THEORETICALLY SPEAKING: v= Learning tunes by ear — part one INCE starting piano lenions at the Atany ofthee evens there willofien beat o.each music by ea at leat at che begining age of sx (now 38 years ago), Thave lstone piper present who sew mlearsing of a wesching sso, eajoyed and been challenged by a tunes by car and who may be wb infmie Yow can imagine. then, the debates which decades long stretch of both leaming and dated bythe mee though of. abo know of is pelle, luming a wun fom shee music teaching music in one-on-one, amallgroup —anumberofpiper who havecptedoucof these ot leaning i by eat? On the one hand, beet ‘workshop and clasioom settings. Most of workshops sltogsther de to thei discomfort mse provides» hexp of cuca infrmtion this music has been learned and taught on withlcaningunesbyear Someharessidout- almost instantly: the mete orsimesignatre, various Scouish-stye bagpipes (including sight thurifthesheet mosicuntavalbbearihe the specie melodie mows wo be played, dhe the practice chante) and whivle, bat an beginsingoftheworkshop orevens few wees specific giace-astes co be phived, che basic rfl lot of music in my life has also been cheadoftime,cheywllnotatend. ThistypeoF —_thythm all of those notes requ important shared via other fll and orchestral iastra- —ulmaum is unnecesary and pusinseructoms beat groupings visually obvious melodic par ‘ems and eves singing. inabind,foreven if they prefer caching with tems apse rus and apeggios), aniculaion, ‘Mochi smdicharvasy bees tahini: dhe aidfdhcet muni, what happens the tunes pining, whether or not ta eepest certain ted both surly and with aid of writen shest they hase photocopied in advance te aody sections. whether or not there are second ‘music sometimes combination ofthe two. known by enc or sve of the workshop at- endings, and if you have some music theory Nosmallanouneofeorchusbeenspent trying wenden? In such ascenria its aly pole background, what ey dhe tunes in, Allofhat tobccomecqully able plyingfom rite to find a newtownerybady tune and mike ilormation elective syablestoncetoche ‘musicand plying byearandbecauscbothap-_photocopiesinaninsant. Thisisbutone alder of the dot. From tht Foundston it proaches have been futln my caces Lam any instore ar prefeing ety amet epi you fesociighy boraing » sities balance i ue among my tients ‘Thus, many ofthe piping workshops Ive ‘ght have boon moze focused on aching pipes tuner yey, with sheet nic p= YAEL othe ered ofthe workshop or fferthe ent isishes, Tae th ings have included Caedas The Verrione Wellowspipe School the Upper Potomac Pipers ‘Weekend, The Gathering PEI Fide Camp, Maine Pipes & Fil, and the Spanish Peaks Piping Retest, sey ols iac eading snusic in determining how quickly and accurately you absor the new tune, Tes ‘xy 0 make che assumption chen, that, when ‘compet eaming hy er, mone nes an be “Tarn ina imied amount of tine, (Catered jeopient af eaing by eit Ihave some very srongarguments on thir side “The Getic thar yriten uni dower ever ely tal the whole tor tn our carent system of ‘musical noon, dere ate many subdeiesthat cant be caly conveyed, iat all, Forexample, when hs any writen picbuiteachd conveyed cst what sto he played inter of rte duration, grace note hythin and phrasing? “When hve you ecrser notation hat inles precise symbology fr giving a dance rune the metic eving? When have you men rnottion that instrcts how est ine your canter 2 given key, or what harmosics your tones should be emphasising? Does anyone teadng this believe that they play every note ina taoruath with the prvite rhythm that's orsted in standard bagpipe music notation? Leaminga tinchy car then, forces the msn epeately to the new musi, which can oen lend quicker meoarntion a le ectn- cal, more musical plying, I abo provides a shill hat enables player so quickly hear and seapeto new versions and vation in eet oti he sing of «pul seas, foe rape Another compelling argument from the by car roponentsin tha isin eur ery etree learn msc—a Tanga’ hy ear. atevidenced bythe fcc eharevety human nor born defas Jeane thi ative tongue and thei is 20mg by ear long before euning the written vesocs, (ls many css, historically at let, writen versions may not have ever exis) ‘When aka whether I think ies beter co Jena fom shect mui or by car -an ozeion hich, adie, x not fen — 1 have ber rowed from a quote by C. 8, Lewis “Is Tike] asking which blade in pu af cost moet recessary” Te been mosh sated with that answer, believing cha bck opions have their meron daadantages, ad that complete ‘musician shouldbe equlyprofcent t boc. Bat mont cel ny thinking this tp ‘become ls sted, a Ive been fling with, the pesto that when ‘ny of us plays en MnGxiliae tne from sheet mv ic, on even if we hea the tune in our head spl by just looking a the nin eight in Et sts eng by ens “The chest musi sus differsne veil for sting the melody into our beads. But chen there are ell the problems of only hesting youre pla the rune, of not heating someone bec than you play it, and of not hearing all the muanen that et be notated — thew lent insperepible details which can tally ring, the tune co fe. This is of greatest concern in mgr to novice and intermediate players, thay che bet scenario for leatg ew fauna lemma or wekabop sing with an insur plying and weeching ou the tune ‘bye In this cate yo will be able see ‘which precise notes and grace note ane bing played, simply by watching your instructors fingers: Inthat wax. its nots diferent fom learning fom sheet music except you arebeae- inganexper'vesion as you ae watching too. Teould goat eng on the sbeet musi vers car delate, hut wll instead oer this mena reading sheet musicand lesening by ear areborh ‘able sill, both are sil thar anys wih functioning ess and es can cuir. end both ate ll that noe regular practice in oder vo ‘beef Inthe next ins of Papin Tada wl loot a tine oF pe id getione it learning by ax. Inthe meantime T encourage you toliaen wo pipers who playing you mos. ‘simire Spend sometime listening spy and analysing what most compelling about thee plying, @ oN