Playing the saxophone Learn to play by ear or by reading music

[Jazzaferri]

Slightly off topic I know but sight reading is like reading words aloud as opposed to just reading. Sight scatting is the best way to learn to sight read for me as I read pretty fluently, but have a much harder time when I to put fingers to notes. Maybe being a multi instrumentalist has had some negative impact on that.

 

[Tenor Viol]

In response to an earlier comment, the Café Trio as we are known, is playing from sheet music. Strictly speaking,we're only sight-reading the first time we see a piece. Thereafter, we are trying to play something we have previously seen. Is that overly pedantic/semantic, or does it make sense?

EDIT: fix typos

 

[richardr]

In response to an earlier comment, the Café Trio as we are known, is playing from sheet music. Strictly speaking,we;re only sight-reading the first time we see a piece. Thereafter, you are tryign to play somethign you ahve previously seen. Is that overly pedantic/semantic, or does it make sense?

I agree with you but what is the expression for playing directly from sheet music which you have seen but not learned?

 

[Shoyu]

I agree with you but what is the expression for playing directly from sheet music which you have seen but not learned?

Winging it!

 

[nigeld]

what is the expression for playing directly from sheet music which you have seen but not learned?

Rehearsing

 

[Shoyu]

Rehearsing

Or that if you're not in public

 

[richardr]

Or that if you're not in public

@Shoyu , I went to that harp gig this lunchtime and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd never seen a full-sized harp before and was amazed at how big they are. The musicians were Maxine Molin-Rose and Hilary Percival and

Winging it!

I never was much of a pilot!

 

[Colin the Bear]

I can sight read any piece if I know how it goes.

 

[Shoyu]

I sight read flute 1 for Rachmaninov symphonic dances tonight, not all of it was pretty (there are a lot of notes!).

 

[Jazzaferri]

Sight reading usually refers to playing through a piece after a short non playing review.

After that, it's just plain old reading....at least that how it goes on this side of the pond.

 

[Colin the Bear]

You live in a pond?

 

[Taz]

He's a big fish don't you know!

 

[Targa]

But he doesn't cod on.

 

[Sunray]

I am not gonna rise to the bait this time ... 😀

 

[richardr]

I've been landed unexpectedly with a playing-by-ear exercise: I'm to sit-in with a band next Thursday where I shall be expected to play "Up the Lazy River" in concert Bb. I haven't got a decent chart for this tune so I can't take the lazy way out - I'll have to listen to the tune on YouTube and copy what I hear. No big problem, except that out of the many different versions to which I've listened, I'm struggling to identify which, if any, are in Bb. I think this one is and I hope so because it's easy to follow and probably as reliable a guide to the right tune as I'm going to get. Please will someone tell me whether Hoagy Carmichael's recording is in fact in Bb.

 

[nigeld]

Please will someone tell me whether Hoagy Carmichael's recording is in fact in Bb.

I think the part where he sings the melody (1'30 to 2'20) is in concert Eb.
The final 2 notes in the melody ("with me") are the dominant and tonic (sol, do)
It would not be easy to sing in concert Bb - rather low or very high.

 

[Chris]

Most of the sheet music to this tune is in concert 'F'..
Like most 'Jazz' tunes it probably leaves the home key
and returns🙂

Chris..

 

[richardr]

Thanks to Nigel and Chris. Since my plea for help I've become fairly confident that I've got it in concert Bb, not least because, as Chris says, it returns to C on my tenor, ie concert Bb.

 

[zelda]

I can sight read any piece if I know how it goes.

Me, too. Seriously, I can learn to play probably pretty much any tune by ear. If it's not this note, then it has to be that note or one of the others. Problem is though, while I have a 'good' ear, I don't have a 'really good' ear. I like to get the sheet music for a tune and read the dots. I've found that by reading the dots, I sometimes find something my ear missed.

 

[richardr]

Me, too. Seriously, I can learn to play probably pretty much any tune by ear. If it's not this note, then it has to be that note or one of the others. Problem is though, while I have a 'good' ear, I don't have a 'really good' ear. I like to get the sheet music for a tune and read the dots. I've found that by reading the dots, I sometimes find something my ear missed.

Same here. A good example was "Up a Lazy River" - I'd almost got it nailed by a repeated process of listen-and-play when CtB send me a lead sheet which made the rest easy, but I doubt whether I'd ever have got the tune from the sheet music alone without listening to it. Now I know how to play "Up a Lazy River", I'm still struggling after over a week to play it at proper speed, mistake and fumble-free. As for playing it with the band, where the trumpet takes the lead and I have to play something that fits, the lead sheet provides the chords but there are so many changes, I couldn't keep up with them. Instead my teacher has given me a simplified set of chords that I can follow. How I admire the real play by ear guys who know instinctively what to play from what they hear. That's my goal but I'm a million miles off!