Playing by Ear Part 2 (Picking a Tune from Your Memory)

RedDesertFiddle.com
This video explores the challenges of picking a tune from your head...the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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[@MuhammadIbrahim-qd4cg]

The best teacher ever 😃😃

[@RedDesertFiddle]

+Muhammad Ibrahim Thanks, Muhammad! :-)

[@carolineleiden]

I am a singer who started violin and I always sang by heart and had solfege lessons. So it was natural for me to do the violin by heart too. You have stated all the problems I faced but this series is really encouraging. Apparently I am not such an idiot. Thank you.

[@RedDesertFiddle]

+carolineleiden Thanks for your comments and input! (you are not an idiot, obviously!)

[@thepianoplayer416]

Last week I was out Christmas carolling in the neighbourhood with a group of people. Several people had their violins out. 1 person in the group would call out "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" in C. Many of the carols are so common you hear them year after year most people would know some version of the tune in their head. A song can be played in any key but some keys tend to sound better than others. Like the common tune "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" starting on a C, D, F or G.

[@RedDesertViolin]

+thepianoplayer416 Definitely! That tune starting on Db would not sound very good, although it is possible!

[@skylark5789]

Funny you should say this....I realized almost all my first tunes on Viola are Christmas Carols! Guess I'll be ready for the Hols !

[@randymorgan7133]

Dear Teacher, You was so right!! Playing the piano for years by ear , Did crossover to violin Once I learned my fingering and the notes started sounding good , then song's started flooding my head faster then I can learn them...and it very difficult at times because my skills on violin are so lacking...... Is there any different learning violin on advanced violin? I purchased an advanced violin!!! Because I didn't want to buy twice. And I wanted my forever violin... For richer or poorer till death do us part... Is there a learning curve now?

[@raymondblacklock]

I kinda have the same problem...have had an ear for music from an early age. I didn't pick up the fiddle until I was 30 and it was frustrating because I knew all this music in my head but I didn't have the skills to play it.

[@FarmboyAB]

I play guitar by ear and finding out the first note of a melody I have in my head is actually very simple. If I play a whole chromatic scale and compare each of its note which the first note of the melody whistled by me I found it out right away with absolute certainty. Most of the tunes I have in my head are not in "standard keys", but they are nice so I began to think that being in a non-standard key is not a bad thing at all. BTW I would be interested in really learning to play the violin by ear, since it can imitate the human voice. In particular I would like to reproduce my whistle, which is continually modulated in frequency and amplitude on the fiddle. How to go about this? I thought I should experiment by looking at wave forms and compare them until I get it.

[@claudinebechard8542]

You explain this well.

[@RedDesertFiddle]

Thanks, Claudine. The MOST important thing about playing by ear is.....DO IT. Right or wrong......just DO IT! (and it gets better and easier)

[@robertshorthill6836]

@@RedDesertFiddle I heard the Loch Lavan Castle played by the Blakes. I just had to learn it, so I set about getting in tune with Norman's mandolin and broke it down phrase by phrase and tabbed out the tune after several hours of listening and playing notes. Of course, I had to slow it down, but I got the tune worked out. A great skill to learn to pick up a fun old time or Celtic type tune.

[@pianodudeler]

Thank you for this series! Great video as always, always wanted to incorporate ear training and harmony/theory into my technical work on piano. (Taking exercises round the circle of keys, chord sequences, changing mode etc) Have recenty taken up the violin and would like to do the same on this instrument, love to see some violin videos along those lines also.

[@RedDesertFiddle]

You mean you want to see a video of the violin going around the circle of 5ths, and going through arpeggio sequences? That's a great idea. (did i understand you?)

[@pianodudeler]

Red Desert Fiddle Yes thank you! There are some modulating schemes used for piano, one seems to come from Paganini Caprice 1: B flat (arp), B flat minor ,Dom of B (F#/A#),Dom seventh of B (F#7/A#) then pattern repeats from B major etc. Can be used for Arp or scale fragments or any phrase/fragment that needs to be drilled through the keys. Similar schemes are given by Cortot in his "Rational Principles... " and a few other piano tech. methods. I just got in the habit of practising piano this way, any problem gets transposed. I've noticed on the violin that I play each tune on every string as best I can and then in different positions as I learn them - seems to mesh well with playing by ear . I'll try and post some piano examples.

[@zakiyehhoseini5212]

our books dont have record reference ..and i havent heard those songs before..

[@thelostviolinist]

Hi mam is there a video on how to play from a recording as you mentioned in this video. I am unable to search from your channel. Please tag me if there is.

[@RedDesertFiddle]

Hi Farhan, I do not have a video on how to play from a recording. This video right here is it. (plus Part 1) So, work on ear training, and then just practice. It will get easier and you will get better!

[@thelostviolinist]

@@RedDesertFiddle thank you

[@erica_soares]

I was also looking for the next video you mentioned.