Yesterday I had my parents over for dinner. After dinner they both wanted to hear me play the piano. I took out my study books and started playing the pieces I had been working on at weekly lessons.

To put it bluntly, I was awful and could barely play some of the older pieces from earlier in the year.

I threw the books on the floor beside the piano and started playing 'by ear' - I played five songs and my parents came to life, singing along and having a laugh. They thought it was great.

After they left and went home I just went into overdrive thinking about what I could take from that experience - is there anything to be lerarned form it?

Ragtime Clown,

That your aural (ear) skills make you more comfortable at your instument, and that your visual skills might be weaker than you'd like for them to be? How are your tactile skills? I'm going to think that they are good because they are needed if you are going to play by ear successfully.

So keep building your visual skills, try those trainers if it's a challenge to read the notes from the music to the keyboard location. Work on your fingering as becoming consistent, we mess up when you fingering goes wacko.
"
Having a listener changes the dimensions of your comfort level even when it's just Mom and Dad, or maybe especially because it's Mom and Dad.

So, they enjoyed your music after all. I think maybe it was the way you were feeling uncomfortable about your playing that made you throw down" the books, and resort to what works better for you.

So great to have a good time in music with your family!

Find yourselves some music that you know you know and play it for "company".

So, you have strengths and weaknesses like everyone else! What's new about that? Use your strengths, and always be ready to recognize where the weaknesses are and do things to improve upon them.

Anxiety? Overdrive? Now what's that all about? Awareness is good, but don't beat your self to pieces because you can't pull off "perfection" every time.

At least that's what comes to my mind when I read your post.

I think it's great that you are sharing this with everyone - you'll get answers to this because you are looking for the solution. You'll get them from within yourself as well as having input from posters here. Whatever it is that is said, smile and accept it, and let yourself discover if it applies to you or not!

Best wishes!

Betty Patnude

Thanks for posting this. I'm wondering a couple of things. Were the songs you played by ear the same songs from the book or did you learn them in a different way?

Also, had you gone back and "refreshed" your memory/playing of the songs that you attempted from the books or had they just sat there in the mean time?

In any case keep up the good work and continue to practice what is right for you.

"I don't need a microphone!" I'm not Bing Crosby!..said Mario Lanza.. Ragtime..maybe you don't need sheet music either

You have a great ear and you are a natural at playing by ear.

There is so much we have to process from reading music and not alot of time for all that info to be translated into a sound.

My reading is so-so. It's getting better but I find that once I've memorized something I rely on that memory and what it's supposed to sound like. When that happens I tend not to read. That's why it took me a long time to improve my reading. Once I learn a song I only use the music a guide just in case I forget something. Maybe this is the case with you?

If you want to improve your reading then I would say site read something new everyday. That way you won't memorize anything and your reading will get better.

If you aren't concnerned about reading then keep training that ear. musictheory.net has some good ear training excercises.

BTW... sounds like you had a great time with your parents

Kymber, though my reading is pretty good I tend to read very carefully until I can play the piece. I then memorise it very qucikly and provided I keep practicing, will be able to play it well over and over.

If I play by ear, and this happened on Sunday, I don't have to recall anything from memory but just rely on my ear and knowledge of melody tones/chords to play a song.

And yes, we had a great time!

One thing I've found....

I've been learning (irish) tin whistle over the last year or so and learned a few tunes well enough to memorize and can play them fine when just playing but I got the music out at one point and tried to play along with the music (to be sure I was playing it correctly and had not mixed something up) and found that I could hardly play it when trying to follow the sheet music.

Hi Ragtime,

Sounds like playing by ear is easier for you. I'd go with that unless you absolutely must read sheets.

No matter how nervous you get II - V - I will always be a known truth, that is, as it's true you can't forget it (see Plato's Meno). Hand/eye coordination combined with reading music will often overload the system. I've heard visual processing takes up 40% of the brain's capacity.
http://staff.science.uva.nl/~vnedovic/prof.html

because when you play by ear you use the other side of your brain

Hi RC,

Glad to hear your “by-ear” skills are pleasing to both you and your parents.

My “by ear” ability surprises even me sometimes but I would love to play “by ear” as well as Seaside_Lee.

And, I want be able to read music one of these days.

Keep up the good work!

Rick

One more thing Ragtime

As you've been taught you know that melodies come straight out of the chords when you get more advanced you'll understand that melodies can also come out of chord extensions.

But the whole thing has to fit together (and you know that) so whenever you are learning sheet music strive to see the bigger picture behind the notes so you see the chord progressions and where the melodies come from and the direction of the melodies to make remembering easier then you can either play without the sheets (as I guess a grand pianist has to do) or playing from the sheets an easier experience for you.

I do this with lead sheets from time to time I have to understand the bigger picture because I can't read so good


Lee