The first-ever tune I learned by ear

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:10 pm

Back in 1976, I was home from school one day with the flu, and spending my time watching re-runs and such on TV. I had just gotten my first whistle (a Generation Eb) and had only started to learn my way around it.

One of the shows I watched that day was a re-run of "The Day of the Dolphin," and I found the theme music so haunting and beautiful that I decided to see if I could play it by ear. It's amazing how driven you can be when you find a tune you really want to learn to play! It's been a favorite air of mine ever since...in fact, I'm thinking of arranging it for my harp.

Anyway, I ran across this recording of the movie soundtrack on YouTube, and it sure brought back memories! Isn't it a lovely tune?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqcoEEQgwGw

Redwolf

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:30 pm

I remember that movie. I went with my friend Jayne, and we bought Cracker Jacks which contained, as the prize, little view-splitting lenses. So at certain junctures thoughout the film we'd look at Bea and Pha (and George and Trish) in quintuplicate. We were yucked out by the part where they suddenly turned the lights on in the dolphin tank observation room and...ok, I'm not giving it away.

I must say though, Red, that you picked a more intricate tune for a first-memorized than I. When I first got my viola, after working through Hot Cross Buns, etc., the first things I taught myself were Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and--in a different vein--Windy (The Association.)

Now that I think about it though, it was my earlier meager efforts at picking out L'Amour est Bleu on the piano which prompted my mother to sign me up for lessons with Mr. Snider, who was kind of a grouch. At least from a 7 year old's perspective. But he had a nice gray cat named Cinderella.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:36 pm

Nice tune, Red. I'd like to try that on the guitar.
My first tune by ear was "Planxty Hewlett".

But recently I've been trying my hand at tunes that aren't Irish, and aren't normally played on pennywhistle.

Here's one that came to mind. It used to be on the TV when I came home from school. As you can see it's a German film, dubbed (badly) into English. It was terrible! But the music was just cheesey enough to stick in the mind. Sounds okay on the whistle, too.

Snowy White Horses

dwest · Post by **dwest** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:03 pm

My first was "Oh Shenandoah" that I learned when I was seven on a Hohner Marine Band Harmonica that my great gran had gotten me for Christmas. I learned it listening to a Paul Robeson 78.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:04 pm

emmline wrote:I remember that movie. I went with my friend Jayne, and we bought Cracker Jacks which contained, as the prize, little view-splitting lenses. So at certain junctures thoughout the film we'd look at Bea and Pha (and George and Trish) in quintuplicate. We were yucked out by the part where they suddenly turned the lights on in the dolphin tank observation room and...ok, I'm not giving it away.

I must say though, Red, that you picked a more intricate tune for a first-memorized than I. When I first got my viola, after working through Hot Cross Buns, etc., the first things I taught myself were Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and--in a different vein--Windy (The Association.)

It's not that intricate, really. It's got a half-holing, which I remember struggling with at the time, but it's one of those tunes that just kind of flows out of you.

This is also the first tune I remember hearing that made me cry from the sheer beauty of the music. That kind of tune, you just have to learn.

It sounds, to my ear, very Breton. The composer is French...I wonder if he was influenced at all by Breton music?

Redwolf

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:18 pm

We Three Kings. After playing the piano and guitar since I was a kid, I was quite surprised to see that I could pick out a tune on whistle.

fel bautista · Post by **fel bautista** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:46 pm

Mine was Pete Seeger's "Living in the Country". I slowed that record down on a turntable to 16 rpm ( or what ever half of 33 1/3 is). Drove my mom nuts.

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Sat May 17, 2008 5:32 pm

My first was the Southwind from Joannie Madden's Song of the Irish Whistle. I heard it in a book store and went home and learned it. Years later, I learned that I had transposed it down half an octave.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Sat May 17, 2008 5:36 pm

Aside from a few Christmas tunes, the first Irish-ish tune I learned by ear was learned from Clips and Snips. It was 'May Morning Dew'--the air, which I have never seen anywhere nor heard anyone else play, which leads me to suspect that it's not an official Irish trad tune. But it's pretty.

Edit in--I just looked and the tune is still there, recorded by Dave Parkhurst on a Parkhurst whistle.

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:34 pm

Not sure which was first, but my first by-ear tune on whistle... It was either the Pogues verion of "Jesse James" or a whistle rendition of "Chief O'Neill's", inspired by Barney McKenna and John Sheahan's mandolin duet version.

That version of Chief O'Neill's was also the first tune I leaned by ear on mandolin.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:40 pm

I visited Dave Parkhurst at his house before he recorded May Morning Dew. He pulled out a piping cd by Mick O'Brien of the same name so I could hear that tune, which he raved about (how it was played by O'Brien). I've also heard it sung on a Chieftains cd, Water from the Well, by Kevin Conneff (in English).

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:51 pm

"The Four-Poster Bed"...and "Colonel Rodney"...

via John Sheehan,

A great player.

Slan,
D.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Sat May 17, 2008 7:07 pm

TonyHiggins wrote:I visited Dave Parkhurst at his house before he recorded May Morning Dew. He pulled out a piping cd by Mick O'Brien of the same name so I could hear that tune, which he raved about (how it was played by O'Brien). I've also heard it sung on a Chieftains cd, Water from the Well, by Kevin Conneff (in English).

Thank you.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:45 pm

I can't get no
Satisfaction ....

djm

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:55 pm

I don't really remember the first tune I learned by ear on piano. That was too long ago. The first tune I learned on mandolin was Sourwood Mountain. I think the first whistle tune I learned by ear (from a home video my aunt made while traveling in Scotland) was Peggy Gordon. She filmed a bit of a session in some pub and a guy with a wonderful voice sang the song. It stuck in my head long enough for me to find it on the whistle.