How well can you pick up a melody 'by ear'?

[Hugh-AR]

How well can you pick up a melody 'by ear'?

When you listen to music, if you have heard the piece several times before you will find that you will recognise the piece from the melody .. and even be able to sing along with the piece 'in your head'. Maybe you can even sing the melody out loud, or hum it, or whistle it. If I 'hum' a piece my wife tells me I am 'droning'. Probably because I am not 'humming' in tune, but more importantly, I can hear all the harmony of all the chords in my head .. and my wife can't hear those harmonies because they are in my head. What I hear is a full orchestra/band and what my wife hears is just a drone.

Eventually, the melody just 'comes' as you play it on the keyboard. This is 'playing by ear'. If you play a wrong note your 'ear' will tell you .. and with me, if I play a wrong chord, my 'ear' will tell me. It doesn't usually take me long to play the right notes and the right harmonies .. according to what I remember of the song.

And that is the crux of it. By not playing from the sheet music you could say that most of what I play, I 'play it my way' as I am not following how the song was originally written. And sometimes, what I play is clearly 'wrong'!

Here is an example of a song I have been playing 'wrong' for over 60 years! The song in question is Carolina Moon.

From Wikipedia:

"Carolina Moon" is a popular song, written by Joe Burke and Benny Davis. Written in 1924, the song was first recorded in 1928 by American crooner Gene Austin whose version charted for 14 weeks, seven of them at #1. A version of "Carolina Moon" was recorded by Connie Francis in June 1958.

First, listen to Den playing it on his Tyros 4. Note in particular how the second bit of the tune goes .. where the emphasis of the melody is within the beats of the bar.

Click on the below to listen; then click the back arrow after to get back to this page.
Carolina Moon played by Den on his Tyros 4

And then listen to Connie Francis singing it.

Carolina Moon - Connie Francis 1958
Click the below to listen; then click the back-arrow after to get back to this page.



Now ...

What I asked in the Subject line of this topic was .. How well can you pick up a melody 'by ear'?

You've listened to Den playing Carolina Moon, and you've listened to Connie Francis singing it .. which confirms how the melody goes in the 'second' bit of the tune. You probably know this song anyway. I had said that I had being playing it wrongly (by ear) for the last 60 years. So what was I playing for that second bit? And have you got the melody of the second part of the tune firmly in your head?

Have a listen and see how good you are at spotting the difference.

Click the below to listen; then click the back-arrow after to get back to this page.
Carolina Moon played 'wrongly', with the Chorus melody emphasised on the wrong beat of the bar

So now .. can I play it with the emphasis on the right beat of the bar? Difficult for me! I have been playing it 'my way' for 60 years! But I'll have a go.

Click the below to listen; then click the back-arrow after to get back to this page.
Carolina Moon played with the Chorus melody emphasised correctly'

Can you tell the difference?

Hugh

[Brian007]

Hi Hugh,

I find playing by ear fairly easy even in my teens that was the way I played my music, sheet music was available but expensive and a good travel to find a shop that sold it.

As regards playing what you think you hear and what's actually right is another thing, I find some sheet music or scores don`t sound right to me at all in places ?

To me its all a bit of a compromise, does it sound right ? is it right ? . there are those who will insist that everything must be exactly as it's written and those like me who are just happy if it sounds right to my ears, the main thing is to enjoy what you're playing and at the end of the day we can only try to do our best whilst still enjoying it.

All the best, Brian007

[Hugh-AR]

Brian,

Some very interesting comments. I think that you and I are very similar in our approach to music. To me, music is something I enjoy listening to .. and enjoy playing. I just play things according to how I want them to sound .. which may or may not be as originally composed. So the question now is, if I make a serious recording of Carolina Moon .. do I play the second bit 'correctly' .. or do I play it the way I have been doing for the last 60 years? It's what I am expecting to hear, so why not? It will be my interpretation of this song.

Here's another song where I got it wrong. Beautiful Dreamer. First listen to how the melody should sound. Listen to how many beats there are on dream, and er; and on me, at the end of the phrase. The melody is then repeated.

Stephen Foster - Beautiful Dreamer

Click the below to listen; then click the back arrow at the top to get back to this page.
Beautiful Dreamer DEMO sung by Leslie Guinn, Baritone

Now listen to how I have played this piece on my Tyros 4.

Click the below to listen; then click the back arrow at the top to get back to this page.
Beautiful Dreamer DEMO played on my Tyros 4

Note the short 'dreamer' .. and only one bar on the 'me'.

Below is Roy Orbison singing this song.

Roy Orbison - Beautiful Dreamer
Click the below to listen; then click the back-arrow after to get back to this page.



And below is my (wrong) interpretation of it.

Click the below to listen; then click the back arrow at the top to get back to this page.
Beautiful Dreamer played on my Tyros 4

Even though I have played this piece 'wrongly' I have no intention of correcting it as I rather like it the way I have played it!

Hugh

[Brian007]

Hi Hugh,

To me our music is mostly instrumental cover versions of songs/tunes, just like many artist cover other artist materials / song and they do invariably try to put their own stamp on it in some way, so this is where we have a certain amount of licence as to how we cover the original song,

All the best, Brian007

[kens]

Hi!
I have never managed to play by ear but have learned a few things along the way. An organist Hugh will know, held a master class for us years ago. Byron Jones ( The Welsh Wizard ). I took on board his method. That is, read the written score as a guide then interpret it in your way. So I play as written until proficient then add or subtract as the mood takes me. One advantage of reading the score is I can pick up a score and play it although I may never have heard it played before. I also am able to hear the piece in my head by reading the score. I would willingly swop my ability in order to play by ear. Ken S.