Re: Playing by Ear--your instrument as your voice

[Will Vogtman <will_vogtman@xxxxxxxxx>]

This is most certainly a lofty goal.  I imagine it is attainable.  I can't do it yet myself.
If it is a nice predictable melody and I am familiar with it and it is in a friendly scale, I can usually play a vast portion of the melody and cover it with ornaments.  I do this quite often when I "battle" with guitar players.  As for a note-for-note copy?  I need to work it out several times at home--find the right mode/postiion combination, etc.
 
But back to the question of playing by ear.
 
I have my own version of this goal . . .
. . . to be able to play my harp as fluently as I can use my own voice.  I.e., if I can sing it, I can play it.  In that spirit, I figure if I can learn to sight sing, then I can sight read.  Many established programs are out there to teach people to sight sing.  None that I know of exist for diatonic harmonica.  So I figure if I can sight sing and play my instrument as fluently as I use my own voice, I've got it made.
 
I'll let you know how it turns out after the 30 years of practice and study I'll have to do to make this work.  
 
At least I have a plan.
 
Cheers!
Will
 

"d.m.fairweather" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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?




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