… being able to compose and play are two different things… its like the difference between an athlete and the coach of any sports… one creates the plays, and the other executes, and both are experts at the game and instrumental (pun intended).

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63

Thanks. I was wondering if I came of as dismissive and I’m glad you filled in some of the blanks.

So if someone owns an isometric controller and no piano key bed then don’t despair. You just have to make some added mental translations while you get some benefits from whatever layout you’re using.

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64

Hes being kind.

Just get a regular keyboard and do it right the first time… you will be saving yourself

@Holon was correct by saying…

There is a reason that this is the way for hundreds of years

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65

True + kind = very nice when possible. I still don’t know of a great music theory spot online, especially not for free. I would definitely benefit from brushing up my theory.

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Im so glad you took the time to say all this… you are doing people a favor.

and I know of a great resource for learning music theory… let me find it…

https://www.youtu.be/KmYabJpXbjQ

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67

It’s so wild how, whenever someone posts on the internet about wanting to learn to play keys better, the vast majority of responses are always “here’s what i did instead”

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As a side note I visited the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels recently, they have a whole section on novel keyboards- isomorphic keyboards have been around for quite a while! The Museum is well worth a visit, great collection of instruments with an audio guide that lets you listen to many of them

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69

It really depends, there are quite a few options, both with square (Launchpad, Push, LinnStrument) and hex (Exquis) layouts, plus customizable layouts on the Erae, plus some iPad stuff (I just recently discovered Geoshred, never thought the iPad’s screen could be a playable expressive instrument). It depends on your budget, whether you need MPE, whether you want to play chords a lot (64 pad controllers do get crowded), and whether you prefer square or hex based layouts.

Of course. To quote myself from this thread, an isomorphic keyboard still requires you to learn the theory, it just makes it way easier to apply it.

You still have to know the piano layout, since, as you’ve correctly pointed out, most resources on theory are based on it. It applies to any instrument, of course, I mean I know a lot of guitar players who don’t know anything about the piano layout, but I don’t know many good guitar players who aren’t familiar with it.

I did know a fair chunk of theory by the time I got a Launchpad, and I had some basic piano skills from learning it on and off over the years, but the thing it helped me with is exactly the issue raised in this topic: composing live instead of programming my music. Now I can improvise, and it comes naturally.

I’d argue that you can compose by programming every note in the DAW, or you can compose by improvising, and then developing the good ideas that are born right from that ear-brain-finger connection. You don’t have to be a good performer for that (my timing still sucks), but you have to have that kind of connection with the instrument you’re using.

This is one hundred percent true. I’d just add that it’s totally worth the trade-off.

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I’d say not quite so but add a dose of nuance: isomorphic layouts have some benefits vs a piano layout but they are situational.

I’d begin with the circle of fifths to explain how chords relate to each other on an isomorphic layout since chord transposition is easy. That just shifts the focus onto a macro level vs talking about how chords are comprised of individual notes and intervals, which is where I’d begin if teaching on piano keys. Two different starting point but the piano path is more straightforward and doesn’t require you to make as many mental zigzags.

If I have a complaint about piano keys it is about the choice of using the C major scale for the white keys, it confused me at first. It turns out that C major is a powerful but boring king and C is thought of as the center when really, the key of A minor is the mellow voice ruling from the shadows.

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I’m also in the learn-the-keyboard camp. There is something really weird about having half-steps super far away, among the many more important reasons explained by others. That said, I have a Striso Board which is super handy for MPE stuff (swam in my case) and super portable. Rather than bring one of the little Arturia keyboards with me when I’m traveling (and need a midi input device) I just bring the Striso. Also cool for finger drumming because the isomorphic layout works as a nice creative disorientation. That said, some finger drumming aficionados would not like the shape of the pads for that purpose. For most midi input tasks however, I still prefer a keyboard.

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Can you explain what you mean by this? On a most isomorphic keyboards, like Linnstrument, in standard chromatic configuration moving one pad to the right is half step. Nothing “super far away” about it…

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“Super” is an exaggeration I suppose but the default striso layout is below. It can be changed I believe.

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Striso seems to be an outlier.

I think most isomorphic pad devices using something like Linnstrument’s layout:

linnstrument_layout
linnstrument_layout2000×767 301 KB

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There are many different arrangements.

Isn’t this thread about something else ?

Learning to play keys for composition not performance

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Elektronauts threads organically veer into interesting tangents and then often meander back to the main topic…

No harm in it from my perspective. At least we’re not talking about cars and complaining about folks not liking gear that we like… :wink:

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OK so we agree.

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That [edit: the linnstrument] is just a guitar fretboard without the funny jump from the G string to the B string.

It’s not a bad layout for learning that scales are basically patterns of half steps and whole steps and that for each scale type the pattern is the same in each key. This is especially useful if you’re using different scale types (aka modes) a lot.

It’s much more difficult to learn than a piano keyboard, however, because the same notes occur in multiple places. At least on a piano a C5 (say) is only in one specific place. This is not only easier to remember, it also makes it more obvious where that note lies in the whole tonal spectrum.

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its called discourse. and alternative ideas leads to better production

how exactly would you like us to post? (thank you for police-ing!)

Anyways…

So I drive a BMW M3…

and people hate it when I use the tr-rec sequencer on the sp404 and I just dont understand why people cannot wrap thier head around how powerful it is…

just kidding…

I would also be critical of expressive keybeds for learning… Like Roli…

Here’s what i did instead…

a stock vanilla keybed to learn consistency to bridge the gap of composition and performance, which is improvisational jazz piano, and the ultimate expression of ones understanding of theory for composition and piano for performance.