Thoughts on learning repertoire by ear

One of the drawbacks of being a classically trained musician is the inevitable dependence on the printed music. Aside from Jazz, certain elements of Baroque and maybe a little 20th century music, the classical musician very rarely is called on to improvise. Most music is learned by strict adherence to sheet music. The classical musician can take some liberties with tempo, bowings and phrasing but, by and large, the musician has to play what the composer has on the page. In many cases the composer is extremely precise in the notation, indicating volume speed, mood, technique and very exact rhythms.

I was never taught to improvise and, while I would listen to recordings of rep before I learned it, I learned music by reading the notes on the page much like one would read a book.

However, that is not how many people in the world learn music and not how most folk music, of which Irish traditional music is an example, is taught.

In my current fiddle lessons, I find myself often frustrated with the painstakingly slow pace that it takes to learn a song by ear. I want to say, "Just give me the sheet music and I'll go learn it, memorize it and come back next week ready to play." God knows I've done it many times. I've played solo recitals and performed memorized pieces in front of an orchestra. How hard can it be to learn a 32 bar folk song?

But an interesting thing has happened as I have been learning these Irish tunes recently. It has gotten me to think a bit differently about learning and teaching music altogether. I noticed that when I take 1/2 hour in class to learn a song by ear, note by note, measure by measure and phrase by phrase, I certainly know and can retain the song better than when I try to learn it from sheet music. It has to do with how one learns music and illustrates why learning music is different than other subjects (and why I think it is important for kids to learn music)

When one learns a piece it is a combination of intellectual memory, muscle memory and aural skills with the element of time thrown in as well. It's like when you learn a dance. You might think, "O.K. I do this, then this, then two steps here, then that thing when I turn on one foot etc." It's a different type of learning than say figuring out a math problem or doing a science experiment. With learning music aurally, you might think, "O.K. I do this phrase, then this connected note, then it ends here, then this next part is the same except for this thing, then I do the whole section again, then I play this little figure, then I go to the B part etc." That type of learning is an attainable skill that takes practice just like anything else. Some folks are real good at it and can learn very complex things by ear very quickly.

In my own lessons I have actually found this to be a fun intellectual challenge, kind of musical puzzle, and I can already see the time it takes me to memorize things improve.

I'm looking forward to trying this out with my students when I get back. I did a little preview lesson the other day where I tried to teach a couple of boys in my advanced orchestra Off to California. One absolutely refused to do it without the music while the other happily sawed away copying each phrase that I played.

I think that I will have my work cut out for me.

Getting Ready

So in the couple of months since I received the news that my fellowship had been funded by Fund For Teachers I have been working in preparation for my journey. While I have been teaching for almost twenty years, and playing music most of my life, I am quite unfamiliar with traditional Irish music. A major inspiration for my decision to design this particular type of professional development was that I could learn something altogether new, and then immediately share that knowledge with my students. Very often, especially for veteran teachers, there is a disconnect between the students and the teacher-as-student. Simply put, it is easy for teachers to forget what it is like to learn something new, especially in their subject.

To that end, I have started to take Irish fiddle lessons with Matt Brown at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Irish traditional music is, in large part, folk music, not art music. It is music played by people of all experience levels. While performed on stage and in concert halls in some instances, Irish traditional music is most often played socially, in pubs, homes and other gatherings. There are literally thousands of Irish tunes in the lexicon. Most of them are relatively simple to learn (although often very ornate and difficult to play well) and vary greatly by style and region. From what I have come to understand, groups of people who get together in different areas will often draw from a similar repertoire of 20-30 tunes that are common to that region.

I wanted to start to at least learn a couple of Irish tunes before I left so that I could start to try to work on some of the unique technical aspects of Irish music. Of course I can play lots of songs with the sheet music, but they always come out sounding like some classical dude trying to play an Irish melody. Inauthentic to say the least.

I have found my lessons to be very enjoyable. Some of the tunes that I have learned include Connaughtman's Rambles, Off to San Francisco, Mug of Brown Ale, The Silver Spear, Bohola's Jig and Many a Wild Night.

Check out sheet music and videos by clicking on the links or in the margins.

So then I found out that Matt, along with some other teachers from the Irish Music School of Chicago collaborate in coordinating the Irish sessions at Cheif O'Neills pub in Chicago. There are sessions every Tuesday and Sunday which are great. I would recommend it to anyone who plays, or would like to go just to eat and listen to music. It is a family friendly environment. All of the songs that I have learned (and many more) are played in these sessions. I have gone a couple of times and it is a super-friendly vibe. I have not been intimidated to sit in. I only hope that I have the same resolve once I actually get to the Emerald Isle.