FAQ's
Does it matter what type of keyboard I learn on?
No – the technique is the same for all keyboards.
Benefits of DecPlay
1. Rapid Results
- Learn to play your first song within 1 hour.
2. Easy to Follow
- Amazingly simple 'patterns, numbers and colours’ technique
3. Different Levels of Tuition
- FastPlay for immediate results, ProPlay for professional style, SingPlay and HearPlay for sing-a-longs at parties / concerts etc...
4. Straight to the Fun -Without the Pain!
- Avoids need to ‘read music’ (which usually takes many months to master)
5. Freedom to Improvise
- Professional playing patterns explained, so you can easily invent your own style to any song
6. Save Time and Money
- Costs a fraction of the time and money compared to many months of traditional music lessons
How does DecPlay achieve rapid results?
1. Teaching the fastest and easiest route to playing songs in order to get quick results, to maximise your enjoyment of playing and fuel your desire to progress your learning
2. Provides a new type of song sheet which is so simple it can be understood within the first lesson
3. Harnesses your existing knowledge of the song to enable the correct rhythm to be played by following the lyrics rather than learning complex musical notation
4. Teaches songs chosen by you to maximise your enjoyment and motivate you to practice regularly (the key to success)
5. Reduces the number of ‘scales’ you have to learn from 12 to 2, whilst still maintaining adequate flexibility for different vocal ranges, when performing a sing-a-long
Do the results sound ‘professional’?
The DecPlay Stage 1 method is the fastest way to produce a ‘reasonable’ standard of playing, which your friends will be impressed with!
DecPlay Stage 2 is a more advanced method which requires more practice and produces a far more professional sounding result than using traditional sheet music, as DecPlay uses the ‘professional’ playing approach ie left hand playing bass and right hand playing melody and chords, with a complexity of playing that is easy to achieve when playing by ‘feel’ but which is almost impossible to achieve using traditional sheet music.
How do you make learning to play music so simple?
Music is a magical ‘language’ which has the power to evoke and communicate deep feelings and provide great joy to all who play and listen. How many times have you been at a party or a concert, felt the joy music is giving and wished that you could be that person playing?
This ‘musical language’ is far easier to learn than spoken languages such as English, as it only contains 12 letters (translated by the DecPlay method into numbers) and the vast majority of songs in popular culture use only 7. If children were taught this musical language for one fraction of the time they are taught speech, our world would be full of fluent musicians. The problem is that very few children are taught the simple rules and patterns that make music easy to understand.
Classical music usually requires you to learn how to read ‘music scores’ (the dots on lines) BEFORE having fun playing music, which results in the vast majority of pupils giving up at an early stage. This course (provided that you PRACTISE) will enable you to enter this magical world within your first lesson and set you on a course of learning and enjoyment that can continue for the rest of your life.
DecPlay avoids the need to learn how to read traditional ‘music scores’ (which can take many months to master) and concentrates on the fastest way to get to the pleasure of playing, using a simple ‘numbers and colours’ system.
Once you have experienced the pleasure of playing music, some pupils might want to learn to read music scores and there are a huge numbers of courses available to do this. Some will find that the DecPlay method fulfils all their requirements and that they just want to learn more songs from the DecPlay library. Others may want to progress to the ‘ultimate’ form of playing – ‘Playing By Ear’ – where you can hear a song, work out the notes in your head and play it instantaneously (this DecPlay course is currently under development).
Is DecPlay ideal for all styles of music?
In order to speed up the learning process, DecPlay uses the lyrics of a song to enable you to follow the rhythm, instead of teaching the typical music notation method. For this reason, DecPlay is not best suited to instrumental (ie without lyrics) music, such as classical music or jazz, but is ideally suited to the vast majority of popular songs. Pupils therefore need to be familiar with how the song goes, either by selecting a song that they already know or listening to the DecPlay MP3 recording to become familiar with it.
How much do I need to practise?
PRACTICE is the single most influential factor in determining success. As little as 30 minutes a day, for 6 days, is enough to play a song to a level that will impress your friends and give you great enjoyment. That’s just 3 hours! The key thing is REPETITION – don’t just do a couple of 1.5 hour lessons – IT WON’T WORK! Get in the habit of doing it in the morning before you start your day – even if this means getting up 30 minutes earlier if you have to. You will start the day with a smile!
Will I be able to play along to an original recording of a song?
Yes. Different artists record particular songs in different ‘scales’ (generally called ‘keys’) to suit their own voice range (there are over 12 scales in all). Some original recordings may be in different scales to the ‘standard’ scale used by DecPlay, which means that in order to play along with the original recording, you will have to:-
a) use a keyboard with a ‘transpose’ button, so you can match your scale wit the original scale
b) ‘transpose’ the pitch of the recording you are playing back, into the standard scales (eg using a karaoke machine)
c) Learn how to transpose the notes you are playing into a different scale using the Advanced DecPlay techniques.
Once I have Learnt FastPlay what do I do next?
- Once you have learnt FastPlay you can improve your playing style by watching the FastPlay Advanced video.
- You can then either expand your repertoire by purchasing more FastPlay song sheets to learn more songs or purchase the ProPlay tuition pack
Does the Song List Differe Between FastPlay and ProPlay?
Once I have learned either FastPlay or ProPlay can I learn traditional sheet music?
- Once you have learnt FastPlay or ProPlay - you can choose to learn any of the DecPlay song library, which is rapidly expanding.
- Alternatively, you can access the DotPlay tuition method which shows you how to convert between DecPlay notation and traditional 'dot' notation. For more details contact declan@decplaypiano.com