Richard Hensold wrote:
This is a very interesting topic, but the thread that followed AR's
post seemed to miss the point a bit.
It's becoming an accepted notion that ear-learners (people who started
out playing music entirely by ear, and only started reading music years
later, if at all) think about/experience/play music in a fundamentally
different way than note-learners (people who were taught to read music
concurrently with being taught their instruments),
Can note-learners learn to play like ear-players? I think so, but I'm
still working on what methods work best. I tend to analyze everything
and do lots of directed listening, and while this is very good at
helping to hear new things, it's sort of counter-intuitive to think
that analyzing something will help you eventually arrive at a more
intuitively-musical way of playing.
Comments, anyone?
A very important issue particularly for organisers of playing groups.
I run a small monthly piping session- most of the players are what Dick
describes as 'note-learners' but I was an ear-learner and learned to
read music later.
If a new piece of sheet music is passed around the note-learners can
generally play it immediately, possibly in a mechanical sort of way but
I struggle badly until I have heard it several times, by which time the
note-learners are ready for something else. I need to know the shape of
the tune by hearing it, not just from the dots.
If I play to the group, I interpret the tune as I see fit and I have had
the response 'but you're not playing what's written'.
In a more formal workshop I will always teach at least one tune by ear
but the relief is obvious when the dots come out!
There is a significant gulf here and the trick is to try not to let it
spoil the fun whichever angle you come from.
Group playing is of course a bit of a special case since everybody has
to keep together and with more than about three or four players I think
it's often not really very musical. This is fine when playing in
private, as long as everybody is aware of the limitations, but if there
is an audience then there is a problem.
One odd personal point is that over recent years I have become more
reliant on the dots and less able to memorise a new tune, which I
regret, and I think this is due to too much music reading.
Cheers
Richard
--
Richard Evans
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