Playing By Ear
I think every musician I have ever played out with, plays by ear. I took classical piano as a child and was once a district winner in the piano teachers guild. But I'd have rather stuck needles in my eyes than play by note. Some of my bandmates could read music. But no one ever did. Myself included. What's with that?
posted by BlackVelvetLace at 11:23 PM
5 Comments:
I know what you mean. I prefer to play by ear. As a rock n' roller, I always thought reading music imposed too much order on something that was supposed to be raw and unpredictable . . . or something like that, ha.
Hey Jimmy, thanks for stopping by. For me playing by ear was simply quicker. I could either slave over reading the sheet music, or listen to a piece and reproduce it in a few seconds. Also, I am a mathematical moron so trying to read timing was torture!
True story. I once had a piano teacher who would give me the choice of what song I would like to learn. I would, of course, chose whatever was current and I liked. He would bring the sheet music and I would buy the album (yes, there were actually *albums* back in those days ::grin::). Mr Kutch would return, expecting me to play the sheet and I would play whatever I'd heard. (Anyone who has picked up a sheet of music readily knows what's written on it is never what's on the original recording).
Being the astute sight reader he was, he warned me time and again if I was not going to play what was written, he was going to quit giving me lessons. I being the liar I was, promised over and over to *be good*. But alas, when the pressure was on, I reverted to ear. He gave me *one more chance*. I chose *Send In the Clowns*. The big day came.
As my teacher sat by my side I opened the sheet music with a flourish. I played it through and sat back, hands in my lap, and looked at him. He blinked and simply replied, "I quit."
My jaw dropped as I stammered out a *why* (as if I didn't really know); he flatly told me I hadn't read a note from the page. When I asked how he knew, he replied, "Because the end of the song is on the back of the second page. You never turned it over. Besides, what you just played was better than what's written there. I'm wasting your parents money." And there went one of the best piano teachers in the valley. He did tune my piano for free before making his permanent exit.
Alas, I am still regretting both of our decisions, for once sequencers came on the scene in the 80's, our trios and duos relied heavily on them. The end result is that I programmed much of what we played and have since lost most of my live piano chops. Not to mention ALL of my sight reading skills.
Jimmy, I forgot to ask. What's your instrument? What are your influences??
Guitar is my instrument. I learned to play on Creedence Clearwater Revival and Eagles, so those two bands are special to me. Johnny Cash and Steve Earle are also big influences.
It's interesting that learning guitar got me into singers and bands that I normally wouldn't have. The expansion of my musical world was an unexpected side benefit of picking up guitar.
Right now I'm into Beatles (John Lennon tunes in particular) and 70s singer/songwriters. There's nothing better than sitting down with my acoustic and playing until my hands can't move.
Kewl. Nothing like the 70s music IMO and acoustic guitar is the sweetest stringed instrument. I stopped playing piano on-stage in favor of acoustic guitar.
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