Yes, Chris, you are absolutely right both about amatuer orchestras and that
among the enormous amount of people who took "music lessons" in the 20th
century the arts of playing by ear, improvizing etc did appear to have been
lost. However, I remember that in one section of the final exam for the GGSM
(Music Education degree at the Guildhall School of Music) in the early '50s,
students were given a 2 bar phrase upon which to imrovise and expand into a
march, minuet, or whatever. in the style of "x", "y" or "z".
Quite a number of the most brilliant performers and teachers I am coming
across, do it. Our grandson's violin and fiddle teachers encourage and help
him to do it. The composers who coach our composition group are stunningly
impressive - " . . so you don't know what to do next . . ? Well, Beethoven
would have done this using your theme . . . Chopin would have done this . . .
. Debussy would have done this . . . Bernstein would have done this . . .
and if you want to sound as though you are quoting a Hoedown or a Shottish you
would turn it this way . . ".
I think that many people want to do it but don't know how to set about it and
the series by Robert Pace (Lee Roberts Music Publications Inc. can be
obtained through Schirmer, Inc.) is excellent. Basicly a piano method, each
level includes "Finger Builders" (technique), "Music for Piano" (pieces),
"Theory Papers" (explanations of harmony, etc) and "CREATIVE MUSIC" where the
pupil is given a musical phrase and must improvise/compose an answering
parallel and contrasting phrase, with the same and/or different bass patterns.
All of the keys signatures are introduced and used right from the beginning
and the phrases are transposed into all of the keys. Alas, as adults most
of us don't have the patience to do that sort of simple " baby stuff" which, of
course, does lead on to the "sort of stuff" we would like to be able to do.
End of lecture - now I really will shut up!
Sheila
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Sent: Wed, Dec 2, 2009 8:53 am
Subject: RE: [NSP] Re: From notation to music
Well said, Sheila!
Those who damn "classical musicians" are usually in fact damning their own
isconceptions of them.
here is a big difference between the people who have received some sort of
classical" training but wouldn't be able to play anything without dots in front
f them, and then don't play very well because they're not real musicians to
egin with (string-sections in amateur orchestras are full of them - all relying
n each other to cover up for them) (where was I?) and the fine classical
usicians for whom reading, writing, listening and in some cases improvising are
ll just self-evident elements in a musician's arsenal. Alas, since the
classical period" in the strict sense (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven etc.) the art
f improvising has largely been lost among classical musicians - exceptions
eing organists, harpsichordists (improvising continuo from figured bass) and
arly-music specialists, who will improvise ornamentation.
ike with so many things, the rot set in in the 19th century.
Here endeth the second lesson.
>-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 1:31 AM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: [NSP] Re: From notation to music
I'll give my half-pennyworth and then shut up.
I admire and respect quite a lot of folk musicians who play
only by ear., I also admire and respect quite a lot of
classically trained musicians who play from the dots, and it
seems that many who are damning the classically trained on
this nsp list don't realize that many of the very best among
the classically trained can (and frequently do) play
brilliantly by ear, and can capture the nuances of different
styles, be it folk, national, period, or whatever. I agree
that many classically trained musicians tend to be glued to
their dots. But do all those who learn by ear play superbly?
Re: "musical dictation". Like so many things in life, this
is a matter of practice. Children learning to read words
first do it by spelling everything out letter by letter but
with practice comes fluency. None of us as adults needs to
read aloud in order to understand what is written. Similarly
with music. As far as dictation is concerned, usually you
first are given a short phrase and learn to jot down the
rhythm, then start with simple melodic lines. If you keep
it up you become fluent - if you don't you get rusty!. As
you look at the dots of a tune you hear it in your head.
Conductors are probably the experts in this field, hearing not
only one line but a whole score in their heads as they look at
it - and woe betide a member of the orchestra who plays a
sharp when it should be a natural or a flat, or is late with
an entry - even though the whole gang may be playing. There
is nothing arcane about the process but for most of us it does
require practice, !
working at it, and keeping it up.
End of lesson,
Keep smiling.
Sheila
-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Walton <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]
Sent: Tue, Dec 1, 2009 8:18 am
Subject: [NSP] Re: From notation to music
It's got a lot to do with training, I think. I learned music in what
ight be termed a 'classical' style - in that there was an instrument,
e, a teacher, and a sheet of paper with music notation on it. Over
ime I learned to read the notation and play what's written there, and
hen learned things about how to interpret that to give a good
erformance, as the notation never encompasses every aspect of how one
hould play it. You can put a sheet of music in front of me and,
rovided it's within the capabilities of my instrument, I can have a
tab at playing it. Assuming it's not beyond my technical skill, I
an, given enough time, turn it into a fluent performance, much as I
ight practise reading a speech aloud so that I can deliver it well.
What I cannot do, however, is listen to music and write it down. It's
ifficult. It's slow. It requires me to play around with an instrument
o make sure I've got the idea of which notes are involved correct.
'm also terrible at notating heard rhythms, even though I can play
otated rhythms fairly easily. I don't know why it works this way, but
t does - and this is common in classically trained musicians.
I also find it very hard to listen to a piece of music and play it,
ither joining in or copying afterwards. I have never learned to play
by ear'. I suspect if I could do that, notating heard music would be
great deal easier...
It is, of course, possible to learn both ways. I should do that.
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 10:25 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
The trouble is some think 'reading music' and 'reading
music notation'
are synonymous -
the trick is to read the dots and put the music back into them.
I guess the player who can only play from a notated copy she'd just
written down, on hearing,,
would be a good ear-player if she believed in it.
Notation has its uses, particularly in complex music, but the people
who can't play unless they are reading are limiting themselves.
John
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