I found it strange when I first started on pennywhistle, I learned from a book, so I had to read the notes. After several years, I found that suddenly, a tune would come to me without learning by the notes. For a long time, I had to know the name of a tune before I could jump in and play it with others, but the tunes that I had learned by ear, I can’t put a name to the tune.
When I got pipes and got the hang of them, I learned mostly by ear. Some tunes that I had problems with, I would use the slow down program and write out the notes. After transcribing the tune, I found that I didn’t need the notation. 