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Learing to play Irish fiddle by "ear"

 
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Karrie
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Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 5
Location: Massachusetts

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 12:34 pm    Post subject: Learing to play Irish fiddle by "ear" Reply with quote

I am a newbie and loving my new violin that I bought to learn Irish fiddle music but am curious about what people mean when they say that Irish fiddle music tends to be taught and learned by ear? I've had a couple of lessons and my instructor said she teaches both sheet music and by ear so we havent come anywhere near that yet, we're just concentrating on the extreme basics so far.
By ear- does that mean that an instructor repeats a few measures over and over again while you watch the finger placement on certain strings? For the life of me, I am wondering if I can succeed with this since I learned piano a million years ago by sheet music only. I'm not tone deaf, just curious about making the transistion to learning and memorizing tunes without sheet music.
If you have learned or are learning by ear, how is this happening? Thanks all!
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caeman
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Joined: 11 Dec 2008
Posts: 143

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Learning by ear means to listen to the music, then figure out that way. When you hear a note, you try to find it on the fingerboard. Repeat until you know the whole song.

It helps to already have an idea where D, E, F#, G, A, B and C# are for the vast majority of irish trad written in D major.
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Karrie
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Joined: 27 Jul 2009
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Location: Massachusetts

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Caeman, but I don't know, sounds like something's missing here. When people take lessons with an instructor, isn't the instructor pointing the notes on the fiddle first? I'm not talking about trying this on my own but with an instructor. I see people at sessions with their tape recorders going so I assume you need to listen to tunes over and over again but there must be some method to this other than just picking away until you hit one note, then another. I know I'm brand new but is there so much repetition that there are only so many notes to find each time? I'm having a hard time imagining this as a "method".
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caeman
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Posts: 143

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Experience makes the task easier over time.
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Amalia
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Joined: 05 Apr 2007
Posts: 129

PostPosted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Obviously it helps to have a rudimentary understanding of what how many fingers to place on each string and what the best way to place them down might be, but vioins don't have "keys" like the piano does. When learning to play by ear, I believe that it is optimal to learn to reach for the "sound" rather than aim at a "spot" on the finger board. Trust me, after just a little practice, your brain with make the adjustment and begin guiding you just as your brain guides your voice when you sing. The key to this is learning to "listen", and especially to learn to listen to the "intervals" (distance between notes), rather than just the note itself.
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jethro
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Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 178

PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:56 am    Post subject: music by ear Reply with quote

Karrie:
I have been doing "ear" learning as well as lessons. I find most of the CD's have the violin sound cluttered up too much by other instruments.
I found a scottish player whose pices are not cluttered up , but are VERY
clear and crisp and you can hear EVERY nuance. His namd is Alasdair Fraser. Most of his disks have about half very slow ones and half
fairly fast. (not as fast a many Irish) Test listen and see what you think.
Then just try to find his notes and slowly bend in !

Let us know what you think of his buautiful playing !

Tim
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Karrie
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Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 5
Location: Massachusetts

PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:05 am    Post subject: Learing to play by ear Reply with quote

Thanks Jethro and others, I will check out that CD. In the meantime, I just found a local teacher who teaches by ear and we had one great lesson so I'm on my way. Sheet music with my first teacher was great also but those lessons aren't available again for a while so I'm happy to be making the transistion to ear!
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John Cadd
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Posts: 819
Location: Hoylake

PostPosted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Karrie I borrowed some Irish Fiddle tune books at the library.The best one had masses of tunes and most only half a page long ,but you can keep repeating so that`s great. I had only played formal violin music but once I learned that very Irish sounding "hiccup" trill sound it was magic. It is not really a trill ,and there`s a thing with the bow that gives a kick too. It`s very good for getting a quick loose wrist.
Somebody asked Ruggiero Ricci how he learned all the Paganini music by heart and he said it was just repeating so often it stays there.
No method. Listen to some on u tube.After a while you feel a bit schizophrenic to be changing music style so easily.
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