learning to play the accordion by ear

[dan]

I'm one of those that can ''read the dots if they already know the tune." Which is to say that the link between my ears and the keys is faster than the link between my eyes and the keys. That's a matter of practice--on the oboe, where I did a lot of sight-reading, those pathways are about equal. I play regularly in a gypsy swing group. I used to think improvisation was pretty much the same skill as playing by ear but it ain't necessarily so: as I often demonstrate, it is possible to shred on a solo only to fall flat on one's face when asked to play the tune. When it comes to learning those tunes (the "head" in jazz parlance), I can and have gone either way--fakebook or ear.

Sometimes when I try to play by ear I blunder through it, playing ten times as many wrong notes as right. Other times I have what a friend called "copy fingers," able to mimic short phrases on the first try. I suspect the difference is preparation--warming up with scales to find the notes that will likely be employed--and really knowing the song--so that the blurs of notes in a fast reel can actually be hummed individually.

My current (overly-ambitious) project is to learn Swing Valse by Gus Viseur on CBA. This is a tune with many variations, and I've noticed myself struggling with the sheet music in places where it differs from the recording I know best. This may be a good tune to learn primarily by ear, with some aid from sheet music if I get stuck and maybe some of the embellishment improvised. Any tips?

 

[dunlustin]

Just a thought:
Emil Vacher is said to have been unable to write down his tunes, relying on a friend to get them copyrighted.
Are tunes more likely to be "ear friendly" if composed by someone who doesn`t read music
If so, are there any other well known ear composers...
(Now that`s weird - can`t do question marks ÉÉ)

 

[george garside]

To play a tune by ear it first has to be stored in the memory! An accurate test of this is to be able to hum or whistle the tune. Otherwise you may be able to play bits here and there but not the bits in between. However , whereas a dot reader naturally learns/plays a tune starting from the beginning a by ear player may well start by playing a few bars or phrases from different places in the tune i.e. the bits that can be hummed and whistled. It is then down to some serious 'listening' to fill the gaps or maybe playing them very slowly note by note from the dots which many 'non readers' can manage.

As to 'by ear' composers there must be plenty of them. A notable example was Sir Jimmy Shand who composed over 200 tunes during his 50+ year recording career. There are two books of his original tunes available from'' Muchty Music'' the Shand family website and several CD's taken from the original masters. Other CD's and indeed original 78's come up on ebay regularly. Incidentally he once said that he could read the music for any tune he already knew!

george

 

[JeffJetton]

Are tunes more likely to be ear friendly if composed by someone who doesn`t read music
If so, are there any other well known ear composers...

Paul McCartney supposedly never learned to read music. Cant get much more ear-friendly than him.

 

[JeffJetton]

To play a tune by ear it first has to be stored in the memory!

Although I have learned some tunes initially by picking them out by ear and putting them down in notation. Transcribing, that is. That's using the ol' ears, but only to figure it out. Remembering what I figured out, well, the dots are quite helpful there!

So I guess that's "learning by ear", but not really "playing by ear"?

 

[george garside]

learning how to play the instrument is vitally important to both 'earists' and 'dotists' so as to be able to easily get the box to play what is in the memory or on the sheet of paper !

Instrumental skills need to be well honed by regular scale practice ( 12 scales) developing fine bellows control, a light touch on the bass etc etc if what is in the head is going to sound half decent. In other words you think/remember up 3 notes down 2 up 4 down etc etc and the fingers do the business without conscious thought as to where to what to prod next. Similarly the left arm presses or pulls the bellwos gently or a bit harder to control the dynamics . etc etc etc.

In respect of instrumental skill there should be absolutely no difference between good 'earists' , good 'dotists' and good 'bit of bothists'

george

 

[donn]

To play a tune by ear it first has to be stored in the memory!

Although I have learned some tunes initially by picking them out by ear and putting them down in notation. Transcribing, that is. That's using the ol' ears, but only to figure it out. Remembering what I figured out, well, the dots are quite helpful there!

So I guess that's "learning by ear", but not really "playing by ear"?

I do that, but I can't really read music. I mean, not on the accordion - musical notation I understand, of course, and I can easily read if playing saxophone for example, but haven't had much motivation to learn how to do that with the accordion. I write the notes out because it sure does serve as an aide to memory, both short and long term. Short term, I can puzzle out the notes measure by measure onto the page where I can see them, and then when I learn to actually play the tune, it's there for reference. Long term, if I've forgotten the tune, I don't have to start over from the beginning. I'm probably repeating myself, here, in this apparently perpetual thread. Anyway, it is sort of learning by ear, but not entirely.

 

[dan]

So I guess thats learning by ear, but not really playing by ear?

I like the formulation offered by George at the beginning of the thread. Playing by ear = learning by ear + playing from memory
A skilled sight-reader (like Franz Liszt) and a skilled earist (like Jimmy Shand) represent only two of four skill combinations. One can also learn by ear but play from transcriptions, or learn from sheet music and perform from memory. And theres some overlap: a good reader will need to incorporate nuances of rhythm, intonation, and phrasing that can only be learned by ear from exposure to that style of music.

When Ive had trouble playing something by ear, sometimes the bottleneck was at my ears and could be solved by more listening, other times the bottleneck was at my fingers and required scale drills, slow practice, alternate fingerings.

 

[george garside]

Playing by ear - Some introductory 'pointers' (in no particular order)

1. The term 'playing by ear' is the everyday term for ''Learning a tune by ear and playing it from memory''. It is therefore quite logical that before attempting to play a tune you must be able to hum, whistle or sing it! It is also logical to start with tunes that are already stored in the head rather than trying to learn a new tune to play. i.e. separate the process of learning a tune (memory) and playing it (instrumental technique).

2. Those completely unfamiliar with the piano keyboard will need a keyboard chart ( off the internet or any piano or accordion tutor book) . Those unfamiliar with accordion bass layout will need to download a bass chart from the internet. Those who have not 'put on' an accordion before will benefit from advice on how to adjust straps use air button, control bellows etc etc. This forum is there to answer such questions so feel free to ask!

3. Don't worry about playing a tune in a particular key. Instead concentrate on learning the scale of C and using it initialy for all tunes. Anybody already playing the accordion from the dots but wishing , additionaly,to learn to play by ear will of course be able to use a veriety of keys and should of course do so.

4. We now come to a fundamental difference between learning to play from the dots and learning to play by ear. If reading the dots you will quite rightly start a tune at the beginning - where else!. If learning 'by ear' you can start anywhere in the tune i.e. play the bits that are going round in you head i.e. little jingles. you can then gradually build up the tune rather like adding pieces to a jigsaw. Also don't worry too much about making mistakes, just keep going as far as you can and skim over your mistakes (they can be rectified later)

This technique of learning a tune piecemeal is used in folk musicians sessions where it is customery for a tune to be played at least three times through. Those who don't know the tune may pick up the odd note first time through, a few more second time through and maybe some decent chunks third time through. Next time they come across 'that ' tune being played they have a good start and my even have found it on a CD and had a good listen and play at home!

5. ''Poking and Proding''. A great many tunes use a relatively small number of different notes and the next note is often not far away from the one before so to speak. Many tunes also start on the 'keynote' eg the note C if playing in the key of C. So try a simple little tune eg the saints go marching in. It starts on the keynote i.e. C so play C, then try to find the next note by pocking and prodding. (its next but one higher i.e E) then prod out the rest of the notes .

That's enough for now as I am not going to attempt to write a tutor book ( my melodeon tutor book took 2 years to get right) . I will however return shortly with a simple explanation of how the bass works and one or two other matters.

Don't put the box away, keep it somewhere handy and get into the habit of picking it up a few times a day if only for 5 or 10 minutes. This is much more useful than setting aside an hour on Sunday . Something will crop up to prevent it and the same may happen the week after and then the box is left to fester in a cupboard!

Listen, experiment and poke and prod

george

 

[donn]

Some people who are better musicians than I am, think it's easiest to learn a tune starting at the end and working back. Or near the end, of course. A bit you can reasonably manage in one go, and then learn the bit before that and put them together, etc. Can't say I've ever tried it myself, but they were pretty positive.

 

[Waldo]

Having just read the whole thread, I wholly concur with everything George G and Dave Church said. If you want to learn by ear, re-read repetedly. I have been using most of the techniques mentioned [completely thru discovery] and find them to be effective. While it is probably impossible to know for sure, I believe it is a better approach, for a begining player, to start playing "by ear". My reasoning is that it is the "hunting and pecking" that results in an "ear player". Learning from the dots presents a structured approach vs. an intuitive approach. While either is fine, a dotist, is faced with having to regress to a beginners level in order to learn the skills missed by the structured approach. The earist, by comparison, need not regress, but only learn a new skill [reading the dots]. I'm working on both, with an emphasis on the ear.
I have been at it for a year now, and after having learned 30-40 songs, while fun, I am taking a voluntary step backwards and ignoring them in favor of LOTS more scales and chord form practice. I agree with GG when he harps on "learn your instrument". I have discovered this importance. Time well spent!
Waldo

 

[george garside]

Good to hear you are 'stepping back' after ''learning '' 30 tunes in a year to put more effort into practicing scales etc on a regular basis. I would also recommend that you revisit the tunes one at a time, listening carefuly to how they sound when you play them and what needs doing to 'improve' them.

Learning that many tunes by ear in a year is likely to have resulted in some cases in just playing the right notes in the right order sort of thing, When you revisit a tune you need to concentrate on improving the dynamics and phrasing - (volume changes and punctuation) remembering that the dynamics are entirely down to fine bellows control and that phrasing is breaking a tune into 'chunks' rather like sentences and paragraphs when reading the written word, or to put it another way 'playing the gaps'

hope this helps
george

 

[Waldo]

Thank you so much for the response, George. This is just the kind of info I don't get, lackng a tutor. You are correct on your assumptions. Sometimes a "song" is really just the melody line (or less). I have been revisiting my tune list when I get bored of the scale thing, and discover I am much more precise on the buttons and able to improvise better.
Which brings up a question......How does "improvisation" fit into the "by ear system"? I'm thinkin' "by ear" would be a requsite for good improvisation.
Probably, a defination of "improvisation" is in order. I have heard the term used in conjunction with "modern Jazz" compositions [much to the dismay of some musicians], but for me, it means the ability to "compose" fills and neat little ditties on the fly. Stuff that may not be in the composition, but brings a great feel to the tune. Scroll down page to "High flying polka licks and fills" for an example. Dangast was asking "how to", I'm seeking a connection to "by ear" [and therefore, the "how to"].
I have been downloading tunes into Garageband, isolating fills/ditties, and then learning them. However, I find that approach less than satisfying, and definitely not improvisation. I do find that when doing my scale exercises [I range all over the keyboard, within the key], a neat melody or riff will emerge. When this happens, I go back and replicate it a bunch of times, and then promptly forget it (go figure).
Perhaps there is no roadmap to improvisation skill beyond learning to play the instrument.
Whatda'ya'all think?

Moderator: This deviation (although closely related, I think) from the topic "By ear", may better be served by a new thread. I don't know. Feel free to move it.

 

[Phil]

I can't even play it with my fingers yet {}

 

[george garside]

I dislike the term 'improvisation' and much prefer the term ''arrangement''. There are many recorded tunes with the name of the tune followed by ''arrangement (by whoever)'' and the same goes for the dots.

perhaps the term improvisation should be restricted to a stickly one off addition/alteration to a tune.

Also it has often been said that '' if you make the same mistake three times it becomes a new arrangement!

george

 

[rancoman]

I hereby move that we have a new thread on ear playing :b

As a completely incompetent sight reader, everything I do is by ear, and over the years I am well aware that I have picked up, not only new tunes, but tricks. By tricks, I mean the little things that make me sound better when I play, or make the tunes sound better, I'm not sure which.

Little things that might not be written down anywhere, like the importance of a confident-sounding start and end to a tune or set. Even if the bit in the middle is not as good as we would like, it's amazing the difference TO LISTENERS it makes if you start and finish crisply.

Things like HOW to do these little grace notes and the famous 'dunt' we have been talking about on here (my fault!)and so on. Even little things like how to play the start and end chord in Scottish music to make your accordion sound like a button accordion when it isn't. That one, for example, is easy to explain, but I've never seen it written down, and it DOES make a difference.

When a button accordion plays that 'crashing chord' (someone is gonna get a slap for that!), it has to play the chord entirely on the pull of the bellows or the push. Because of the way the buttons are arranged, it's not always possible to use the four note arpeggio (doh, me, soh, doh) as some of the notes are on the opposite movement of the bellows.

So, they use only the available notes. In G, they have to use G, B and high G, or doh, me. doh, as the 'soh' (D) is only available by pulling the bellows, whereas the other three can all be obtained together on the 'push'.

That produces a slightly different sound, and really does give a slight 'button accordion' flavour - if that's what you want to achieve.

There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of little tips and tricks like that, known to the more experienced forum members who play by ear, and I, for one, would love to be able to pass on the ones I know, such as they are.

I'm sure other old hands would love to do the same - we all love being able to 'pass it on' and in a separate thread we could do it without boring the pants off others who have different interests.

I've been watching the thread about Scottish tuning and sitting on my hands to stop posting, but I can feel it all welling up inside, and soon I'll give in and do a HUUUUGE posting about it.

PS. On the crashing chord (I was joking about the slap), it's a relatively new development and there are two theories:

Firstly, it's the legal warning to innocent bystanders that Scottish dancing or morris dancing is about to be perpetrated, to give them time to get clear.

Secondly (and more seriously!) it only really dates from the founding of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, although that is a long time ago now. They made Scottish country dancing into a more formal process, and as part of that formality, the dancers bow to one another before and after the dance - the chord is to allow them to do that to music and give them the nod that the dance is about to start.

In one or two specific dances, such as the strathspey 'The Glasgow Highlanders', the dancers bow twice - once to their partner opposite and once to the person next to them in the lineup, so the dance begins with two chords. That's a LOT of crashing, but it had a purpose.

In less formal dancing, such as barn dances, which are much more common, the chord gives the dances the tip that the dance is going to start NOW so they are ready, but in some cases a four bar introduction might be used - that fulfils the same purpose - to let the dancers know to get ready, and what the timing is going to be.

AND, for those who don't already know, the little introduction to a tune to give a nice start is usually just the last four bars of the tune.

Roll up, roll up, get your free tips here! {}

 

[JEBrown]

Firstly, its the legal warning to innocent bystanders that Scottish dancing or morris dancing is about to be perpetrated, to give them time to get clear.

That made me spit my coffee out! :lol:

My band always plays a single chord before each dance, then the lead fiddler stamps 2 beats to give the tempo and off we go. Before I joined they tried playing 4-bar introductions but unless dancers are experienced this caused more confusion than anything else.

And we play a big chord at the end as well, more as a handbrake to get the dancers to stop. Usually they just want to carry on (unless weve played the double-length Orcadian Strip the Willow in which case they are ready to fall over).

I like the pointers on which notes to play in the chord - Id never even thought of that. Im entirely self-taught on the accordion, and the teachers around me are not going to be experts in Scottish / English dance music anyway (I keep meaning to have a few lessons just to correct my worst, most basic errors). So I have been watching a lot of videos on YouTube to get ideas, and these discussions of dunt, chords, bellows technique, etc. have been really helpful.

 

[maugein96]

Best little trick I learned was to put my box away and listen to those who can actually play well enough to merit an audience!

I do prefer to try and learn tunes by ear if I can, but as I got a wee bit better at the playing I found that my ears were better at keeping my specs on than they were at picking up the nuances of the more technical stuff.

I had to teach myself to play so was obliged to get involved with the wee dots and lines again. I had received formal training on the trumpet at school, but gave it up by mutual consent with the teacher, who advised me I could never play in the school orchestra, as I invented my own variations and upped the tempo as I progressed. He advised me to find a jazz band, but Lanarkshire wasn't exactly full of those in the 60s, and Kenny Ball didn't want me to show him up on the stage!

When I finally got round to playing the box I was in my 30s and my head was full of bits and pieces of disjointed music from other instruments I played, same as it is now.

As a result of my preference to play by ear, I can play a whole host of the first bits of tunes rather well, but quite often cannot be bothered to work out a whole tune. I then have to consider whether it is worth getting the music score, and usually it isn't.

I for one would be very interested in any tips that were up for grabs, and am looking forward to hearing your take on Scottish tuning. I have probably reneged on at least a dozen CBA boxes over the years, simply because they were Scottish tuned.

When I bought my first box in Scotland (sorry, when I was SOLD my first box) it was thrashed into me that it didn't matter what type of musette tuning you had, it was the music that you played. Scottish tuning was deemed to be suitable for any musette style, and sooner or later I'd start playing Scottish music anyway. As a brand new player I actually swallowed that, but after less than a year with the Guerrini Scottish tuned box concerned I wish I hadn't swallowed it.

When all is said and done, considering I never really made much of a player anyway, it wouldn't have mattered if I'd bought a 6 row Balkan Star or a melodeon. Like most third and fourth rate players I brainwashed myself into thinking that I would need such and such an instrument if I wanted to sound good, and went down the road of trying to find the perfect accordion. Eventually, the penny finally dropped that I was never going to make an accordionist in my life, as I had started too late, and now content myself to mainly listen. I do still have odd days here and there when I take out an instrument and pretend that I can play it. Part of my problem is I started playing guitar as a young kid, and I'm far better at that than I am on the accordion.

I listen to lots of different styles, but I've never really been able to commit myself to the Scottish accordion scene. It's just not my bag.

 

[george garside]

Firstly, its the legal warning to innocent bystanders that Scottish dancing or morris dancing is about to be perpetrated, to give them time to get clear.

havnt come across the intro chord in morris dancing. We relied on two bangs on the big drum as an early warning. With English ceilidhs/country dances it is more usual for the band to just start playing whereupon the dancers wake up and do a sort of quick move to catch up with the band! When I have used the intro chord it has had no effect as the buggers dont realise its the starting signal!
george :evil: </QUOTE>

 

[Waldo]

Sorry, Im a yank, just what is a dunt? Ive seen it mentioned in the forum. Is it applicable to music?

AND, for those who dont already know, the little introduction to a tune to give a nice start is usually just the last four bars of the tune [another fine example of what Im referring to.]

Didnt know that, Ill give it a try.

Maugein96 suggests listening to other artists, the most obvious of suggestions, except I cant figure out what they are doing, especially the good [read fast] ones.
Example: Check out Andrej between 1:10 and 1:30 and tell me where hes going. I cant even see his fingers at some points. <<YOUTUBE id=AeUrxLRDZGw url=>></YOUTUBE>
Im not looking for a recommendation to buy the printed music, more so, how the heck does he do that? It appears that he is just stroking across the keyboard, like a glissando. Theres gotta be some technique in there. BTY; hes playing a custom Beltuna chromatic CBA in C. (I love that tune).

Ill start a new thread on Improvisation

WW