When adults want to learn to play the piano, the first thing they usually do is look for piano sheet music. Most of the time they come across piles of books that lure them with promises like “Piano Made Easy” or “Learn to Read Music for Beginners.” Most of these books teach exclusively from sheet music. Anyone who tries to learn to read music with a book like this will soon be frustrated, because reading black dots on a sheet of paper and mechanically pressing the corresponding piano keys simply isn’t very creative.
The myth that you can learn to play the piano just by reading sheet music persists to this day. Yet reading music is simply ONE way of learning – and there’s nothing wrong with it. But it is only one way – it’s the combination with other ways of learning that leads to real results. Of course, reading music is also part of the Zapiano® Method – through the sensory channel of the eye. However, we make sure that we only ever work with sheet music as much as necessary to achieve the result we want – which is usually playing a specific piece.
If you learn this way, by memorizing note names, it takes a long time before what you play sounds like real music – and that’s probably where most learners lose patience. Being able to read piano sheet music does of course make sense when it’s deliberately built into your practice routine. But please don’t see it as the only possible way. In this article, I explain how you can avoid limiting your piano learning to sheet music alone. After all, a good musical understanding doesn’t come from reading notes alone.
Sheet Music: The Complex Language of the Piano
The problem at the start of your musical journey is this: musical notation is really the language of musicians. If you take a look at one of the complex works of music history, you’ll quickly realize that, as a layperson, it’s all Greek to you.
When do you need piano sheet music?
Being able to read piano sheet music is really helpful if you want to learn classical piano. In the days of Mozart, Beethoven and co., learning to read music was simply essential. After all, the orchestra had to know what to play. There were no sound recordings back then. Learning to read music for the piano was therefore the only way music could be passed on. Today, things are different. We can listen to pieces again and again and play them by ear.
This has allowed us to broaden our approach to music. Because classical works are so old, however, we still have the following advantage: much of this sheet music is so old that it’s generally no longer protected by copyright, which means you can download this piano sheet music legally and free of charge on the internet. Modern works are a different story: unless the composer died more than 70 years ago (the rule in Europe, for example – other countries have slightly different rules), the music is protected by copyright. So these compositions are only legally available for a fee.
Lead Sheets vs. Classical Piano Sheet Music
Conventional piano sheet music is written on two staves. Because you read both at the same time, playing from sheet music takes several years of practice. Classical piano music is written on these two staves, with the upper staff usually in the treble clef and the lower one in the bass clef. Composers don’t just write down the notes and their values – they also give precise instructions on how to play, the tempo and the dynamics.
In pop and jazz, on the other hand, pianists and keyboard players use lead sheets. A lead sheet contains only the essentials on a single page: the melody and the harmonic framework of the piece. As a layperson, you might wonder where all the other notes come from. The answer lies in the way you approach pop and jazz – it’s completely different. When learning these styles, feeling, ear, understanding and a well-developed playing technique are what matter most.
Playing Piano from Sheet Music
So if you prefer to learn the piano from sheet music, you can also go for fully written-out piano sheet music. It’s notated in both the treble clef and the bass clef.
Advantages of Piano Sheet Music
One advantage, of course, is that it tells you exactly which note to play and when. This is a clear advantage, especially if your ear isn’t well trained yet at the beginning and you can’t pick out much by ear.
With digital offerings, it can also be handy to see the sheet music right on the screen. That’s quite practical for practicing, but in reality, sheet music is still mostly offered as complete sheets, PDFs or similar.
Disadvantages of Piano Sheet Music
One disadvantage of playing from sheet music is that piano scores can sometimes be quite complex to read, and there’s simply little room for your personal touch. So if that matters to you, why not try playing from a lead sheet with Zapiano®?
Advantages of a Lead Sheet
First of all, the advantage of a lead sheet lies in its simplicity. It’s much easier to read than a score with every detail written out. In my view, this is the best way to achieve success quickly.
In a short time, you get a good overview of the harmonic structure of the piece, and you can get into playing new pieces quickly, too.
Another advantage is that you can be as creative as you like. With fully written-out piano music, you’d have little room for your own interpretations and improvisations. A lead sheet, on the other hand, supports your own creativity, and you can bring in your very own personal style.
Disadvantages of a Lead Sheet
If you’re someone who really likes to have fixed notes to follow, a lead sheet may give you too little information overall. For many beginners, sheet music is a kind of crutch without which they wouldn’t dare to play the piano at all.
At the beginning, you also often lack certain knowledge. What if a lead sheet calls for a C major chord and you don’t know how to play it? As you can see, some basic knowledge comes in handy here.
Never Play Pop Music from Sheet Music
The music industry churns it out nonstop – nevertheless, my advice is to never play pop, rock or jazz songs from the charts from piano sheet music. There’s a risk that over time you’ll feel and sound like a malfunctioning robot. Imagine music greats like Alicia Keys, Elton John, Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder playing their songs on stage from sheet music. The latter may be a bad example – he has never played from printed sheet music anyway.
Do you think that would sound natural and spontaneous? Performers like these make music in the moment, which means the pieces are always slightly varied or new parts are added. The fact that Elton John & co. can do this isn’t simply because these people are incredibly talented, but because of the different way in which they learned to play the piano.
Learn to Play Pieces by Ear Instead of Learning to Read Piano Sheet Music
On the internet, you’ll find numerous websites offering free printable piano sheet music for pop songs, movie soundtracks and much more as free downloads. However, I’ve already explained the problem with playing from sheet music above. So if you really want to play music from the charts well and with ease, you should learn the songs by ear as much as possible. This way, you’ll develop a much deeper understanding of music and discover that similar chord progressions often repeat themselves.
After a little practice, you’ll be able to play around 80% of any pop song by ear. For the remaining 20%, you can of course use sheet music or lead sheets to help you. You’ll also get the corresponding piano sheet music as downloads in my courses. The level of difficulty increases with the course level.
And the really creative among you can of course also write your own songs.
A musical category such as jazz and popular music is never learned through reading sheet music alone. It’s a combination of different ways of learning: above all, the ear and understanding are central elements. On top of that, a melodic (church modes, etc.) and harmonic (chords and their extensions) understanding rounds off the path to skillful playing.
Practice Makes Perfect
You have to be very practiced at sight-reading to decipher all the melodies, chords and arpeggios. Ideally, when sight-reading, you already have an idea of how the notes will sound on the piano. But as you can imagine, it simply takes quite a while to get to this point as a musician. It doesn’t happen overnight. Isn’t there a better solution for beginners?
Don’t Overwhelm Yourself with Piano Sheet Music
If you still only want to play from piano sheet music, please make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself. The point is to turn what’s written into sound quickly enough that the result is recognizable from the start – in other words, that you’re already making some music with the notes.
With my piano students, I often notice that they try to turn a piece into real music note by note, finger by finger, key by key. That ends in frustration. So my tip is to choose piano sheet music that matches your sight-reading skills and to make learning to read music easy for yourself.
The difficult part is recognizing when sheet music isn’t right for your playing level yet. But just be patient. With regular practice, you’ll soon be able to tackle more complex pieces too.
Buying Sheet Music for Individual Songs Saves Money
Music stores offer not only pianos and piano benches, but also lots of piano sheet music. However, it’s often quite expensive. A good alternative is to buy piano sheet music on one of the many specialized online platforms. Here, you have the advantage that you can buy individual songs instead of a whole book. Usually you get the sheet music as a PDF file that you can simply print out. When you need it quickly, this is the ideal option – long delivery times and shipping costs are a thing of the past.
Lead Sheets and Piano Sheet Music at Zapiano®
The good news is: at Zapiano®, you don’t have to choose. Here, we learn both:
- reading piano sheet music and
- reading lead sheets
In our piano courses, we learn both how to play a song from sheet music and how to break away from it and shape pieces freely.
This progressive way of learning is made possible by our holistic concept for learning to play the piano. It’s called the Zapiano® Method. In it, reading, hearing, touch, feeling and understanding are given equal weight.