I think the difference that allows one to understand the vocal part with the instrumental part is the basic relationship between the tab. notation and the vocal. In tab, to my mind, most of the relationships (until you understand the voicing etc.) is vertical. It is easier to insert the vocal parts in this vertical relationship than in staff notation where the relationships are horizontal and in your mind you are trying to insert the voice into a moving target. I was once able to help a key board student understand Bach by showing them a horizontal approach to the parts as opposed to the standard two hand horizontal approach. I may have screwed them up for life but at the time it helped.
Vance Wood. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Marcus Merrin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 12:05 PM Subject: Re: Historical pitch (was lute notation) > Marcus, > > > I can't say that I've found that tab has made it > easier for me to sing at play at the same time - it > seems to be more or less that same whether tab or > notes for me. I have noticed, however, that its very > easy for me to sing ABOVE the lowest note of whatever > I'm playing, but very very difficult for me to sing > below the instrument. Something in the brain... > Perhaps the tab helped you out because it mostly > only marks the start times of the notes you play on > the lute so that your brain was able to see it as a > series of events that you have little control of once > the string is plucked. When we're singing, of course, > we have a continuum of notes tied to breath control, > etc. Modern notation more or less reflects this with > the embedded rhythmic notation, dynamics, etc. > Therefore, when you look at tab with a voice part, the > brain is able think about them in two seperate > catagories. > When we play the lute (or guitar or piano) from > pitch notation, we're still only performing a series > of self-contained events, but the notation itself > makes it LOOK indentical to the voice part. Maybe now > that your brain has learned to differentiate between > the two skills via tab reading, it can now do this > regardless of what you actually see in front of you. > > > Chris > > --- Marcus Merrin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I had a related experience which is probably not > > unique to the way *my* > > brain is wired. > > When I was a guitarist, I could never wrap my head > > around playing and > > singing at the same time from a vocal/instrument > > score.. I know many > > pianists and guitarists who have the same > > difficulty. Curiously, as > > soon as I started to learn lute tablature it all > > just fell into place > > pretty much overnight. I assume that staff and tab > > notation take > > slightly different paths through our mental > > processes because one is a > > graph of pitch vs. time and the other is a plot of > > finger position vs > > time. I guess pitch and finger position are > > sufficiently far apart in > > our heads not to interfere with one another the way > > pitch and speech > > do. The curious thing is that after this discovery, > > I found to my > > surprise that not only did my ability to sing and > > play from staff - > > voice/tab - lute emerge, but also that reading both > > from staff notation > > became easier and to my complete mystification, my > > previously very > > limited keyboard reading skills improved too. > > > > Has anyone else found that learning tab is the magic > > bullet for > > sightreading difficulties? > > > > Marcus > > > > Jon Murphy wrote: > > > > >Tony, > > > > > > > > > > > >>P.S. Does anyone else who dabbles in different > > instruments experience the > > >>same phenomenon as I do, one example of which is > > that I can play the gamba > > >>from alto clef, but I can't read it on the > > keyboard? > > >> > > >>TC > > >> > > >> > > > > > >Yes, in a sense. I play double strung harp (along > > with other instruments). > > >My left hand has a reading problem (nothing to do > > with my brain <g>). Pieces > > >written for the 2X will often use the treble clef > > for both lines, but as the > > >instrument has 3 1/2 octaves I'm often reading the > > bass clef for the left > > >hand, sometimes tranlating it up an octrave and > > sometimes in the written > > >range. It involves a mental adjustment (and there > > are some small harp pieces > > >that are all in one stave of the treble using up > > and down "whatchumacallums" > > >(note flags) to indicate the hand. > > > > > >Best, Jon > > > > > > > > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at > > > >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > >
