Is learning by tablature only a bad thing?

Whistle
1

When I’m learning new tunes, I can learn the fastest by using tablature (fingerings written out on seperate sheet of paper) only…I just take the sheet music, draw the holes on paper, and use that, and usually in 15 minutes I have remembered the whole tune in my head, or at least a big part of it and I know where it’s going.

I can learn by just sight reading, too, but it takes a lot longer (a few days of concentrated effort) and is more difficult for me. I’ve been trying to stay away from learning by tablature only, because it’s not ‘proper’ and such, and it would hurt me whenever I start another instrument, because each instrument has different tablature, but the written music is still the same…anyway, I ramble. I’m thinking about just giving up on sight-reading all together and sticking with the tablature because it’s faster and easier for me…does anybody else use tab only? Is it usually regarded as something only stupid people do?

As for learning by ear…it’s easier for a rock to swim.

2

Cranberry,

I learned to play guitar and mandloin via tablature, becoming comfortable with the instruments first. Then I started learning to read sheet music for those instruments, and it was helpful to be able to equate the note A with what I had in my mind and in my fingers (the position “2” on the G string.) For the most part, now I am of the “just bang on it till it sounds good” school of (self) instruction.

Learning flute and whistle, however, it just seemed more natural for me to start with standard music notation. Perhaps because these are melodic instruments, and you don’t have to worry about more than one note at a time.

I guess that’s my point. Do what is going to produce music for you in the most natural fashion. Go ahead and record yourself… play back the recording to others to see if it sounds “proper” or not. I think most tunes, once you learn them, are going to spring forth from your memory rather than the music/tab you have in front of you.

Just remember, its the sound you produce that matters. How you manage to pull it off, that’s your business (IMHO). Keep it up!

|binary_sunset|

3

I think it helps you visualize the whistle and how your fingers go and that once you’ve learned tunes that way enough, you’ll be able to sight read without difficulty. (I hope that made sense, but I’m not sure it did.)

4

I started this way. But you have to move over to sheet music. It took me a year (I started when I was 50). Let me draw some alalogies.

You do business in the world…you have to learn to speak English.
You want to do computer stuff…you have to learn to type.
You want to play music…you have to learn to read music.

Only exception: you have a gift for playing by ear. But even then, it’s preferable to learn to read.

5

Although I think you should keep trying to learn to read music, don’t feel bad if you want to stick with tablature. I know several guitar players that can read only guitar tablature. But, I guess guitar tab is more accepted by musicians.

6

I did that too Cranberry. It was so natural and helpful to use the tabulature. At some point I realized that it was a pain to draw the tabulature to the tune and just easier to read the music. It is almost like relearning the whistle, and frustrating, but the extra time you take will pay off later, and soon you will read music as you do words on a page. In fact, now if I’m playing a tune it is much easier if no distracting tabulature is on the page at all. When you can play a tune passably through the first time by sight reading, it will be a real Hellen Keller moment. I would just say that when the time for going to the music notation strikes you as a good idea, then go for it, because you will be ready to deal with it. Until then, its all about having a good time whistling so whether you memorize it, read music or read tabulature, no one is going to come to your house and arrest you (I think…I have not read the Patriot Act just yet, so who knows what lurks therin..) :slight_smile:

7

I can manage with just the sheet music, but the process of learning the songs is much slower that way, because I always look down at the scale to see if I have it right…I think I’m going to use only the fingerings now, and re-take up music later…

8

I picked up my first whistle the last week of January. Prior to that I had absolutely NO musical experience. It’s taken me two months, but I’ve managed to get to the point where I can learn a song by just using sheet music. I can’t read it fast enough to just look at the sheet and play the song, but I can read it quickly enough to focus on small sections (a few measures) at a time and learn it in pieces.

If you’re interested, this is how I did it. A word of caution first. When I first posted this a month or so ago, I was told by a couple more experienced people here, that this is not a good idea. I find that I works for me though. I’ll throw it out and you can decide if you think it might work for you.

First I get the sheet music. I mentioned in a post yesterday how I do that. Once I had the sheet music, the first thing I would do would be to write down below each note on the staff what the letter name of that note was. I did this for two reasons. First, looking at the dot on the sheet and figuring out what fingering I needed was just too difficult for me even at extremely slow speeds. Second, I don’t expect the whistle to be my last instrument and I figured if I could identify a dot’s position on the staff with its letter name, it would make learning the next instrument easier.

Once I had the letter names written down, I would switch to my own form of tab. Below each letter, I would write a number between 0 and 6 that corresponded to the number of holes I needed to cover to produce that note. If the note was a D, I would write a 6 below it. If the note was an A, I would write a 2. And so on.

After that, I was able to just look at the line of numbers and play. I would listen to a midi or an mp3 to get the timing down once my fingers knew where they were supposed to go.

After the first couple of weeks of doing these conversions of dots to letters and then letters to numbers, I was able to do the letter to number conversion in my head so quickly that I no longer needed to write the number down. About two weeks ago, I managed to get to the point were I could convert the dots on the sheet to note names quickly enough to skip the conversion process entirely. On some notes, I’m still a bit slow but I’m getting better.

What I am finding, though is that I am now getting to the point were I can look at the dot on the sheet and my fingers automatically go where they are supposed to without me consciously thinking about what the note name should be. It’s still not instantaneous, but each song I do, it gets easier and quicker.

9

Learning to read “real” music takes time, just like learning to read words. In the long run, it is a terrifically useful skill to have though.
From another prespective, imagine some day that you are walking around, and a new tune pops into your head. Quickly, you grab a sheet of paper to write it down, and are forced to do it in TAB… see what I mean.
Trust me, in time you will see a G on the musical staff, and instantly and without thinking, those top 3 fingers will go down… in enough time, you will even be able to look at a written tune and recognize it.

10

I suppose a person could be an excellent musician and never learn to read music but like BrewerPaul said, it’s extremely helpful. My sight reading is not very good but I’ve found the more I use it the better I get. Once I have the song in my head I prefer not to use music as I still spend too much time reading and not enough effort into making it sound good.

11

There is another way to notate that comes in handy for those who do not read music.
It an ABC format with the time duration of the note placed under it
The Boys of Ballisodare (hop jig) slip jig

D G G A B d e

2 1 2 1 2 1 1

g e d e g
1 1 2 1 3

This is the first line of this tune and the Caps designate the lower notes and the smaller letters the second octave.
A grace note is shown as flagged note but since we do not have that on the standard keyboard you can use a forward slash ( / ).
Any three beat note can be rolled if it fits the tempo of the tune. A roll is usually designated as an arc over three seperat notes.
I can not do an arc on the keyboad but lets say the it a g roll

G G G
1/2 1 1/2

The way this method helps is that you concentrate on the tune not the reading and can get it into your memory quicker. As has been stated many times before standard notation on many ITM tunes does not lend its self to the tempo of our music.
Try copy a few tunes like this it might help.
Phil

12

You can learn to learn by ear, it’s a skill not gift. And as skill it takes a bit of effort, at least at first. Don’t cheat yourself out of this by just assuming you can’t do it.

First get a recording of a simple tune you want to learn. Make sure it’s in the right key and clear enough.

Then listen to it over and over and over. A hundred times is not exaggerated. It’s good to have it on repeat while you are doing dishes or whatever it is that you do.

Then listen to it some more, focussed on the music, noting the parts and repeats and repeated phrases within each part.

Learn to sing/lilt it. This is extremely important.

Sit down, pick up your whistle and start playing along. If you are like me, you’ll be spending about half an hour sounding like an idiot who stepped on a cat. Just keep at it relentlessy. (It helps to know that others can’t hear you, or not to care if they do.) This is the hard part, just poking around, sounding awful, seemingly without end.

Suddenly you’ll get notes, bits, snatches of phrases.

Now keep working on it. Some parts will be harder than others. When you’re stuck, stop the music, sing the phrase to yourself (you can sing the whole tune, remember) and then figure it out. It’s not unusual for me to have the whole tune, but to be stuck on a phrase or two.

It’s really fun, by the way, to hear the tune emerging from this effort. The more you do it the easier it will get (remember, if you can’t sing it, you can’t learn it and remember it right).


I would also suggest that you lose the tabulature as quickly as ever possible. In no time it will be holding you back.

13

:confused:

14

You can learn to learn by ear, it’s a skill not gift. And as skill it takes a bit of effort, at least at first. Don’t cheat yourself out of this by just assuming you can’t do it.

First get a recording of a simple tune you want to learn. Make sure it’s in the right key and clear enough.

Then listen to it over and over and over. A hundred times is not exaggerated. It’s good to have it on repeat while you are doing dishes or whatever it is that you do.

Then listen to it some more, focussed on the music, noting the parts and repeats and repeated phrases within each part.

Learn to sing/lilt it. This is extremely important.

Sit down, pick up your whistle and start playing along. If you are like me, you’ll be spending about half an hour sounding like an idiot who stepped on a cat. Just keep at it relentlessy. (It helps to know that others can’t hear you, or not to care if they do.) This is the hard part, just poking around, sounding awful, seemingly without end.

Suddenly you’ll get notes, bits, snatches of phrases.

Now keep working on it. Some parts will be harder than others. When you’re stuck, stop the music, sing the phrase to yourself (you can sing the whole tune, remember) and then figure it out. It’s not unusual for me to have the whole tune, but to be stuck on a phrase or two.

It’s really fun, by the way, to hear the tune emerging from this effort. The more you do it the easier it will get (remember, if you can’t sing it, you can’t learning and remember it right).

My problem is…that I doubt I have it right. If I have it wrong with sheet music or tab, I can blame the paper, but f I have it wrongby ear, then it’s my fault. I tried to work out really simple tunes like Mary Had A Little Lamb by ear before, and I get the first 5 or 6 notes right, then I get afraid I’m learning it wrong and check the sheet music.

I would also suggest that you lose the tabulature as quickly as ever possible. In no time it will be holding you back.

I undecided (I do that a lot) to use tab, and am sticking with sheet music, since it seems to be better than tab, but not as good as learning by ear. I’m achieving a middle ground.

15

You and everybody else has doubt about having it right. You’ll get it right too, once you’re further along. You’ll want to be able to correct wrong sheet music, you know. Anyway, once you play with or for others it’s your fault no matter where you get it. Don’t think about fault at all.

Decide whether you want a cute little hobby that you turn to idly and sporadically, or whether you want to learn the instrument and the music. If the latter is the case, the sooner you face up to what it entails the better.

16

As someone else pointed out, Tab seems to be best accepted in the world of fretted strings. Some mandolin and guitar boards I read occasionally have this debate regularly. I think part of the reason for Tab’s popularity “over there” is that there are multiple ways to play a G one string open, the next lower string on some fret or another (obviously instrument specific). We don’t have those kinds of choices on the whistle.

I think the main reason to learn standard notation is that it has evolved over the centuries to show the most information about how to play the music. My second reason is that I’m not going to find much in a music store or on the internet in whistle tab, or ukulele tab (especially the oddball way I tune my uke, but that’s another story). Reason number 3 is that it’s portable to other instruments. If the range is reasonable, I can play the same music on piano, whistle, flute, or whatever.

I agree with the other person who said it’s fairly rapid to make the mental association between “this space on the staff” and “finger this way and blow that way”. Remember that for whistle and flute, there’s an aspect of how you blow, not just which fingers are down.

OK, stop reading and go outside and play… whatever way you like!

17

To play music on the whistle you must determine:

  • What pitch to play
  • How long to play it
  • How to finger it
  • How to articulate it
Music notation tells you what pitch to play and how long to play it. It does this with a great efficiency--for each note played just recognize a single symbol (how long) and it's location on the staff (which pitch). Music notation also gives articulations in a very efficient manner, tie marks, slur marks, staccato, legato, accent.

Tab notation tells you how to finger a given pitch. But it doesn’t tell you how long to play it and it’s not very efficient if it’s graphical tab (colored/uncolored circles). Numeric tab only works if there aren’t special fingerings–how do you numerically notate a C nat for a D whistle? So for each pitch you have to observe 6 dots and identify which ones are colored in and which ones aren’t.

Tab wasn’t really designed to be an efficient way of learning a piece of music. What it is great at is describing unusual or complicated fingerings. But its a VERY complicated system for reading music.

But if you’re new to music altogether–which I think you said you are–then you need to have some patience with yourself. Maybe give yourself a little more structure when practicing.

For example, you could do the following every day:

  • 5 minutes - sight-reading
  • 10 minutes - ear training (playing by ear)
  • 5 minutes - long-tones (to improve tone quality and control)
  • 5 minutes - scales (the 4 that are easily playable on whistle)
  • 5 minutes - ornaments through entire range of whistle
  • 10-15 minutes - play a tune you've memorized (play through once, then on second time through try to add some ornamentations)
It's not a religious rite, don't be too strict. But structure yourself and always leave yourself some time to play around and have fun. Set some goals and achieve them.

One note on ear training. This is something I need to work on too despite the fact that I’ve been playing music for a long time. Everyone seems to indicate that to train your ear you should LISTEN, then hum/sing what you’ve heard. Keep going back to listening then singing until you can accurately sing the part from memory. THEN and only then, try to play what you’ve heard and sung. If you struggle, sing a phrase or even just the first note, then hunt around on the whistle until you’ve found it, then move forward.

Hope this helps.

18

I just took white-out and put over all the fingerings below about 10 pages of music. I want to cry. It looks so hard now. :stuck_out_tongue:

19

Cranberry

I teach whistle and tend to use tableture at first then slowly move over to music notation.

The biggest help I have found is enlarging the music. I had one class that used small music and found it hard. I blew it up so that the notes were really, really big and they forgot (for the most part) to be intimidated.

Another clue is to use “association” to make sense of the notes. For example:

“A” is on the second space and you play it with 2 fingers.

“B” is right in the middle of the staff, sort of alone and you only use one finger to play it.

“C sharp” is almost in the middle, on a space with nothing going through it. You play it with no fingers.

Low “D” This one is at the bottom of the staff, barely hanging on. It is the lowest note you play and it is at the very bottom of the staff.

“G” Rhymes with 3 (3 fingers) and has 3 lines above it.

ANOTHER GREAT POINT!!!

The higher on the staff a note is, the higher it is, the lower a note is, the lower it plays. Music is all about patterns. Take E,F,G in a row. E is on a line, F is on a space and G is on a line again. When you see your notes slightly rising, you have a scale.

Notes all on spaces or all on lines are 2 notes apart. For example. F, A, & C#. Just one space above the other, but you know they will be 2 notes apart. Same with the lines. E, G, B… One line above the other, played in a row, you have notes that are 2 notes apart. A pattern.

So when you look at the sheet music, look for the pattern. Oh, these 2 notes are one space apart, I will probably have to lift 2 fingers. Look! These 3 notes go up, one line and space at a time. I have a scale!

You know that if the note on the sheet music is lower than the last note, you are going to be playing a lower note. If it is higher, you are playing a higher note. Use these clues and try guessing, you will be surprised at how many notes begin to make sense. Pretty soon your fingers know before your brain does and you will be set!

TIPS FOR BEGINNING!!

  • Start with an easy tune, one that looks easy and preferably one you have heard before
  • Enlarge the sheet to make it easier to read and less intimidating
  • Use a pencil and write any confusing note names or timings above the notes. In bands, choirs and orchestras, they all do this. When you naturally go to that note, erase the hint. It will soon come very natural.

Enjoy! Ready music may suck at first, but it opens the door to many tunes!

Take care,

Sandy

20

Use a mnemonic device.

Treble Clef
(also known as G clef since the circle of the Clef ends around the G line)

For the Lines:

----------------------------F(ine)
----------------------------D(oes)
----------------------------B(oy)
----------------------------G(ood)
----------------------------E(very)

From the Bottom Up: Every Good Boy Does Fine

For the Spaces:

_____________________E
_____________________C
_____________________A
_____________________F

From the Bottom Up Again: FACE

Focus on those notes that are on the ledger lines first. Learn them, then expand into the higher and lower notes.

Since you’re only working with the Treble Clef there’s no need to go into Bass Clef, Tenor Clef, etc. yet.

Does this help?