Piano Guidance
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Can I get sheet music from flowkey?

A python app to download sheet music from flowkey and save it as pdf.

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A python app to download sheet music from flowkey and save it as pdf.

installation

This is a python3 app, that can be installed with pip:

python3 -m pip install flowkey_dl

To get the latest dev version from git, clone the repository and install from the folder.

git clone https://github.com/MatthiasLienhard/flowkey_dl.git cd flowkey_dl python3 -m pip install .

The gui of the app depends on tkinter which should be included with all standard Python distributions. If you get import errors, try installing it manually, e.g. in linux with

sudo apt-get install python3-tk

In a terminal, run

flowkey-dl

Go to flowkey.com, select a song or lesson and right click on the sheet track at the bottom of the page. Flowkey made it harder to get the url of the underlying images, simply right click does not work anymore. It should still work when looking in the browsers cache. With google-chrome browser, you find it by clicking on the three dots in the top right -> more tools -> developer tools, then on the "sources" tab. Here you should find flowkeycdn.com with a folder /sheets, with all the songs from the last session. Click right on the first image (0.png) and then 'copy link location'. There is probably similar ways in other browsers. Paste this url (e.g. https://flowkeycdn.com/sheets/XXXX/300/0.png) into the url filed of the app. Click on "load" and the sheet is downloaded and aranged. If you enter title and author, it gets added to the sheet. Optionally adjust layout, scale and font size and select measures (e.g. 1,3,5-10 would select only measures 1, 3 and 5 to 10). Click save to save the sheet as pdf. If the font size does not change, you probably do not have the fonts installed. Try installing either FreeMono or arial as ttf.

To start the command line interface run

flowkey-dl-cli < URL > [ < PDF-Output-Path > ] [-t < title > ] [-a < artist > ] This will download the sheet music for the provided flowkey url and export it in pdf format. The base url refers to the url from flowkey as described above (e.g. https://flowkeycdn.com/sheets/XXXX/<...>) and is required.

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Arthritis and piano: how it can be good for you

Posted at 10:39h in Cognitive, News in Clinician

Since I’ve seen this concern pop up now and again, I thought it would be best to address the issue through a quick blog post.

As we age, arthritis becomes a real concern. According to the Center for Disease Control, almost 50% of adults over the age of 65 have arthritis. Among other options, yoga and massage have been offered as “pain relievers,” but… have you ever thought of playing piano to ease the pain?

Playing the piano will strengthen the joints and muscles in your hands. The dexterity involved in playing music on the piano keeps your hand muscles developed and avoids the weakening of small bones. It is recommended to play gentle and simple songs if you are trying to relieve the pain, but regular movements achieved by playing the piano is a good way to keep your fingers active. As long as you’re not training to become a concert pianist and playing for hours upon hours each day, piano is a GREAT option to exercise your hand muscles and joints! I’ve also had a couple of students say that their focus on playing the songs was a distraction from some of the pain. Studies show that music does have an effect on pain, as it provides distraction and relaxation . Has your time at the piano helped with your arthritis? Send us a comment below!

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