Quick question - bit of a quandary. I have been going to whistle class since about August and it has been good. Learned quite a bit there I am sure - playing with people is the best bit and I suppose the dedicated time to just do it.
However, I am noticing now that the class has built up to about 6 folks -all reading music. The tutor, who is an excellent player, organises the class in such a way that a new tune is handed out on sheets and then everybody stares at the sheets and plays the tune from start to finish slowly and then gradually more quickly. I don’t read music and am inclined not to as I don’t think that is the way I learn. Hmmm. So, I end up trying to keep up with a whole tune and fumble about a lot, ending up sitting listening and then recording the tutor playing it well. I then take that recording home and learn the tune in shorter chunks gradually piecing it all together.
I just felt a bit uncomfortable the other night and felt like the odd one out - well, I am I suppose. I also had a brief lesson by somebody else recently at a festival. A renowned and well recorded whistle player. He had been classically trained to read music and said that he thought it held back the finer things for him in learning whistle. He advocated not to do it but learn it in chunks like I have been doing. I suppose the seeds of doubt were fully sown at that stage. I can pick up a tune very quickly by ear - I know it is the way I learn.
Am I at the wrong class? Should I stay? Should I succumb and learn to read music?
It wouldn’t be a bad thing to learn to read music, and notated Irish music is not that difficult at all. You’ve already got the ear-learning down, and I think all the disadvantages of learning by paper (if there actually are any) are for people who don’t already play by ear. Since you can do that already, you’ll learn the notes on paper quickly, but you’ll also be picking up details of the instructor’s playing by ear. At least that’s what I expect.
Reading music, as far as whistling goes, is a pretty easy endeavor once you give it a crack.
I suppose this is easy for me to say because I’m a classically trained pianist…
That being said…It’s not how I learn most of my whistle tunes either…and I know how to read it very well. I prefer to learn tunes by ear anyway.
Perhaps you can work something out with the instructor so the class is more user friendly to you…or you could cave and pick up some basic sight reading skills.
It is the player and not the sheet music that holds a player back. You can read the sheet music and then put the ornamentation in where you see fit. I think reading plain sheet music with no ornamentation spots, then letting your own creativity add the ornamentation and things you want in, makes you create your own style and differ from sounding like everybody else. I taught myself to read sheet music, but I can hardly do it. If I know what a tune sounds like, then I can get by with sheet music. Joanie Madden doesn’t read sheet music, and I don’t think Mike Rafferty does either. So, you don’t need, but it is a good skill to have.
I had some different and opposite experiences from you. I came from a background of playing music from sheet music and I was put in a position of having to play with better musicians without good sheet music. I was scrambling and they were teaching me and I was learning some things. I’d do it again and probably not sweat so much and enjoy myself more.
I’ve also been in a position of playing with musicians who felt that sheet music was just a suggestion and each time they played a song they played it differently. For how annoying that was, I developed the skill of reading my sheet music and watching the other musicians’ fingers and lips all at the same time to see what they were going to do and try to anticipate.
As long as you’re having some fun and learning something stick around. You’re learning something, maybe not what you planned on learning, but something.
The question for me would be, is the teacher playing in a way you want to absorb and emulate? If so, stick around and learn and keep listening. If not, find a teacher whose playing you admire. Learning to read the dots is a good skill to have in any case.
Learning to read music won’t remove the ability to learn by ear.
Being able to read gives you access to a vast repertoire that you might never come across otherwise. It also gives you the opportunity to follow up something you may have heard too fleetingly to have learned it that way.
Equally, having both a performance to listen to and the music to read can be instructive in showing how the performer is treating the music.
I guess my thinking is that a) you are learning a new tune each week by ear, via the fact that you have recorded it as what is probably a very learnable speed (where else can you do that?) and b) you are probably also benefiting from helpful tips regarding whistle playing in general and tunes in specific and c) you are getting out of the house and playing. So I’d say when any of that ceases to be worthwhile I’d stop.
with the benefits mentioned above… don’t go until they push yer non-readin’ carcass out the door with a grand heave ho!
seriously, learning dots is not a bad thing (nor is it very difficult.) learning by ear is probably what most of us do. as long as you are learning by going to the group, continue to go. enjoy yourself. learn as much as you can.
If the instructor is good enough for you to learn from by listening, and you get to record the tunes, I think I’d stick with it. There are arguments on either side of learning to read muic, and it’s relative value to learning traditional tunes, especially ITM. (as witness posts above). So, you are not remiss in not reading music notation, though it is a good skill to have. You will not regret learning by ear. Many who can read music, cannot learn a tune by ear to save their souls. So… keep on giving an alternate example of learning. Maybe some of your fellow students will pick up on that aspect of it.
I still learn new tunes on paper first but get rid of it as soon as I can and play by ear/memory. I find the tune comes alive and I start to hear it’s soul (hope that’s not too weird) as soon as the printed page gets put away.
Every teacher I’ve had of any folk instrument has said the same thing. 1) Learn it by ear if you can. 2) Learn to read music so you have many more opportunities to play with people. 3) If you learn by paper, put it away as soon as you can or the tune won’t get into your bones.
My two cents. It’s nice to have a class, whether it’s paper-trained or ear trained. Ask the teacher if the class can learn at least one tune by ear so they can exercise that skill also.
Lots of good thoughts - thanks. I am going to keep going for now with the class - the benefits outweigh how I view my learning preference and the fact that it is not really catered for.