Keyboards Reading music is so easy...

[Moz]

I can pick up a piece of music of any standard, in any key and for any instrument and play it like I played it from birth; reading music is so easy I wish they'd make it harder so that it is a challenge. Sometimes I take a piece of music, turn it upside down and back to front and shine a light through the paper and still I can play it flawlessly.

Right, that's got the 'music reading is so easy' brigade satisfied, now to the real world.

I have been playing sax for years and can read music given enough time except that when something is labelled 'vivace' I really haven't that much time -- anywhere near it. Now on a saxophone I'm not too bad and can cope, with a little practice. With a few exceptions holding my hands in the same position and pressing down at the right time will generally knock out a tune...

...except I am now trying to learn the play the piano and the world of music has gone full circle; I am a novice once again.

I know the answer is practice, practice, practice but reading piano music is so hard. Unlike a saxophone -- or a tin whistle -- the music hardly ever lets me keep my hands in the same place and as soon as I leave middle C and the surrounding notes my playing speed drops to practically nil while I struggle to find what I'm looking for. I find it and then have to repeat a section and struggle once again even though I have just played it.

The stupid thing is that if I know the tune I can knock it out at the right speed without looking at the music at all as I am pretty good at playing by ear.

Are 'reading music' and 'playing by ear' mutually exclusive?

Someone tell me this gets better, I'm fed up with taking five minutes over a piece of music that should last less than thirty seconds.

 

[Ne0Wolf7]

I too am a sax player who would like to get to know the ivories. I may have a bit of an advantage over you, as I've taken piano lessons in the past, but it does get better. It's gotten so much better for my vocal teacher that if she wiggled her fingers over nothing, she knows what it would sound like on the piano (although this is probably an extreme case). I find that I must play something a lot, no matter how easy it looks, to get it fluid, but I'm also terrible in base clef. I tend to memorize more in piano then I do on sax, which may be why I'm a terrible sight reader on the keys when the left hand is involved.

 

[kevgermany]

Are 'reading music' and 'playing by ear' mutually exclusive?

Not really. I practise from the score. I use my ears to correct tone, intonation, timing. Then I play in the orchestra. The score keeps me in line, but I can't play from memory. And ears/eyes give me tone, tuning and timing.

 

[Tenor Viol]

There’s a new set of muscle memory skills to develop. There are exercises to develop keyboard awareness so that you develop the skill to play notes without looking.

Piano is a lot more complex too: you’ve got two staves to read in different clefs, independent motion of hands etc. That’s why a teacher is important....

@MandyH may be able to provide some insight....

 

[tatooandy67]

It does get easier
I too enjoy playing the ivories as well as sax and find the farther I get from middle c the more I have to think about it, I’m afraid there is no shortcuts it is just practice, I tend to almost memorise the piece I’m working on but still need the score in front of me to play, reading from 2 clefs at the same time can at first seem a bit daunting but soon it becomes as reading from one, the more you play the more fluid your hands become and muscle memory and memory start to work almost automatically without having to pause and think, possibly a few lessons to avoid bad habits and encourage correct posture may help but most of all enjoy the journey and as my music teacher always says at the end of every lesson “ practice slowly to secure the notes and then work on increasing the speed”
Ps love your opening statement, made me chuckle

 

[Dibbs]

It'll get easier. Eventually you'll start to recognise chords rather than just individual notes in the same way you recognise patterns in single note lines.

 

[Dave E]

Hi Moz - there's a prior thread called Playing by ear started by Taz I think. There'll be some good advice there - worth a look

 

[Jeanette]

Hi Moz - there's a prior thread called Playing by ear started by Taz I think. There'll be some good advice there - worth a look

It's here, grab a bottle of wine it's a long read

Jx

 

[Colin the Bear]

This taking up a new instrument is frustrating. There's a shortage of Bass players on the local jazz scene. I've sung bass when the dep was late, I've played baritone with the back line. Both quite successfully. So how hard can it be to play bass. I play a little guitar and banjo and all sorts of strings. Luckily Richardr lent me a bass guitar before I spent my hard earned on one.

Being fluent on woodwind instruments and getting better with harmony theory I thought it would be straight forward. However, I couldn't cope with being a novice again. I don't think I'll live long enough or have the drive to pick it up. I shelved the idea, returned the bass and picked up the saxophone. What was I thinking?

I think playing by ear is a blessing and a curse. Because you can, you neglect your reading skills. Can I sight read? Only if I know how it goes.

 

[Moz]

Hi Moz - there's a prior thread called Playing by ear started by Taz I think. There'll be some good advice there - worth a look

It's here, grab a bottle of wine it's a long read
Jx

I have read the thread (I am also a poet but I didn't know it). Interesting stuff. Taz's original post describes me quite well too and a couple of people wrote about how they learn to play by ear. I have never learned to play by ear. I hear a tune and I can play it -- with a few mistakes at first depending on what key it is in -- and it doesn't matter what instrument I use so long as I know how it works (so no brass instruments). I can pick up a sax, a tin whistle, a harmonica or on a piano; I can just knock out the tune. But of course one doesn't always have the tune and thereby comes the need to be able to read music.

This taking up a new instrument is frustrating. There's a shortage of Bass players on the local jazz scene. I've sung bass when the dep was late, I've played baritone with the back line. Both quite successfully. So how hard can it be to play bass. I play a little guitar and banjo and all sorts of strings. Luckily Richardr lent me a bass guitar before I spent my hard earned on one.

Being fluent on woodwind instruments and getting better with harmony theory I thought it would be straight forward. However, I couldn't cope with being a novice again. I don't think I'll live long enough or have the drive to pick it up. I shelved the idea, returned the bass and picked up the saxophone. What was I thinking?

I think playing by ear is a blessing and a curse. Because you can, you neglect your reading skills. Can I sight read? Only if I know how it goes.

Oh so true, but I prefer to be the way I am, able to 'ear it', restricting as it can be sometimes.

I shall keep on thrashing at the piano as I have to try to catch up with my son who has been playing piano seriously for about two years. We are very much alike in almost all things but...he can't play by ear; strange.

 

[Nick Wyver]

. I don't think I'll live long enough or have the drive to pick it up. I shelved the idea, returned the bass and picked up the saxophone. What was I thinking?

BTDTGTT.

 

[Tenor Viol]

I'm the opposite of many - I don't have trouble reading music, but I'm lousy at playing by ear (I will probably give it a go when I have more time in retirement - still some way off....). Like @Colin the Bear I've twigged there is a bass gap. My challenge is I like to have a teacher and I have struggled to find a teacher for electric bass. So, no issues reading bass clef... but I've no experience of playing guitar-type instruments..

 

[MikeMorrell]

“Patience you must have, my young Padawan”
– Yoda

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

The stupid thing is that if I know the tune I can knock it out at the right speed without looking at the music at all as I am pretty good at playing by ear.

Are 'reading music' and 'playing by ear' mutually exclusive?

Someone tell me this gets better, I'm fed up with taking five minutes over a piece of music that should last less than thirty seconds.

 

[Colin the Bear]

@tenorviol The theory of playing bass guitar is really quite simple. Four strings a fourth apart E A D G. There's frets and dots on the neck to make counting intervals more obvious and once you learn a scale pattern it will transpose all over the neck. Your fingers will be more accustomed to scooting about than mine and with your musical knowledge and experience I can't see it being a problem. But then again, I didn't think I would have a problem. It's just a matter of having the time and the application. Neither of which I have at the moment.

 

[Colin the Bear]

BTDTGTT.

Is this one of them WWII codes for censored letters home?

 

[kevgermany]

Been There, Done That, Got The Teeshirt.

 

[Nick Wyver]

Been There, Done That, Got The Teeshirt.

Quite. Along with JFGI.

 

[Jeanette]

Quite. Along with JFGI.

Naughty!

Jx

 

[kevgermany]

IWTYWIMIYBMAD

 

[Jeanette]

IWTYWIMIYBMAD

Jx