Something weird happened to me this week. I had been trying to learn Dans en Dro by ear for months and months, to no avail. I’d try it for a few days, then give up and go back to learning new tunes by sheet music. Finally last Sunday I realized that somehow I knew how it should be played. I picked up my whistle and in short time had it almost completely worked out. It’s not perfect, but closer than I ever thought it’d be. Then a couple of days later I put Nil Sen La on the CD player and realized I could also play that. My “fingers knew the notes.” I don’t know how else to say it. Then I was stopped at a long red light listening to a song by Dervish and realized that I knew how it should be played. I grabbed my whistle (it was a LONG light) and began playing. I got it wrong the first time and the second, but I got 8 or 9 notes right on the third try. At that point I realized that these were not just coincidences, I have somehow reached a new point in my learning. Now I find myself sitting for long periods of time listening intently, and hitting “replay” and working out each bit of the tunes I like the most. And I love playing more than I ever have before. Now I know what all the experienced players have been talking about. Before, I thought that learning by ear was something you have to be born with, but now I realize it comes with experience. You just have to put in the time…lots of time, in my case.
Thanks so much for sharing this! Your feeling of encouragement is contagious when you explain it so generously.
One of my music partners, a fiddler player, had a teacher who told him, ‘If you can’t sing it, you can’t play it.’ That was a real epiphany for my partner.
I sure look forward to and work hard toward the day when I can copy a complex phrase of melody after hearing it once or twice without having to slow it down on my pc.
I feel like the more tunes I learn, the quicker I learn each next one…
Lisa
That’s absolutely great. You may not need this but I always like to recommend Chris Smith’s instructional web page. The article which is most pertinant here is the one called callresp (call and response). Maybe it will help you or someone else further. There’s other good articles too but some are for guitar or bouzouki players. The one called byear might be helpful.
http://www.geocities.com/coyotebanjo/instruction/
Steve
Thanks for sharing the moment, Lisa and Steve!
Congrats on getting the tune… but I have to ask all those who maye read these words… am I the only one who finds it easier to play by ear? A page covered in those little golf club notes just clouds my noodle. And I can read music! Had piano lessons, too. But it’s much easier for me to pick out a tune by ear.
Go ask Dada, sweetie. Mama needs some whistle time.
[ This Message was edited by: Dewhistle on 2002-07-05 03:17 ]
blackhawk’s situation is quite similar to something I read in a book (non-fiction). Its something about some doctor or professor squeezing and clonking his brain to solve some mathematical equation. He sort of ‘gave up’ and went outside. He was just getting onto a bus, and then ‘whoosh’! he suddenly knew how to solve that math thingy.
So, in a way, when you can’t seem to be able to do something, might as well don’t do it (for awhile). It might come back at you soon.
That’s a great moment, Blackhawk. Once you put in enough time on the whistle, if you can get a tune into your head, your fingers will automatically take over.
On a similar note ( bad pun), I find that whenever I start to hum or whistle ( with my lips) a tune it is almost always right on pitch to a D whistle. I have never had what I would call perfect pitch, but somehow those tones have embedded themselves in my brain. Very cool.
Great stuff Blackhawk. It’ll get easier and easier as you keep at it.
Caoimhin, your “doctor or professor” may be Kekulé, who “saw” the structure of the benzene molecule in a couple of daydreams, one on a London bus. The mind can do great things when you stop thinking and let it work on a problem.
http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/chemach/cssb/cks.html
Thanks for the encouragment, folks. I think the reason it took me so much longer than most of you was that I had no previous music experience at all before picking up a whistle in February. Most whistle players start somewhere else and then end up here. Someone above mentioned that they find it easier to learn by ear, and now I do, too. I think the difference is due to reaching a certain level of experience. But hey, I’m over the hurdle and having lots of fun.
One of the more interesting things I’m realizing is how much more satisfying it is to capture a tune by ear. It’s like hunting something down rather than having it served on a silver platter, earning it rather than having it given to you.
Another advantage is that I find I remember what I’ve learned easier than when I used to learn by the sheet music.
[ This Message was edited by: blackhawk on 2002-07-05 13:44 ]
He was just getting onto a bus, and then ‘whoosh’! he suddenly knew how to solve that math thingy.
That happened to Henri Poincaré. I think Isaac Newton’s theory of gravitation came to him in a sudden flash, and Mozart is reported to have had entire symphonies appear spontaneously in his head when he was doing other things, like taking a walk or something.
On 2002-07-05 13:13, blackhawk wrote:
I think the reason it took me so much longer than most of you was that I had no previous music experience at all before picking up a whistle in February.
I doubt very much that that’s “longer than most”, and your lack of previous experience may have been an advanatage.
Often the folks who have the hardest time learning to play by ear are those who have reached a level of some proficiency soley by relying on printed music. A lot of then develop a real mental block about it.
I’m convinced that anyone who can carry a tune can play by ear, but for a more experienced player it may be necessary to go back to very simple tunes and be patient while the brain rewires itself (or whatever it does when we learn a new skill).
Anyway, congratulations Blackhawk. Sounds like you’re over the hump.
[ This Message was edited by: JayMitch on 2002-07-05 14:40 ]