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

[Colin the Bear]

Pecking will get you there eventually. Theory will get you there quicker.

I don't like reading and only use it for stuff I can't work out and I stick to outlets that allow this.

Theory explains why things sound good. It can also be used to find something your ear can't find. It can help in composition. It is a great help in communicating ideas to other musicians. Having a common language with names for all those sounds helps.

You can quite easily learn scales, modes, arpeggios etc. without any reference to letters, numbers or roman numerals. In fact after learning them by all the other media, you have to forget them and short cut fingers to sound. In fact never mind fingers, with enough practice the sounds just appear out of your mouth.

No need to sweat it. Let it all come to you.

I think people underestimate the time that's needed to become proficient.

Four hours a day for a decade or two and you start to get the drift. Accept that you'll never get there. It's an endless journey. Enjoy the scenery.

I play because I must. I start to feel quite odd if I don't play. I play for relief, pleasure and get social interaction and money as a bonus.

A little talent and a lot of application will get you a long way. A massive talent and little application will bring frustration.

There's no right or wrong about it. It's only music. It exists nowhere else but in the hearts and minds of one species, on this small dot of a planet in a mahooosive universe. In the great scheme of things it's not at all important.

Get off the pooter and go practice 😉

 

[Taz]

Richard thought that the poll was pointless, sorry @richardr its more for me than anyone else, I was just curious to see how many people chose which method, and to those that want a box that says ear player and dot reader, please just pick two options. 😉

 

[Targa]

They didn't tell you that being deaf in one ear would affect the ability to detect pitch, in a similar way that being blind in one eye would affect the ability to detect distance, because that isn't how hearing works.

I'm always willing to take the word of a qualified professional rather then someone who works on the principle of Herr G's 'If I say something three times it is true'.

 

[trimmy]

Great discussion guys/galls, enjoying the read !

 

[Jeanette]

Pick a key (scale) and play Mi Re Do Re Mi Mi Mi etc. No key is really any easier or more difficult than any other once you practice and become familiar with them.

This isn't working, I can't even hear Mary had a little lamb in my head as a song. And as for Do re mi I've just found myself writing note names down, I'll go and stand in the corner 🙁

Jx

 

[richardr]

Richard thought that the poll was pointless

'Twas not I who said that.

 

[jbtsax]

This isn't working, I can't even hear Mary had a little lamb in my head as a song. And as for Do re mi I've just found myself writing note names down, I'll go and stand in the corner 🙁 Jx

What other simple tune do you know and can sing from memory? Let's use that one instead.

 

[richardr]

This isn't working, I can't even hear Mary had a little lamb in my head as a song. And as for Do re mi I've just found myself writing note names down, I'll go and stand in the corner 🙁

Jx

Have a go at St. James' Infirmary that I posted earlier. Tackle it two or three notes at a time.
On reflection, I never learned a tune to Mary Had a Little Lamb. It was a poem that went as follows:
Mary had a little lamb.
Eee, it wer a good 'un -
Never wanted owt to eat,
'Cos it were a wood un.
Try Baa, Baa Black Sheep or Three Blind Mice - they do have tunes.

I don't believe that you CAN'T ply by ear.

 

[Jeanette]

What other simple tune do you know and can sing from memory? Let's use that one instead.

I'm having a go with happy birthday but am finding it nigh on impossible and found myself looking up the sheet music, it is so incredibly frustrating

I'm using g maj and whilst I have now got rid of the sheet can't get past ddedgf# repeated then I am at ddc but not sure that's right?

Jx

 

[jbtsax]

Good start. Notice when the first "motif" repeats that the last two notes are a step higher. Then dd of the last "hap-py" leaps up an octave to high d. That should get you past the obstruction.

 

[richardr]

I'm having a go with happy birthday but am finding it nigh on impossible and found myself looking up the sheet music, it is so incredibly frustrating

I'm using g maj and whilst I have now got rid of the sheet can't get past ddedgf# repeated then I am at ddc but not sure that's right?

Jx

That's right. Happy Birthday isn't the easiest for an absolute beginner because there are some large-ish intervals between notes including a full octave at one point that fooled me the first time I tried it. Seriously, try Three Blind Mice. If you start on B, that will give you key of G - watch out for the F#. Have you a keyboard? Try it on that if you like - anything to break the CAN'T barrier because you can!

 

[Jeanette]

Good start. Notice when the first "motif" repeats that the last two notes are a step higher. Then dd of the last "hap-py" leaps up an octave to high d. That should get you past the obstruction.

It's mental torture I had to look it up.....but I did notice when I read while playing it that my ear doesn't listen as much.

I need to pick something else and start again

Jx

 

[Jeanette]

That's right. Happy Birthday isn't the easiest for an absolute beginner because there are some large-ish intervals between notes including a full octave at one point that fooled me the first time I tried it. Seriously, try Three Blind Mice. If you start on B, that will give you key of G - watch out for the F#. Have you a keyboard? Try it on that if you like - anything to break the CAN'T barrier because you can!

Ok three blind mice and one deaf husband at this rate 🙂

Jx

 

[Taz]

'Twas not I who said that.

Sorry Richard, it was @Bernie who said it, my fault. anyway as I said, the point of the poll was purely for my curiosity really 😉

 

[Taz]

This isn't working, I can't even hear Mary had a little lamb in my head as a song. And as for Do re mi I've just found myself writing note names down, I'll go and stand in the corner 🙁

Jx

Instead of trying to "hear it" have you tried humming or singing it? And why are you writing it down?

 

[Jeanette]

And why are you writing it down?

Cos its driving me nuts....

And I don't think I can sing in tune enough to help...

 

[richardr]

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Seriously, I really didn't learn a tune for "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and I don't think it has one. If I'm right, that would explain why Jeanette couldn't "hear" it in her head.

 

[Taz]

Cos its driving me nuts....

And I don't think I can sing in tune enough to help...

Do you sing along to tunes on a CD?

 

[Jeanette]

Do you sing along to tunes on a CD?

Not really

 

[Colin the Bear]

@Jeanette There are several tunes that are in beginner books. London's Burning and London bridge is falling down and of course three blind mice. When the saints go marching in, Amazing grace. Pentatonic tunes are a good ear tutor because there's only five notes.

The fact that you find it easier to play from dots will slow you down because you'll be thinking the whole while if only I had the dots, and if you've got them somewhere.....you've no chance.

It may take a whole week to learn one tune so being frustrated on the first day is trying to rush it.

I'm currently trying to expand the keys I can busk in. Working on Ab at the moment and trying to keep C fresh. I find it helpful, before trying to play a melody, to play the scale several times, arpeggios of all seven chords and then the I IV V. It tunes the ear and sets the fingers. Then try a melody.

Try the virtual piano before the sax.

Virtual Piano

If you try three blind mice in C starting on E you'll notice patterns in the tune. 3rds 4ths 5ths.

Same with the other rhymes. Amazing grace on just the black notes