Hello everyone!

I like this forum and will appreciate any advices! I have to confess that I am here for my son who just started learning piano. I am sitting along but not seriously learning.

My son is playing the simple ones (level 1b in Alfred), and he does not try to remember the scores. Do you recommend remembering the notes when seeing the teacher, or it is fine to read while playing? Thanks ahead for any advices!

for some simple exercises or pieces, if he can sight read through them, then he dosen't have to memorize them. but if he is going to perform a piece, memoriziation is necessary because once notes are memorized he could then concentrate on music making and interpretation or musical expression etc. so, it basically depends on pieces and purpose of learning them.

Hi, Signa:

Thank you AGAIN! I have learnt a lot from you. My son is playing only for the simple exercises now, such as Cocoo Song. We just started Level 1B, and I found sight reading is not as easy as the primer books. We'll have to work on that.

I agree with what Signa said. At that level, the material in his method books and what not, it's probably a good idea that he work on sight reading them and not trying to memorize them. These aren't "performance pieces" - as signa said, if it's a performance piece, something he plans or his teacher plans on having him play in a recital, he should strive to memorize it for the reasons signa stated.

enjoy!
-Paul