alt Hacker NewsNice work. From the Github:
> This allows the pianist to not have to turn pages, and more importantly, allows them to see the music and their hands at the same time, which is an unavoidable problem with traditional sheet music.
I could definitely see this being beneficial for beginners. When I lived in a dormitory during uni I often played familiar pieces from memory pretty late on a digital piano (with headphones) in extremely dim lighting so as not to disturb my roommate.
At some point I just stopped having to look down at the keyboard. I play a lot of stride piano as well and that probably conditioned me to just have a sort of musical proprioception for the instrument. And of course, there's numerous examples of unbelievable blind pianists - Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Art Tatum, etc.
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For me, it's still easy to mess up for complex sections if I'm not peeking at the keyboard every so often. Its true that muscle memory takes over after you reach a level of familiarity but not quite to the extent of biking
> I just stopped having to look down at the keyboard
Maybe the next step is an app for people who don't read sheet music; it would light up the keys on the keyboard that you need to press, when you look at it...?
Same for guitar, highlight where to put your fingers on a fret for each chord.
I wanted to say, after a certain level looking at your fingers when playing an instrument becomes the equivalent of looking at your legs when riding the bicycle.
When I start to think too much about what my fingers are doing I will play worse. For if I want to practise a particular part where I get the fingering wrong, sure, but when you play it for real, looking is counterproductive.
Something like this could be great for beginners tho. But simular to automatic guitar tuners I am not sure if you should get into the habit of this technology being around.
How many people still look at the keyboard when typing? At some point, you just don't need to look at whatever it is your doing. Also, at some point, you memorize the music if it's something you are playing enough. What level of pianist is reading sheet music and looking at their hands at the same time.