Soundcatcher: How to Play by Ear
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SoundCatcher: How to Play by Ear By Scott Reiss and Tina Chancey here are two ways of learning a tune: visual and aural, reading Scott Reiss, founder and co-director of Hesperus, was a pioneer on the recorder— musicT notation or playing back what at home in Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque styles, and possessing a command of one hears. In our culture, these two Irish and Old-Time music and the blues. A founding member and co-director of the techniques have co-existed for at least Folger Consort for 21 years, his articles on recorder technique, improvisation and tradi- 800 years, but most people are fluent in tional music were published in Continuo, AR and Early Music America in the U.S., only one mode. Therefore, when classi- and in Tibia in Germany. A 1998 Earthwatch grant funded his research on Celtic cal musicians are taught as children music in Ireland, forming the basis of “Tradition and Imaginary: Irish Traditional that reading music is a necessary com- Music and the Celtic Phenomenon,” his chapter in the book Celtic Modern: Music at plement to learning to play an instru- the Global Fringe (Martin Stokes, Philip V. Bohlman, eds.; Scarecrow Press, 2003). ment, we seldom get the opportunity, His solo recordings are The Banshee’s Wail and Baroque Recorder Concerti or make the effort, to learn to play (the former and other Hesperus CDs available in the ARS CD Club). Two live-concert without a page in front of us unless recordings of his Folger Consort and Hesperus solos will be released in 2012. Before he we have memorized the piece. passed away in December 2005, Reiss started this article, finished here by Chancey. Actually, playing by ear and mem- orizing are different skills. A soloist can Tina Chancey is a founding member/director of Hesperus. She plays Medieval play a concerto from memory, but she fiddles, viol, pardessus de viole and Renaissance violin, on roots music from Sephardic certainly doesn’t play it by ear. The dif- and blues to Irish, Old-Time and early music. A member of Toss the Feathers and Trio ference is in the way used to learn a Sefardi, she has performed with the Folger Consort, Blackmore’s Night and QUOG. piece. Learn ing a tune by ear means She teaches, performs, records, improvises, arranges, writes articles, produces recordings just that—the first encounter with the and directs SoundCatcher workshops teaching how to play by ear and improvise. music is aural. The Versatile Viol is her three-CD series featuring the viol in Scots-Irish, French When we learn from notation, we Baroque, and American traditional music. Dr. Chancey received a Lifetime see the music first, hearing it after- Achievement Award from Early Music America. Her article on “Contextual wards, as it comes out of an instrument. Improvisation” appears in the June 2011 Early Music America magazine. For more That kind of hearing is more passive, information, visit www.hesperus.org and www.tinachancey.net. receptive. Those who learn by ear must listen differently, more actively. Active Reiss and Chancey inaugurated the SoundCatcher: Play by Ear workshop in 1982 listening creates the guidelines, the to help their “paper-trained” students free themselves from the printed page. The work- aural map that replaces written music. shop focuses on Medieval, Renaissance and traditional tunes from around the world, A musician who inhabits only one and targets players of any portable melody instrument. Over 28 years, they have of the musical worlds, written or aural, presented 15 week-long summer workshops (partnering with Mike Seeger, John Tyson, is seldom comfortable in the other one. Bruce Hutton and Nick Blanton), plus many weekend workshops and classes, teaching That doesn’t mean that a folk musician the method to musicians of all ages and can’t play classical music, or vice versa. backgrounds. The next SoundCatcher However, neither the folk guitarist who workshop is set for July 2012. learns Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by ear from a recording, nor the Some musicians compare the act of recorder player who reads Scottish jigs putting their music stands away and in transcription, is getting the full expe- playing by ear to a descent into chaos, or a rience of the music; he’s not approach- world without guidelines. However, ing it as it was meant to be approached. none of us learned to drive, or dance or pump iron from a book—we watched, Many adult participants listened, experimented and remembered. share one big reservation: This article gives an overview of the the fear of making process of learning to play tunes by ear, mistakes in public. using SoundCatcher methods. !" November #"!! American Recorder Why not just learn the tune and how to hit a certain pitch upon of what you know and what you can by listening to it over and demand, has the background needed hear as your raw materials, you create a over? Why do we need a to play by ear. (A person who has com- scaffolding (a working understanding method? Not everyone has a pleted Stage 3 of the ARS’s online of how the piece is put together). Using quick enough ear to pick up 13 Stages to Help You Improve Your these raw materials, you design an aural a tune, no matter how many Playing has these skills on recorder.) map, which takes the form of your own times it’s played. Many adult participants share one personal set of Mapquest directions. big reservation: the fear of making mis- You train yourself to play the tune Picking up a tune by ear is takes in public. Mistakes usually lead to through the process of following the one thing; remembering it criticism or ridicule; we’ve been trained directions. When the directions have is another. If the analytical either to correct them quickly or hide become familiar (the paint on the ceil- brain is used in tandem them. In SoundCatcher, though, mis- ing dries), the scaffolding is removed with the ear and the kinetic takes are used as teaching tools; playing and the tune is yours to keep. memory of the fingers, the something wrong is often the only ave- listener ends up owning the nue to eventually playing it right. Raw Materials: What do you tune—and that’s the goal, know about the Tune? to make the tune yours. Two Tools for Active Listening R5 What’s the meter? Your most important tool is your ear— R5 What’s the fundamental tone or Every kind of music is embedded an inquisitive ear is the key to active lis- final note? in a tradition. We interpret most writ- tening. Your goal is to learn to use it R5 What’s the mode? ten music guided by the tradition of like a tape recorder. R5 What’s the hierarchy of pitches— music education dating from the incep- In preparation, help your ears what are the most important notes tion of the conservatory system in the listen by embracing the tune. Move in the melody? mid-19th century. Conservatories teach your hands in rhythm, tap your toes, Meter is a good place to start, the performer to re-create different sing along on “La.” Savor the notes of because it is such a defining character- styles of music according to the con- the tune; visualize playing along as you istic of music, even before pitch. Take ventions of their point and time of ori- listen to it. Absorb the nature of that Twinkle ,Twinkle, Little Star, for exam- gin, filtered through the preferences tune like a new friend. Make it yours. ple. First, can you identify the regular and pedagogy of the present. We call Your next most important tool beat, the physical pulse we feel with that performance practice or historical is a working knowledge of music theory: and in our bodies (the tactus)? Then performance. specifically, an understanding of the can you sense the downbeats—selected On the other hand, the tradition way that the three basic building blocks pulses that are stronger, collecting the of aural music has no link to the past of music function together —rhythm, beats into a regular meter? Counting before the invention of sound record- melody and harmony. Most of us know the downbeat and the subsequent notes ing; it is transmitted by living musi- some theory, but will need to reexamine before the next downbeat will give you cians or recordings. Its performance familiar terms to understand them bet- the top number in the time signature. practice is learned at the same time as ter and put them to use. After that, the concept of subdivi- the music, through imitation, and both Learning to play by ear in a sion is useful: the subdivision of the are transmitted as a living method ical way is something like the beat is something recognized more tradition, passed on by ear. process of drawing a picture of a map with mind than in body. The subdivi- Is it worth the effort? Workshop on a 14-foot ceiling. You start with sion of the beat (duple or triple) pro- participants report that, after learning tools and raw materials, and build a vides the rest of what is needed to to play by ear, they experience an exhil- scaffolding; using it as support, you identify the meter (see Example 1). aration and sense of accomplishment outline and then fill in your map. With (N.B.: The use of written musical exam- that comes from being freed of the your ear and knowledge of music the- ples in an article about learning by ear printed page, with the added benefit of ory as your tools, and the combination is strange, but seems unavoidable.) having access to whole repertoires of music previously unavailable to them.<9%> " & & & & & & & & $ &' & & &' & & # Who can do it? Any musician who ! # % !"#$%&$'()%'*+%!,-+./.)."*) knows his way around a melody instru- ! Example 1: Some beats and subdivisions.