Can you learn to play the piano without knowing how to read music?

Question:If anyone ever tells you that you cannot learn to play the piano without knowing how to read music, stop listening to their advice on music. :) I am a classically-trained violinist, and reading music NEVER taught me how to play the violin; in fact, it often held me back. That may be hard to understand, but I don't know if you can without actually going through it, which I would not recommend.

How do you think the first pianists learned to play? In the earliest days of music, songs weren't written down; they were just passed down aurally. People began writing down music as a way to record their compositions, NOT as a way to learn to play their instruments. I bet you that if they had recording technology all along, written music probably would not have even been invented.

Even though I've played the violin for 18-19 years, I can't do what a lot of people who never learned to read can do; just jam and play whatever they want. You see, playing music is like speaking a language. You want to be able to express yourself however you want, and you learn to utilize words to form sentences, all with little thought to the words themselves.

I heard from my guitar teacher the story about Bela Lugosi, who played Count Dracula in the 1931 adaptation of the novel. A Hungarian national, Lugosi had learned the role of Count Dracula phonetically, since his command of the English language was very poor. Just think, this man was able to recite all his lines on camera, without actually understanding what he was saying! Music is the same way. Too many musicians who depend on reading music are just like Lugosi, reciting all these things without actually saying anything. I'm not saying that reading music is useless, but in my opinion, it has very little use. Most of the music out there is not in written form, anyway. Instead, train your ear to just hear something and be able to play it. Classical musicians aren't trained to be able to do that.

I would recommend a video called Piano for Quitters, which I found at my local library (or you can Google it). If you do watch it, pay VERY close attention to the introduction, for it may undo a lot of things that you've been told. It's a great video, and the guy teaches you how to gain quite a bit of proficiency without learning how to read a single note of music. Most classical musicians would scoff at that, but they're the ones who start crying and can't play anything when their sheet music gets lost. Take it from me; I've been there.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: If anyone ever tells you that you cannot learn to play the piano without knowing how to read music, stop listening to their advice on music. :) I am a classically-trained violinist, and reading music NEVER taught me how to play the violin; in fact, it often held me back. That may be hard to understand, but I don't know if you can without actually going through it, which I would not recommend.

How do you think the first pianists learned to play? In the earliest days of music, songs weren't written down; they were just passed down aurally. People began writing down music as a way to record their compositions, NOT as a way to learn to play their instruments. I bet you that if they had recording technology all along, written music probably would not have even been invented.

Even though I've played the violin for 18-19 years, I can't do what a lot of people who never learned to read can do; just jam and play whatever they want. You see, playing music is like speaking a language. You want to be able to express yourself however you want, and you learn to utilize words to form sentences, all with little thought to the words themselves.

I heard from my guitar teacher the story about Bela Lugosi, who played Count Dracula in the 1931 adaptation of the novel. A Hungarian national, Lugosi had learned the role of Count Dracula phonetically, since his command of the English language was very poor. Just think, this man was able to recite all his lines on camera, without actually understanding what he was saying! Music is the same way. Too many musicians who depend on reading music are just like Lugosi, reciting all these things without actually saying anything. I'm not saying that reading music is useless, but in my opinion, it has very little use. Most of the music out there is not in written form, anyway. Instead, train your ear to just hear something and be able to play it. Classical musicians aren't trained to be able to do that.

I would recommend a video called Piano for Quitters, which I found at my local library (or you can Google it). If you do watch it, pay VERY close attention to the introduction, for it may undo a lot of things that you've been told. It's a great video, and the guy teaches you how to gain quite a bit of proficiency without learning how to read a single note of music. Most classical musicians would scoff at that, but they're the ones who start crying and can't play anything when their sheet music gets lost. Take it from me; I've been there.

Yes, though not very well. If you know how the piece sounds, you can find the keys that play the notes in the piece. I can play a little bit by hunting for the specific note I want and playing it.

You probably will find that if you start to play it for a while you will begin to learn to read the music.

yes..some people can play by ear...they have fine tuned their hearing to know what notes are and then memorization will tell them where the correct keys are

Sure! Many people are just very strong at memorization. Others can see something performed and are able to replicate the piece. Those folks are truly gifted artists. However, if you're just starting out, learning to read music isn't as daunting as it seems. I bet you'll pick it up faster than you think!

Yes, i play the piano ... i cant read a note to save my life! u can learn diffrent ways ! 1 by just watching , 2 listening , or 3 u an lable the lines on the music A-G and just lable your keyboard or piano with stickers and look at the letters ! thats how i learend and now u just watch and learn ! its fun that way ! GOOD LUCK !

Yes Know where the key of middle C is and the octaves and you can go from there.

Sure you can. But learning to read music is easy. Also their are keyboards available that light up to teach you how to play the notes correctly.

Yes.

I'm sure you could if you had the patience to listen and practice really hard, but music isn't that hard to figure out, so I would go ahead and learn it. Music is like another language, though not as hard to learn. You may not need to know it, but why not learn it anyway?

Yeah, you can. It's really rare to be able to play by ear though, and it always helps to be able to read music.

yes you can. It's calle learning by rote, or by ear. You are better off learning how to read music though. It's really not that difficult once you start, it's almost like learning a new language. Just keep practicing.