 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2004-11-27 22:01
Is it possible to actually *learn* to play "by ear"? To hear a tune - or any sucession of notes - and pick up a clarinet (or sit at a piano, for that matter) and reproduce what you heard? (Maybe with a false start or two...). Never mind transcribing it, although I suppose that would be an easy extension.
Or is this ability a (genetic) gift, like possessing perfect pitch, or even relative pitch? Which, if you don't have, doesn't preclude learning to play from written notes, of course, presuming one is not tone deaf altogether.
JDS
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-11-27 22:13
I think it's definitely learnable. However you do need to have somewhat of a sense of relative pitch.
Just for some practice, pick an easy tune, start on C, and play it. Start out as simple as twinkle twinkle little star (or if you feel daring, the ABCs ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif) ). Easily recognizable tunes are the best.
And when you can play it in C, move down a half-step, and play it in THAT key. Or pick a random note and try to figure it out in that key.
The more you do this, the easier it'll get. Maybe if you were born with a great sense of pitch you'll get it easier than others, but as long as you're not tone-deaf you should be able to at least improve.
Alexi
Retired, playing more sax than clarinet, but still playing clarinet and still loving it!
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-11-28 01:31
Interesting question, John.
I had never thought of melodic ability as a gift. I believe "perfect pitch" is a gift (one which I don't have). But I do have the ability to replicate melody pretty easily -- I don't think about it, I just have always been able to do it. I've just never thought of that as being anything special. But maybe it is.
As far as it being "learnable" (or teachable, perhaps), I'd have to say that it probably is. Isn't this what we do in ear training class (a.k.a. solfeggio)?
Although solfeg came easily to me, I found harmony a little more difficult. When I started my first harmony class, I could only hear I-IV-V-I. After a couple of semesters, and then increasingly as the years have passed, I find myself "hearing" harmonically much more easily. It was just a matter of learning a way of listening -- active listening?
So I'm guessing that learning to hear and replicate melody might also be able to be learned in that same way -- by exposure to and identification of intervals, etc.
Susan
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-11-28 02:06
To do it instantly would be quite rare, but I've had some students do very well on songs which I chose for their ease.
Pop and folk musicians learn it, and so can we. There are several stages.
First, it just trial and error. To quicken the results, I generally get the student to learn one or more major scales, and discuss that takes place in the "Do-Re-Mi" song from The Sound of Music. (this song is about the individual feeling that you get from each of the scale elements, and how to remember them and plug them in) There are several songs in which the notes are very close together and mistakes are minimal in the early stages. These include "The First Noel" (starts and ends on '3' or 'mi') Just let your fingers wander. "Ode to Joy" and "My Country Tis of Thee" are also very good ones. "Joy to the World begins with a major scale played from top to bottom.
Having to sing in a vocal group that reads music is also very handy, because you get used to seeing the notes as well as producing the sounds. I've seen a number of people (including myself) successfully reverse this process into playing songs by ear.
Once you have some experience, you can plan out a song in your head--pre-identifying the scale elements that you hear in it. "Jingle Bells", for example, would be 3-3-3, 3-3-3, 3-5-1-2-3 or mi-mi-mi, mi-mi-mi, mi-sol-do-re-mi.
As for chord changes, they are no big deal but it is a matter of practice and application. You want to get used to I-IV-V harmony before adding the rest of your diatonic chords, or reaching into the circle for secondary dominants and subdominants.
What most folks don't realize about musicians who play by ear is that while the principles are simple, their application requires practice. I got a lot of practice playing guitar when I was a kid and figuring out the chords to pop songs. And much of what I practice with my instrument today has elements which exercise my ear and my ability to play what I hear in my head.
I have some activities available online if you'd like to try them. I have an activity that you can try at http://allencole.tripod.com/play_ear.htm. Give it a try and see how you do. It gets better with each song you learn.
Allen Cole
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Author: jArius
Date: 2004-11-29 04:09
Well, I've been able to do it ever since I started playing; it just came naturally to me. Maybe it has something to do with playing the piano since I was six, or I could just have been born gifted. ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif) (Mary Had A Little Lamb at four, though, that's got to take some skill ) I can also pick things out on the recorder and the piano. With the piano I can only pick out the melody, though, and maybe one harmony line.
Well, I don't know, I remember this one time in my sunday school primary class (I was about seven) I got bored singing the melody to the songs, so I started making up a harmony instead. From what I remember, it sounded pretty good too (of course, I was only seven...). I was called on to sing solos and stuff back when my voice was high and sweet (now it's just low and gruff).
I have this kind of ongoing project where I found a song on a tv show that I really liked and I'm trying to transcribe it. I got all the way up to the point where a character started talking over the music. Of course, my accidentals are all messed up, but maybe if I put the transcript into my computer it can sort them all out for me. (Is there anywhere where I can find the rules for placing accidentals in a single chord, or maybe for an entire key? You know, A# vs. Bb kinda stuff. I'm pretty certain, though, that you're not supposed to have sharps and flats together in the same chord. Not that that stopped me...)
For the life of me, though, I can't create my own songs. I'm good at playing other people's, but not my own.
But anyway, now that my little ego trip is finished, I don't see any reason why you woudn't be able to learn to play by ear. It just takes practice, like everything else. Take some classes or something, and in a little while it should be a piece of cake.
Jeremy Bruins
Proud member of the too-much-time-on-my-hands club.
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-11-29 04:16
there's something called the suzuki method for piano... where you play by ear... usually people start it when they're very young (4 and 5 years old)... Never tried it, only heard of it... But, couldn't there be something similar to that for clarinet?
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2004-11-29 04:29
Iv'e always had it, and can't explain why. My son has it as well. My pianist wife doesn't, and we drive her crazy with it. She has never played a note that wasn't on paper, and never will.
I had a friend in college, a bio major who transposed pop songs into minor key as she sang them. Not only could she not explain the ability, but she didn't even know she was doing it until her violinist room mate told her. I was the second one to notice it.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-11-29 07:39
Some people push buttons, but they don't really hear that well. Often, when students have difficulty playing by ear, I find that it is difficult for them to sing or hum their target piece. Sometimes they just need experience, and sometimes they just have difficulty. I have a friend who claims that he had no ear at all, but developed one by learning his instrument.
When learning to play by ear, start with simple songs that confine themselves to the notes of the major scale. I generally use "The First Noel" for this purpose. As you learning more songs in more keys, reach out more. "Yesterday" is a song that will stretch your ear a bit beyond your major scale notes. "And I Love Her" is a good one for switching between relative major and minor. I don't think it has any non-scale notes. Just a small variety of the things you could potentially work with.
If you are trying to play pop songs, try to pick ones that have a clear melody. With students, I use songs where the lead vocal is doubled. This forces singers to imitate each other, and how they approch it makes them easier for YOU to imitate. Beatles, Beach Boys and Earth Wind & Fire are quite good on this front.
For jArius, on the A# vx. B-flat thing:
I would try Edly's Music Theory for Practical People. (www.edly.com) Generally speaking, we don't mix sharps and flats. Notes are spelled so that chords stack as vertically as possible, so that we see the pitches of our melody rise and fall graphically on the staff, and so that we have a minimum amount of clutter on the page.
Things usually aren't too complicated out to three sharps or three flats. With four or more sharps or flats in the key, things will start getting stranger. (after all, these keys have more altered notes than natural notes)
Just remember: If you can hum it, you can play it. But you may find yourself having to hum it frequently to compensate for distraction caused by the button-pushing.
Allen Cole
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2004-11-29 11:54
There are very few people who can't listen to a popular song then sing or hum along with it. The rest of it is becoming as familiar with your instrument as you are with your vocal cords.
This is easier for some people than others, but I'm convinced that almost everyone can do it if they put in the hours (years) required.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-11-29 15:20
John O'Janpa wrote:
> There are very few people who can't listen to a popular song
> then sing or hum along with it. The rest of it is becoming as
> familiar with your instrument as you are with your vocal cords.
I can believe this one. Probably why some jazz players can just pick up and play without music or chord changes in front of them. One very good testimony to this theory is one of the popular jazz guitarists of our time (I can't think of his name for the life of me . . . Benny something or other) who sings or hums the same notes that he's playing as he solos (improvs). He's that in tune with his voice and guitar.
Alexi
Retired, playing more sax than clarinet, but still playing clarinet and still loving it!
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2004-11-29 15:31
I didn't think I could learn to play by ear, but was forced into it when I joined a church music team that had a leader who didn't read music. The guy was a musical genius but couldn't read a note. He knew what the notes were when he heard them and played guitar like an angel, but don't put a score in front of him. The first night I came to rehearsal I played very quietly off to myself on a corner of the stage, listening and matching tones. After about a month I was able to play a counter-melody and do pretty well. After about 6 months it was quite easy to play with the group. I played with them about 8 years. It was a very good experience.
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