Memory

[hjcjones]

Another challenge is to play in front of others. The first time I tried this with the melodeon I found I hadn't a clue where to start, even though I was not aware of being nervous and am well used to singing in front of hundreds of people without any nerves at all. Humans are curious creatures.

 

I too am well used to performing. Nevertheless, the first time I play something new in public, no matter how well I can play it in private, I will usually make a mistake. Even if I'm not feeling nervous, there seems to be a sub-conscious anxiety which makes me forget how to play!

 

I always try to give new material its first public airing at my local session, where mistakes matter less than in a concert performance. Sessions are also good for knocking the rough edges off, so by the time you come to play it for real I'm more prepared.

 

This may read as if I don't treat the session with proper respect - that's not the case. It's just that it's a different, more relaxed atmosphere to a concert. There's more improvisation and experiment as well, and a corresponding acceptance that things may not always work. Finally, we're among friends, and mistakes can be laughed off and we move on to something else. You can't always do that in a more formal setting.

[Rod]

As one who has only ever played the Anglo straight from the head, or by ear, (for want of better expressions), I ask the question.... ' Am I in a minority amongst you ? Surely not ? I can, and indeed was compelled to read music in a brief career as a professional musician many years back but would dread the prospect of having to revert to such a system where I was dependent in any way on those wretched 'printed dots'. If a tune is not sufficiently embedded in my head I have no wish to play it.

[hjcjones]

I can read music, but I can't play it because I've never learned where the notes are on the instrument. When I taught myself to play concertina I did so by playing tunes. I know how the buttons relate to each other in the scale, but I can't name the note, unless I count up the scale from the C or G button.

 

I suppose I could learn, but I can't be bothered because I've never found it that much of a problem. I can learn tunes from recordings, or by picking it out on recorder (the one instrument where I did learn the correlation between the fingering and the note on the staff), or nowadays by playing ABCs on the computer.

 

To bring this back on-topic, it means I must rely on memory for my repertoire. Having the dots is at best a prompt to remind me how the tune starts, so I can then play it from memory.

[Rod]

I can read music, but I can't play it because I've never learned where the notes are on the instrument. When I taught myself to play concertina I did so by playing tunes. I know how the buttons relate to each other in the scale, but I can't name the note, unless I count up the scale from the C or G button.

 

I suppose I could learn, but I can't be bothered because I've never found it that much of a problem. I can learn tunes from recordings, or by picking it out on recorder (the one instrument where I did learn the correlation between the fingering and the note on the staff), or nowadays by playing ABCs on the computer.

 

To bring this back on-topic, it means I must rely on memory for my repertoire. Having the dots is at best a prompt to remind me how the tune starts, so I can then play it from memory.

 

Yes Howard. That more or less what I was trying to say.

[Pete Dunk]

I can read music, but I can't play it because I've never learned where the notes are on the instrument.

This is the way I am with the guitar, an instrument I've remained faithful to for almost forty years. It's a bit like the quote from an old timer who was an exceptional player, used by Pete Seeger in his banjo tutor - "Hell, there ain't no notes on a banjo, you just play it."

[Dirge]

I can read music, but I can't play it because I've never learned where the notes are on the instrument.

This is the way I am with the guitar, an instrument I've remained faithful to for almost forty years. It's a bit like the quote from an old timer who was an exceptional player, used by Pete Seeger in his banjo tutor - "Hell, there ain't no notes on a banjo, you just play it."

 

In my eccentric little duet world I would have no repertoire if I didn't read music. I play alone, am not particularly folk orientated, and I get all my stuff off the printed page, particularly because I want a full arrangement rather than just the melody, not having the patience/skill to create them myself.

 

But hunting new pieces isn't a chore, it is a pleasure if you can sight read a bit. (it only takes enough skill to think 'Oh that might sound nice. I'll try it again.') I surf the net looking for free music. I buy job lots of old sheet music I see locally (cheap!) to sift through looking for interesting pieces, and I settle down to explore them sometimes as a holiday from regular practice.

 

There must be five times as much trad stuff as anything else on the net (copyright laws are on your side); if you don't 'do' written music you miss out on all that potential, not to mention the fun of the chase. I can see you wouldn't need to do this in the trad music world, but I do think you might enjoy it if you got to grips with it.

[asdormire]

I learn from printed music and memorize the piece. I wish I was able to pick things up by ear on something other than voice. People learn in a variety ways and have a various learning styles. Me, I sight read a piece through first, and then start learning phrases. I have learned recently that I can take a piece I have learned on the concertina and bring it over to the dobro, though I imagine that still isn't quite like learning by ear. Like Dirge, I set and play by myself a lot, so having a printed sheet helps a lot. Also this doesn't limit the keys I play on the anglo as much, because I do have the keys memorized to the notes on the page. Oh, there are keys I don't attempt yet, and some that I know that are just going to be a pain on a CG anglo, but I know that I can get through Bflat, F, D, A and E as well as C and G because I know where the notes are. I do find that I need to run through pieces I have in my head on a regular basis to keep them there, usually using them for a warm up before I start in on new pieces. I make sure I rotate them though. I have also learned to use TV advertising to my advantage by picking up the concertina and playing through a verse or two while they play. This also helps keep them fresh in my mind.

 

Alan

[Fiddlehead Fern]

I've never really had a problem with learning tunes and having them stick, for me it happens automatically. Especially when it's a tune I like and that isn't too hard for me; by which I mean that I can hear it in my head and it relates to other tunes I know already, not by technical difficulty. Technically challenging pieces I can memorize as well with relative ease, provided I like them and play them enough.

 

I've found that most tunes that I learn by "dots" I can work on for about 45 min. and I'm done. By the time I have gotten the song to the desired speed and played it at that rate at least 5 times, I have it completely memorized. If it's something that I play fairly regularly (every day to once or twice a year, in some cases) it's likely to stay in my head for some time, all I have to do is be reminded that it's in there and that I should dust it off and play it now and then. Of course, I still play with it and change it around some, in that case I'm never "done" with a tune. I just mean that I know basically how it goes and can play it competently.

 

I don't learn as much by ear, although I can do it. On average it takes me longer to fully get a piece when I don't have the music in front of me. If I do learn something by ear, it's off CDs that I can listen to over and over again, I'm not anywhere near fast enough to pick something up from a session or something I hear only a few times. (I might be able to reconstruct it if I can find other fragments, but I can't pay it right off.) I can't make things up on the spot, either. Faking a tune and playing drones or a simple ad lib harmony is something that I cannot do. I haven't ever learned, or had the chance to try it out as I get rather few chances to play with anyone besides myself.

the tunes I do learn by ear stay pretty firmly stuck to my brain, as far as I can remember I've never forgotten how one goes that I've learned that way. (The only tune I can remember totally blanking out on for any amount of time was College Hornpipe, which I simply could not figure out how to play, so I got out the music. After that it came back no problem, but it was a quite unsettling experience.)

 

I can remember tunes, but don't expect me to remember whether my iPod is charged, where my shoes are, whether someone called and left a message, what so-and-so's name is or where I put my sweater...oh, there it is, I was wearing it......

I forget everything. Heaven help me when I get older, I'm senile already!

[Rod]

I've never really had a problem with learning tunes and having them stick, for me it happens automatically. Especially when it's a tune I like and that isn't too hard for me; by which I mean that I can hear it in my head and it relates to other tunes I know already, not by technical difficulty. Technically challenging pieces I can memorize as well with relative ease, provided I like them and play them enough.

 

I've found that most tunes that I learn by "dots" I can work on for about 45 min. and I'm done. By the time I have gotten the song to the desired speed and played it at that rate at least 5 times, I have it completely memorized. If it's something that I play fairly regularly (every day to once or twice a year, in some cases) it's likely to stay in my head for some time, all I have to do is be reminded that it's in there and that I should dust it off and play it now and then. Of course, I still play with it and change it around some, in that case I'm never "done" with a tune. I just mean that I know basically how it goes and can play it competently.

 

I don't learn as much by ear, although I can do it. On average it takes me longer to fully get a piece when I don't have the music in front of me. If I do learn something by ear, it's off CDs that I can listen to over and over again, I'm not anywhere near fast enough to pick something up from a session or something I hear only a few times. (I might be able to reconstruct it if I can find other fragments, but I can't pay it right off.) I can't make things up on the spot, either. Faking a tune and playing drones or a simple ad lib harmony is something that I cannot do. I haven't ever learned, or had the chance to try it out as I get rather few chances to play with anyone besides myself.

the tunes I do learn by ear stay pretty firmly stuck to my brain, as far as I can remember I've never forgotten how one goes that I've learned that way. (The only tune I can remember totally blanking out on for any amount of time was College Hornpipe, which I simply could not figure out how to play, so I got out the music. After that it came back no problem, but it was a quite unsettling experience.)

 

I can remember tunes, but don't expect me to remember whether my iPod is charged, where my shoes are, whether someone called and left a message, what so-and-so's name is or where I put my sweater...oh, there it is, I was wearing it......

I forget everything. Heaven help me when I get older, I'm senile already!

 

Much of the fun is, of course, taking the process a stage further and improvising on a basic theme or even coming up with a totally new melody straight from the head and the heart. When you perform alone you have the advantage of only having yourself to please !

[LDT]

I think my problem is relating the sound, button (push or pull), and name of note and where it is on written music. I can't find a logic to it...or a way of remembering how they relate. I just..do as I'm told.

 

but don't expect me to remember whether my iPod is charged, where my shoes are, whether someone called and left a message, what so-and-so's name is or where I put my sweater...oh, there it is, I was wearing it......

I forget everything. Heaven help me when I get older, I'm senile already! ohmy.gif

I know what you mean..I write lots of lists to remind me..I even have a list of where the lists are.

Edited December 14, 2008 by LDT

[Anglo-Irishman]

I can read music, but I can't play it because I've never learned where the notes are on the instrument. When I taught myself to play concertina I did so by playing tunes. I know how the buttons relate to each other in the scale, but I can't name the note, unless I count up the scale from the C or G button.

 

I suppose I could learn, but I can't be bothered because I've never found it that much of a problem. I can learn tunes from recordings, or by picking it out on recorder (the one instrument where I did learn the correlation between the fingering and the note on the staff), or nowadays by playing ABCs on the computer.

 

To bring this back on-topic, it means I must rely on memory for my repertoire. Having the dots is at best a prompt to remind me how the tune starts, so I can then play it from memory.

 

Howard and Rod,

This would have been my reply, word for word!

 

Except that I don't play the recorder, and I use the PC by entering the tunes - from staff notation if need be - in Capella, using the mouse keyboard, and listening to the midi file that Capella generates.

 

And, in 90% of the cases, the pieces I want to learn are ones that I already know the melody of, so I can just take them straight to the Anglo.

 

I'm seriously considering learning to sight read on my new Crane duet. In contrast to the Anglo, the Crane (like the English) maps the staff notation, with the naturals in the midddle and the sharps and flats outside, and only one button per note on each side.

But I haven't got round to that yet.

There are so many tunes in my head that I have no sheet music for, and playing scales has got my fingers accustomed to finding the intervals I need for them. The chords are not as intuitive as on the Anglo, but no less so than on the banjo, which I play quite fluently. So I can take a tune straight from my head to the Crane, too!

 

Cheers,

John

[Pete Dunk]

There must be five times as much trad stuff as anything else on the net (copyright laws are on your side); if you don't 'do' written music you miss out on all that potential, not to mention the fun of the chase. I can see you wouldn't need to do this in the trad music world, but I do think you might enjoy it if you got to grips with it.

I don't recall saying that I can't read music, it's just something I don't do for guitar. There were other options open to me so I didn't feel the need; chords were good for basic song accompaniment, tab taught me to finger pick a rhythm and I've never used guitar as a melody instrument as such. 'Tis my 'time out' instrument which I love and that's just as it should be.

 

Concertina is different again at the moment, I'm back to playing from notation, as I have from my youth. That's not to say I have any real skill but I do understand the rudiments and can apply them to some extent.

[LDT]

This is what happens when I try to play form memory

http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=24581

Can you guess the song?

[Steve_freereeder]

This is what happens when I try to play form memory

http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=24581

Can you guess the song?

Unmistakeably Shepherd's Hey.

OK, yes - so there are hesitations, mistakes and stops. BUT - there are also good lengths of correct music, both melody and chords. So quite a bit of it has definitely gone into your brain and is becoming hard-wired. I recommend doing more of this, but keep the tempo steadier and more even - go much slower at first and then gradually speed it up as your 'finger memory' improves.

 

I know that you are tackling all sorts of tunes. Try working on short bits of them at a time, first with the music/tablature and then getting each short section committed to memory. By breaking it down like this you will have more chance of memorising each fragment correctly, i.e. you will not be learning the mistakes. Soon you will have got the whole tune into memory. But the key thing is to get the tempo steady and even to begin with.

[PeterT]

This is what happens when I try to play form memory

http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=24581

Can you guess the song?

What happens when you play along to a recording?

[LDT]

Unmistakeably Shepherd's Hey.

OK, yes - so there are hesitations, mistakes and stops. BUT - there are also good lengths of correct music, both melody and chords. So quite a bit of it has definitely gone into your brain and is becoming hard-wired. I recommend doing more of this, but keep the tempo steadier and more even - go much slower at first and then gradually speed it up as your 'finger memory' improves.

The more I panic the faster I go....which is also the reason I don't drive.

 

 

This is what happens when I try to play form memory

http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=24581

Can you guess the song?

What happens when you play along to a recording?

Haven't tried properly.

[PeterT]

The more I panic the faster I go....which is also the reason I don't drive.

Have you considered a career in F1?

 

Back to the music. We need to get you nice and relaxed, so that you can immerse yourself in the music whilst letting your mind wander onto other things.

 

It's not quite trance-like, but you'll recall some recent comments about musicians in YouTube videos "not looking like they are enjoying themselves while they play". These musicians have reached that stage.

 

Then there is a further stage where the musicians interact with their audience (except on very complex pieces of music). As a performer, this "involves" the audience with the performer, and brings greater enjoyment to both. The audience might be just a few friends, or family, or hundreds at a concert; the "rules" are the same.

 

As an example from nearly 20 years ago, I went to see John Kirkpatrick at a club somewhere in London. I sat about three rows from the front so that I could watch John's right hand whilst he played concertina (which he supported by having the right end on right leg). John obviously saw where my eyes were looking, and gradually slipped the concertina to the left, and behind the leg, blocking my view. Result? I obviously looked up at John, to see him grinning. So, a "private" joke which most of the audience would have missed, but some would have "got".

[LDT]

The more I panic the faster I go....which is also the reason I don't drive.

Have you considered a career in F1?

I'm more a Touring Car kinda girl...apparently other cars are not there to help you go round corners...and you should see my playstation scores.

 

Back to the music. We need to get you nice and relaxed, so that you can immerse yourself in the music whilst letting your mind wander onto other things.

Does watching TV while practicing count? I was doing scales very quietly last night while I watched the 'star in the reasonably priced car' segment.

 

It's not quite trance-like, but you'll recall some recent comments about musicians in YouTube videos "not looking like they are enjoying themselves while they play". These musicians have reached that stage.

Zen Concertina playing?

 

Then there is a further stage where the musicians interact with their audience (except on very complex pieces of music). As a performer, this "involves" the audience with the performer, and brings greater enjoyment to both. The audience might be just a few friends, or family, or hundreds at a concert; the "rules" are the same.

I try not to think anyones listening...people unnerve me. My hands get all sweaty and fingers slip and mind goes blank.