RE: Playing by Ear

[tom ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

d. m. fairweather asked:
I have a question for some of the more accomplished players on 
harp-l, both chromatic and diatonic.  If you want to play a melody 
you've never played before, by ear - can you play it mistake-free the 
first time you try?   In one key?  In several keys?  In any key?

I ask because that is my goal.  Let's say the melody is "As Time Goes 
By".  I know perfectly well how that song goes.  But I've never 
attempted it.   I want to be able to pick up my harp and play it 
perfectly the very first time I try, without having any sheet music 
in front of me.   At least in one or two keys, and someday in any key 
or at least the key the song was written in.   Is this a realistic 
goal?
_________
Hi David,
That's a good post and it got me to wondering, so I yanked out a 
diatonic and attempted "As Time Goes By."  Initially I tried it in 
second position -- got about a dozen notes in w/ no errors, but then 
floundered because not all the notes are there (unless one overblows?)

Then I tried it in first position.  All the notes are there that way, 
but I sure as hell couldn't get through it with no errors at all... 
Hmmm...

Then I tried it on guitar, an instrument I've been playing for 42 
years.  Several errors!

How humbling!

Your goal seems like a wonderful goal to me -- not only for diatonic 
and chromatic players, but for all musicians, whatever their 
instruments...

cheers,

Tom Ball