Playing By Ear Mrs. Hammon was my violin teacher when I was 5 - 10. I would walk to her house for my weekly lesson in fear of being seen any of the guys from Lincoln Elementary in Alliance, Ohio. At first, I studied my lessons, the dots and lines, slashes and symbols for elements of the music, like return to the top, slow down, speed up. There was much new information every week: how many flats and sharps to remember and what key the piece was in, and so on. Mrs. H, a soft-spoken widow of the Korean conflict, would always play the new lessons for me to hear on her Baldwin baby grand, and that is where the trouble began. I could play the notes on the sheet music but lazy me soon wanted to be outside doing something, anything, rather than practice the hour a day needed to burn the written notes into my brain and associate notation with a position on the violins fretboard as well as with the sound of that note. I learned to fake reading the sheet music and rely on my ear to reproduce the piece, often incorrectly, but close enough. Her disapproval grew steadily as I continued my slovenly ways. At last, she said it was pointless for me to continue with lessons if I refused to learn to read. Mom put on the pressure, and one day while practicing, a switch clicked in my little noggin, and I smacked the violin over a chair, reducing it to kindling. I called out to Mom, who was in the kitchen, Im done practicing, Im going out to play ball. Ten years later, when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan, like millions of other kids, I bought a guitar. A friend who played and I began weekly sessions. He showed me chords, and I bought the beer. I practiced the hand positions and picking techniques, so that the following week, I was ready to demonstrate my new skills. It was six months later when I suddenly realized he had been teaching me as if I were right-handed. I am a lefty. The years flew by, 33 of them with pay for singing and playing radio hits. I still cant read, Im still playing by ear, occasionally making up songs, and it is all still magic to me. © 2007 mwhitney
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 20:07:20 +0000
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