mute left hand when learning right hand part

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osterac
Posts: 3

Post by osterac »

Hi,
I'm trying to use synthesia to get better at reading music. I've had piano lessons but my problem has been that I would just listen to someone else play then pick out the notes on the keyboard until I could play the song - I never really learned to sight read.
Anyway, With Synthesia I've been trying to find songs I've never heard and learn them one hand at a time. The problem is, Synthesia plays the audio for the part of the opposite hand. If I start by learning the right hand part first, I already know what the left hand part sounds like and I don't need to depend on the sheet music nearly as much. Is there any way to mute the opposite hand when practicing?
Thanks,
Allen
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

If you click the "Hands, Colors, and Instruments" button on the screen just before the song begins, you can click the "Sounded" icon in the left hand box to change it to "Muted".
osterac
Posts: 3

Post by osterac »

That works, thanks! I noticed I can just mute both hands and I still hear my notes. It would still be nice if I didn't have to do this once for every song, but I hear version 11 is going to be a lot better for learning. Another thing is that it shows me which key on the keyboard I'm supposed to play, and I'd rather see only the sheet music. If I see which key to play, I don't need to rely on the sheet music as much. Right now I'm moving the bottom part of the synthesia window off-seen so it gets cut off, but it'd be nice if I could just turn the indicators off. Maybe even disable everything except the sheet music display.
eFse7en
Posts: 32

Post by eFse7en »

For me it was good to listen to the solo left or solo right part first, and then i actually liked hearing the other hand being played by synthesia while practicing the first one.
In order to listed only to one track - let's say left hand, you can launch the "Practice the rhythm" for the right hand. That way you don't need to change the settings.

But if one listen run wasn't enough and you only want to hear one track when practising it, then yes, currently you need to change settings and mute everything else.
Instead of manually muting all tracks for every song, you can alternatively change the global settings for the output device and disable "background instruments". That way you will only hear what you play.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

You can also hide the falling note blocks with a shortcut. It's F5 by default in the Mac/PC version.

Then, you can scoot the keyboard down, off the screen, using the little blue block that pops out when you pause the song. That should leave you with nothing but the sheet music visible. (In Synthesia 11, full-screen, multi-line sheet music will become possible so those steps will get a little easier.)
osterac
Posts: 3

Post by osterac »

Forgot to thank you all for helping out. Thanks, this has been really useful! I'm having a lot of fun with Synthesia and learning a lot. It's a remarkable piece of software, and I recommend it to whoever will listen. I look forward to new developments!
Thanks
Allen
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