I’ve been learning and practicing on the whistle for about a year now, and can play reasonably well. However–and this is so pathetic that I cringe to ask it–I often wonder just how proficient musicians are able to accurately hold note durations, especially for the smaller (eg, 1/16). I can ‘fudge’ it fairly well, by getting a ‘sense’ of how a given melody flows, or by listening to a CD. But obviously, long before recording media came on the scene, people were able to play 4 1/16 notes in precisely the interval occupied by a quarter note. So, for anyone who cares to answer:
What suggestions do you have for training myself to accurately play the noted durations? It’s fine to get it ‘nearly’ right when playing for my own amusement, but I can just imagine the dirty looks I’d receive if I were playing in a session and MY eighth notes were, ahem, a bit ‘longer’ or ‘shorter’ than those of everyone else.
Any training ideas? Should I just listen to lots of well-played music, and attempt to emulate? Is this susceptible to ‘scientific’ learning, or is note duration basically picked up by playing with other musicians, or by listening to recordings and playing along?
Yes! Play along, learn by ear. Thinking about note lengths of sixteenth-notes seems the result of looking at sheet music. Try to think instead of placing the beats acurately and steadily. In Irish (and many other types of) Music the notes between beats are not spaced evenly, so if you learned the knack of playing all your 16th regularly, you’d sound like a midi mashine and not like a musician. In fact, the little stresses and variations are so subtle that they cannot be notated. Seems to me that it doesn’t pay to put effort into playing sheet music accurately if sheet music doesn’t accurately represent the music. So, learn by ear. Added bonus: you won’t even know if it’s an eighth or a sixteenth your playing.
Play along with the music or get a metronome. A metronome is a stern taskmaster and will reveal any minute deviation from the beat. It can be really frustrating at first to use one. Stylistic differences in note length are fine, but if you are speeding up and slowing down uncontrollably, you need a tool. However, playing along with CDs or sound files is great, because the musicians are rarely perfectly accurate in their tempo, and you will learn to adjust to playing with others and listening to the other instruments as you play. Or come to my house and play with me. At this point, I’m willing to play “Mary had a little lamb” if I have to, just to get some musical company.
I’m usually firmly on the side of sheet music being a useful tool for learning trad tunes (as a suppliment to listening to the real thing). However, in this case I would definately say throw out the sheet music for a few months and just learn by ear. Don’t worry if you’re notes are even and/or the exact same length…just make sure you’ve got the feel of the tune.
but I can just imagine the dirty looks I’d receive if I were playing in a session and MY eighth notes were, ahem, a bit ‘longer’ or ‘shorter’ than those of everyone else.
You’d probably get the same looks if you played in a session and all your eighth notes (and spaces between) were exactally the same length.
It’s more important to make sure they (the notes) are starting on the beat, especially those that fall on the pulse…don’t worry too much about their length.
You play a note as long as you can before you need to play the next one or observe a rest. Unless it’s stacatto.
Best advice is listen to other people.
I think reading music is important for understanding music. You can learn all the tunes you want by ear, but one who can read AND play by ear is a more accomplished musician. Music is highly mathematical and seeing it on paper helps with the understanding of musical structure.
There’s a pretty easy way of nailing sixteenth note durations. You just have to learn to “sing” the pulses in your head. My friend learned it this way in Drum Corps and taught it to me. Essentially, each quarter note is broken down into four sub-pulses.
A measure of four quarter notes would be counted (sung) as:
one… two… three… four…
A measure of eight notes would be:
one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and-
A measure of sixteenth notes would sung as:
One-ee-and-uh Two-ee-and-uh Three-ee-and-uh Four-ee-and-uh
This way you have a syllable for each sixteenth to “sing” in your head. One you get it down in straight time, you can start playing with with it, giving it more of a swing feel to bring it in line with the tradition of the music you are playing.
Hope this isn’t too simple for what you are looking for.
It sometimes also helps to slow down. It doesn’t matter how slowly (or quickly, for that matter) you play the tune, as long as (a) it’s still identifiable as whatever tune it should be , and (b) the beats are in the right place. So, yes, concentrate on learning the tune by ear (if you’re learning from sheet music at the moment, get to the stage where you can hum the tune without looking at the sheet, and preferably without counting also - internalise the rhythms - and go from there), but also slow down to a pace where you can comfortably keep all the beats even.
Good luck!
Deirdre
I’m very grateful to each of you for your suggestions–some excellent ideas here–and I’ll be incorporating them into my practice.
I do listen to recordings whenever possible to get a sense of the ‘flow’, and do manage to keep the beat pretty well, so it sounds as though I’ve managed that part of the battle, at least. And, perhaps most important in the long run, I find playing immensely enjoyable. Without that–if the practice was arduous and dull–I probably wouldn’t ever become truly proficient.
Thanks again for your excellent advice. I have just one more question:
Is it a coincidence, or not, that musicians seem to be far nicer people than the rest of the general population?
…soon to be published in Whistling and Causality: Toward a Model of Traditional Celtic Music as a Paradigm for Quantum Mechanics, that musicians are the font of goodness, ribald humor, and general erudition in the orbis mundi, and that if everyone were to take up an instrument, the world would be a much better (if noisier) place all around.
, and (b) the beats are in the right place. So, yes, concentrate on learning the tune by ear (if you’re learning from sheet music at the moment, get to the stage where you can hum the tune without looking at the sheet, and preferably without counting also - internalise the rhythms - and go from there), but also slow down to a pace where you can comfortably keep all the beats even.