Firstly may I say what a brilliant board you have here, It’s really interesting.
My main point, is everyone here gifted in the technical points of music? All appear to be able to read music and all seem to know the names of the notes they are playing. I haven’t got a clue what my fingers are doing and I can’t even follow music even when the tune is playing!
I have to get my daughter (who is an extremely talented musician at everything) to play it first so I can hear it!
Am I dunmb or what 
Nahhh..But I know how you feel, My wife can read music,but as for me ?..I have to slog and spend literally months learning a simple tune. If I dont have that dot notation ,I’m lost, First I play the same song over and over again, then I listen to how my wife or someone else plays it over and over again
then I play it some more.Having listened to trad music all my life helps out some, so I know how the song sounds. Take heart, you arent alone and you’re not dumb
Some on the board read music, others adhere strictly to playing by ear. Others (me included) play mostly by ear, but fill in the notes they can’t quite pick up by looking at the sheet music.
Charlie
Don’t let it intimidate you. The folks here run from total beginners to musical geniuses.
I can read the keys of D and G and puzzle out a couple of others. I suspect that puts me somewhere in the lower quadrant of skill levels here, but if you read along for a few days, you’ll learn that musical virtuosity, while admirable, is hardly mandatory for participation or enjoyment of the board.
I can read the notes, but time signatures and such baffle me. I have to hear a song at least a few times to get a good “feel” for the song, and then I can kinda use the sheetmusic as a loose guide to learn the song.
I can sort of read music, but if the notation is too complex I get lost, and certain rhythms I can’t ‘hear’ at all. Most slip jigs are a jumble to me because I’m so used to ONE-two-three FOUR-five-six, and can’t seem to adjust to ONE-two-three FOUR-five-six SEVEN-eight-nine.
And for the life of me I can’t ‘hear’ Christmas Eve at all, no matter who is playing it, no matter how simply it may be written.
My ‘talent’ is purely mathematical. I can see intervals and such as geometric patterns, and that sort of makes it easy to move notes around, transpose, and get the shape of a tune. Sometimes my fingers get into the act and can actually play the tune in tempo, but I’m by no means a musical whiz.
Billymac
Welcome to the Wacky World of Whistledom!
Actually, this a great group of people with lots of ideas and many different backgrounds. As to the need to read music to be a good musician, there have been some very heated “discussions” on the board debating this very topic, especially with regards to “Traditional” music. If you go to the top of the page and check the archives, you may be amazed!! My own opinion is that reading music can be useful, but is not necessary in order to be able to play well. (After all, we don’t need to read words before we can speak. However if we can read, think of all the things we can learn that are in books!) All the best,
Sue
Sometimes I think it’s a curse to be able to read music when playing trad. I tend to have to write a tune out and then memorize it, whereas friends of mine who don’t read tend to pick up a new tune much faster just by listening to it.
[ This Message was edited by: dsparling on 2002-02-18 14:49 ]
dsparling,
Don’t despair, I used to have to do the same thing (also being “classically” trained) The only way to get out of that is to put away the manuscript paper and force yourself to do it straight away by ear - don’t fall back into the write-it-down-first habit. It will take time, but every with every tune it will get a bit easier - you have to take the plunge! Before you know it, you will be picking up tunes by ear at sessions and only using a tape recorder to help remember how they start.
Don’t feel intimidated.
I definitely do not fall into the musically gifted category. I think I belong more in the “untalented plodder” category. Although introduced to musical concepts in school band many years ago, I had to re-learn the names of the notes. (I sat down with one of the Mel Bay books).
I find that counting is the most difficult thing for me. It’s kind of like being able to chew gum and roller skate at the same time. (How do they do that?)
I can play tunes by ear, but I tend to make some occaisional mistakes. In order to really learn a tune, I have to s l o w l y learn it from the written music.
Happy whistlin’
On 2002-02-18 19:20, Whistlepeg wrote:
dsparling,
Don’t despair, I used to have to do the same thing (also being “classically” trained) The only way to get out of that is to put away the manuscript paper and force yourself to do it straight away by ear - don’t fall back into the write-it-down-first habit. It will take time, but every with every tune it will get a bit easier - you have to take the plunge! Before you know it, you will be picking up tunes by ear at sessions and only using a tape recorder to help remember how they start.
Very good advice…thanks.
I’m a beginner player, and was having a fair amount of difficulty with the note names, and the fingerings with them. When I bought my first whistle, it came with a booklet that several songs in it. Under each note, was a fingering diagram, this helped me out a great deal.
After a few weeks of that, much to my boyfriend’s joy, I started to take lessons, and my instructor has helped me with the notes, scales and most importantly rythem and counting.
If you wanted to learn the notes, an instructor should be able to help you.