Explanation of my songs and my stance on MIDI's

No. I do not use any type of MIDI's or MP3's that are not mine.
Everything I upload is played on my piano/keyboard by my own fingers.
I've been taking piano lessons since I was 4 years old.

I learn the songs three different ways:

1) Via Ear
- I've been using this technique forever and it really works well for improving as you can chain up notes for like a combo or something and (in my opinion) its the easiest way to learn a song.

2) Via YouTube videos
- Believe it or not, YouTube has a huge assortment of videos of kids playing and tutorials on a couple songs. I only use the tutorials to learn a couple songs that I can't seem to get down and I watch the videos to get the timing down pat.

3) Via Sheet Music
- Everyone has their different opinion on sheet music. You either hate it or you love it. I personally love sheet music because not only are they giving you the correct notes, they're giving you the correct timing, octave, etc. Granted, there isn't sheet music for every single song out there, but if I can't find one, I usually learn by ear followed by videos.

4) Via Synthesia or Finale Notepad 2008
- I rarely use Synthesia and I actually only have it on my PC for my music class to visually teach kids. Finale Notepad 2008 on the other hand gives you the sheet music and the actual song itself, all in one. This is what I use sometimes but not all the times because I'm not really a huge fan of FN2008's interface.

So in conclusion, I do not use MIDI files and I actually despise MIDI files. I've worked with them in the past and I truly do hate them. Granted the time will come eventually where you'll have to look for a MIDI file and whatnot and then they become useful but for now, they're just not cool xD.

So yeah, I just wanted to clear this up for some people that have been asking me.
Thanks for reading!

More songs on their way <3

Comments

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Chdonga 2009-09-23 22:29:25

MIDI files are 90% of the time terrible. The worst ones are the ones in vgmusic.com, none of them sound like the real song it's based off.

S3C 2009-09-24 01:17:10

1.) In aural perception classes, teacher's will tell you NOT to use the "chaining" method- as if you get one wrong note, then the rest of your melody will be wrong for as long as you chain, despite getting the melodic contour correct. If you're really good at hearing intervals, then great, but it's not a safe method to rely on. Of course it might be a bit different if you have more than four tries to figure out the piece and have an instrument to play it back, but it's more effective if you can hear the the respective scale tones and when they're altered.

2.) Agree

3.) Sheet music has its place and every musician should learn it as its the most easiest way to play music and the most universal system. my preferred method for producing music is piano roll/MIDI data. When it comes to a production level (opposed to a composer) sheet music just leaves to much room for interpretation.

4.) eh, do not use them frequently because I don't print much notated music.

There's nothing wrong with using MIDI files. There's something wrong with blatantly ripping MIDI files. If you like doing stuff by ear, then great! Aural practice aside, why spend more time figuring out the notes when you can just look at the Midi? The problem on NG lies within "remixers" downloading a copy of FL and directly importing the midi file into FL and then exporting it to a full song. There's no creativity in this, nor is there any creativity in learning the notes by ear, and not doing anything to the song to personalize it with changes and really give the piece your own musical flavor. If you do this, you won't be accused of a midi rip.

And to the user above me...how much do you really know? If you want MIDIs to have the same quality as new tracks regarding sound and replicating the articulative quality of instruments then of course they're going to be terrible- needless to say standard GM banks cannot reproduce that type of sound! Especially if it's a track that relies more on timbral characteristics over the actual composition. Several of the VGmusic submissions are just transcribed from published sheets. 4th generation and older console (well, I know Sega Genesis and similar can) emulators have the ability to export the tracks into digital data which can then be accurately converted to MIDI.

Kreepman 2009-09-24 01:17:10

You make valid arguments and yes, I agree that MIDI's are great for learning songs, but it's just not my thing! xD

And thanks for telling me that the Sega Genesis Emulators can export tracks into digital data! I never knew that ^^