This is not meant to be bragging, but as encouragement to other new whistlers.
When I started playing 12 months ago, I could manage to pick out a few simple tunes that I knew well…eg Amazing Grace, Auld Lang Syne.
But I could not really do much more by ear. “Your ear will improve” people said…I didn’t really believe it…I thought your ear was what you were born with..either you had it or you didn’t. Well, I was wrong!
Some time ago I put a copy of a song the Chieftains do called ‘Long Journey Home’ into my Slowdowner to try and learn it…I didn’t get very far.
Well, tonight I came back to it…and I did it easily in about half an hour including the time to notate it. Now I can play along with the Chieftains.
I HAVE improved..and I am tickled. So hang in there all you newbies…it does come!
At a session last night we were waiting for the juke box to die down in the pub before we started, and “If I had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies came on. I had never tried to play it but was able to pick out the melody. One of the other musicians there was impressed! hehe I don’t think he believed me when I told him I hadn’t played it before.
A tip for folks who want to pick out tunes by ear - repetition, repetition, repetition. Play a cd or mp3 50 times if you have to. Once the tune is solidly in your head the transistion to hands is much easier.
Well done, Lizzie! Isn’t it such a kick when you realize that you did something that you thought was beyond your abilities?
I just got the slowdowner, and learned a new mazurka in two reps! (okay…it WAS at 150% speed!) I think with it’s incremental speed I’ll be able to work with the tune and gradually pick up to full speed. I’m so encouraged by this program!
Playing by ear is actually done in the brain. People who can play by ear can sit in a quiet room and hear a song in their head and imagine the fingering that goes along with it. Some can also listen to a song being played and instantly tell you what the chords are. They need not listen to the song 50 times over. They know it as it unfolds, during the first listening. Playing by ear is truly a gift. Having the patience to sit and practice is yet another gift.
JP
[ This Message was edited by: JohnPalmer on 2002-09-23 23:36 ]
Well, I can’t do that, but I still play by ear. (If you think I can’t, ask Mack, Paul or Brian!) There are just different levels of intensity, like anything else.
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-09-23 23:52 ]
I personally think that ear is developed with time. I guess you need some natural abilities, but it becomes easier and easier to learn a tune by ear the more you go. When I started playin’ I remember that I had to use the “slow down” software for many tunes, but now by brain can pick up the different notes of a tune at whatever speed it’s played. It’s as if the more you go, the more you can distinguish the notes from each others, and your ear just becomes more sentitive and sharp.
I think a good exercice is to try to play along with tunes you don’t really know, and only play the notes you’re sure of, especially if you’re in a session! You can actually end up learning a tune you never really practiced, if you add up 2-3 notes each time you hear it, well after 20 times you’re gonna be able to play it!
Lizzie, that is so cool! I remember feeling like I won the lottery when I finally reached that point. And it just gets easier as you go. Keep up the good work!
just to add a data point:
The more you play along by ear the better you get, however, a lot has to do with what your’e listening to. As a “furinstance” I’ve played bass guitar for about 16 years. I can easely pick up the bass line for most songs by ear. On the other hand picking up guitar parts more complicated than the chord progression is rather hard for me. I personally think this is because I’ve trained my ear to listen to the bass and basicallly ignore the guitar melody.
I’ve also noticed some songs where I know the vocal melody by heart I have a hard time getting the whistle melody. as an example I’ve known “By The Dawning Of The Moon” since I was about 4 years old. Trying to play the whistle part in a tutorial I have(even though I have the sheet music) is damn near impossible for me. It’s subtly different from the vocal, and that’s just plain ingrained in my head.
What I’m trying to say is:
alot of playing by ear is training yourself to listen to the part of the music you are intrested in, and tuning out the other parts. Oh, and a good sense of relative pitch is essential.
“Well done, Lizzie! Isn’t it such a kick when you realize that you did something that you thought was beyond your abilities?”
Absolutely!!! I was beaming all evening.
Thanks all for the encouragement. Azalin, I am trying that bit where I play with the music, just a few notes at a time. A good exercise and fun too.
And yes, Slowdowner is amazing!
And maybe I can’t ‘play by ear’ in the sense John mentioned. But, I can find a tune I like, put it in Slowdowner and learn it…if I can do that, it is good enough for me!
well, I haven’t been able to play my whistle since I moved into this stupid dormitory (under threat of gettting stabbed in the head with my whistles if I don’t shuddap) but since I started playing about a year ago, I have noticed I’m a much better singer in church on sunday morning. Not that I’m a good singer, but at least I can sing semi-on-key now…
[ This Message was edited by: TelegramSam on 2002-09-24 10:07 ]
Congratz, Lizzie, WOW! after I read about the amazing slowdowner in your post I searched the forum for threads and found the link to http://www.ronimusic.com and got the sample software. That is really nice. I always wondered if there was something like that out there. I’m ordering the full version today.
Paul, I am glad you found it and like it. It is helping me a great deal. You can specify segments and replay them again and again so easliy. I need this again and again bit. BG
The only problem with learning tunes by ear is cloning the version to which one is listening, rather than developing one’s own style.
When learning by ear - Whistle, Pipes, Singing etc.- at first the song is indeed learned and “cloned” from the original. If you keep practising it, you “hear” things in the music that you “feel” need to be added, deleted, or changed. In making these changes and working them into the songs, one’s personal style actually does develop.
This of course depends on the player or singer conciously taking the learning process to that next level. True, it certainly takes longer to learn songs this way, but for those of us who have a very hard time reading music, it is our lot in life. Hence, for folks like me, using the slowdowner is like having a babel fish in the ear!
Slan
-Paul
(Edited to fix quote area)
[ This Message was edited by: paul on 2002-09-25 10:00 ]
Lizzie congratulation on the next step into the world of making the music your own.
To add to Ridsearch and Paul’s comments:
After I learn a tune by ear, say from a recording. I sometims try to find another recording of the same toon. This will give me an alternate version of how the tune can be played. These versions, in the common vernacular, are referred to as ‘settings’. As a result, I can understand whats going on when I hear folks who have played for a long time, comment on someones particular setting of a common tune.
After I learn a couple of settings for a tune I naturally find that, when I play it, I don’t play the same setting each time through the melody. I mix and match as needed to fit in with the folks I’m playing with.
For me the best, personal style for this type of music, is to play well with others. I mean to play in the style that fits with the music that the others are playing and the social tone of the situation in which I’m playing.
Making a song your own through absorbing the various setting add to how much you can …
Enjoy Your Music,
Lee Marsh
[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2002-09-25 10:24 ]
I also think that developing it’s own style comes naturally as you try to “imitate” your favorites players. After all, they’re usually your favorites players because you love their style. Therefore, after a while, even when you hear a single version, you’ll be able to play it in a different style, it’s like adapting your favorite style to the stuff you’re learning, it becomes natural.
(If you think I can’t, ask Mack, Paul or Brian!) There are just different levels of intensity, like anything else.