Playing Music with No Music

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Playing Music with No Music

Postby Hugh-AR » 14 Apr 2019 22:53

Series by Karen Ramirez on the basics of 'playing by ear'.


















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It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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Re: Playing Music with No Music

Postby Hugh-AR » 14 Apr 2019 22:55

Playing Christmas Music With No Music
.. by Karen Ramirez.



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Re: Playing Music with No Music

Postby Ron » 15 Apr 2019 10:08

Hi Hugh,

I would not be able to play using those videos.

I do not play anything by ear as I spent 10 years as a child having weekly lessons on classical piano music. I can still sight read most popular music and being able to read the bass clef also helped me in my bass playing career. I have always been jealous of the good ear player who could play lots of music with never a printed note in sight. My ageing brain did not allow me to memorise anything so NO music was never an option. Some of the best world’s musicians never read a note in their life so they must have had an exceptional ear.

Regards,

Ron
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Re: Playing Music with No Music

Postby dentyr » 23 Apr 2019 21:56

Hello, MY OPINION ONLY! Playing by "ear" or as I put it By Guesswork means that the piece being played is a re-composition of the original. The player, listening to ME playing, will play All my mistakes and then add their own errors. It may sound good at the time but that's an opinion. Regards, Den.
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Re: Playing Music with No Music

Postby Hugh-AR » 23 Apr 2019 23:02

Although I put those videos up, they are far too complicated for me to get my head around. I don't even wish to understand the 'theory' behind the music I am playing (eg. the Circle of Fifths).

It's sufficient for me to hear a song I want to play, work out how the melody goes .. and know what the chords are for the key I am playing it in. The fun for me is setting up a Registration for what I want to play, and in particular adjusting/creating the PARTS of the Style I am using to better suit the song I am trying to play.

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Re: Playing Music with No Music

Postby Hugh-AR » 25 Apr 2019 17:04

Hi Den,

For those that don't read music (like me) we are 'Playing by Guesswork' all the time. And one of the things we have to guess is how to 'phrase' the notes we are playing. Every song has 'words' which are often emphasised in different places, so I tend to play the notes as I like to hear them, which is probably putting the emphasis in all the wrong places. We used to have a saxophonist staying at our Hotel and he used to tell me he could never listen to me playing as I never played a piece with the right phrasing. He always played his saxophone 'to the words of the song' and I would have all the words in the wrong places!

Then there are those pieces I play where I have got it completely wrong. If this is deliberate, then I would call what I play 'my own arrangement'.

Here is one that I have got completely wrong (ie. my 'Guesswork' was hopeless!). A song I heard in the 70s called Charlie Brown.

This is me playing it:
Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tab
https://app.box.com/s/iwa3ypcr6ojw8aor66jn19ifxo3ye7eu

And this is what it should sound like. If you count the beats in the bar, I have held notes over for too long, which has completely changed the character of the song. ie. I have got it wrong. So I shall try recording it again, and get it (more) right next time. Or maybe I should just keep what I have done and call it 'my own arrangement'?



And then here's one that is definitely 'wrong' as I have again put the emphasis of the beats in all the wrong places. All You Need Is Love, by the Beatles. But I call this 'my arrangement' as there is no way my 'four beats in a bar' STYLE could be used to play this piece in any other way.

Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tab
https://app.box.com/s/9ie79w5ohar9cao2xx0kvk0h1f04lq0q

Here is how it should be played. Listen to this YouTube clip and count "1, 2, 3, 4" as the song progresses (ignore the 'intro' of "God Save The Queen"!). You come unstuck pretty quickly. The first line, "Love, love, love" is fine ... but then the second "Love, love, love" comes in on the 4th beat of the bar! And very time you try to count your 'One, Two, Three, Four' at a point you reckon is the first beat of the bar, it all goes to pieces.



Quoting what you said in your post, my version is:
... a re-composition of the original.

Hugh
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Re: Playing Music with No Music

Postby dentyr » 04 May 2019 10:58

Hello Hugh, You recorded this as you felt it. As I posted to another member, You play first class Karen music (not sure of the name now) not second rate Klaus. That is what makes us so good. Regards,Den.
Keyboards: Yamaha Tyros 4, PSR SX700, PSR S970and StagePa300
I knit dolls and animal toys.
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