David Creese of the University of Newcastle plays an ancient Greek song taken from stone inscriptions constructed on an eight-string "canon" (a zither-like instrument) with movable bridges. (Audio file is ©BBC)

What Ancient Greek Music Sounded Like

From the time I began playing music until about a year ago I believed that I was incapable of playing by ear. This assumption had been drawn as I believed 'playing by ear' meant 'the ability to play something perfectly on first exposure'. Naturally I tried a few times, failed and gave up. This rapidly became a limiting choice, especially in the aural traditional music world I'm involved with.

I began to reassess this assumption about a year ago, after sitting in with the fiddle teacher at my local Comhaltas group. He is an exceptionally good player, who both learned new tunes and taught by ear. I only had limited exposure to his teaching, as he returned to Ireland not long after I joined the group. However in this limited time I did gain insight into how to approach learning to play by ear, and my ability to do so has improved considerably.

His teaching method was very simple. He would play a tune slowly, one bar at a time and each bar was repeated multiple times. The first time you just listened, then you try to play over it. The first attempt was generally a mess, but with successive iterations I gradually got it. The first times I joined, I struggled and only got a hand full of notes, but after successive weeks it gradually got easier. 

This works because the learning process is broken into easy to manage chunks. Attempting to learn a whole tune with no prior experience generally leads to an information overload. But playing one bar at a time, with each having only a hand full of notes, allows you the time to work out and hear what is going on.

The ocarina is not the easiest instrument to play by ear, especially if you are trying to play an arbitrary piece of music. This is especially true of single chambers as the limited range often means that you are trying to play something in an awkward key, or which goes out of range, not an easy way to begin.

Because of this I have created an audio exercise to demonstrate the technique. It uses the A part of a simple Irish tune and is played on an alto C ocarina, using no accidentals or sub hole notes.

The exercise is structured into 4 sections:

1: In the first section the beginning note of the tune is played as a long tone.

2: Each bar of the tune is played slowly 3 times over, leaving a gap in which you may attempt to repeat the notes.

3: The tune is played through without gaps twice.

4: The tune is played faster with some styling and ornamentation.

Playing By Ear Exercise for AC Ocarina

The Clock

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「 So That Others May Live 」
⎡ 140 bpm, D♯ Major
⎣ 2018 JAN 19

「 Sample from Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman (A Capella) 」
⎡ Nothin’ to prove and
⎢ I’m bulletproof and
⎢ Know what I’m doing
⎢ The way we’re moving
⎢ Like introducing
⎢ Us to a new thing
⎢ I wanna savor
⎢ Save it for later
⎢ The taste, the flavor
⎢ 'Cuz I’m a taker
⎢ 'Cuz I’m a giver
⎢ It’s only nature
⎣ I live for danger

「 Verse 」
⎡ She held me in her arms, with all that she had to face
⎢ To give up now, we’re going to need a saving grace
⎢ We’re defeated by a hopeless state, a hopeless fate
⎣ If we were to live it would have to be by faith

「 Verse 」
⎡ She held me in her arms, with all that she had to face
⎢ And with each breath we tried to save another day
⎢ Wanting salvation while we would walk away
⎣ Dying for just one more, for just one more day

「 Chorus 」
⎡ Still the danger in our veins, should it stay the same
⎢ Breathing you in, no pain no gain, just more of the same
⎢ I’m standing outside in the rain, calling out your name
⎣ As I watch you get high through the window pane

「 Sample from Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman (A Capella) 」
⎡ Nothin’ to prove and
⎢ I’m bulletproof and
⎢ Know what I’m doing
⎢ The way we’re moving
⎢ Like introducing
⎢ Us to a new thing
⎢ I wanna savor
⎢ Save it for later
⎢ The taste, the flavor
⎢ 'Cuz I’m a taker
⎢ 'Cuz I’m a giver
⎢ It’s only nature
⎢ I live for danger
⎢
⎢ 'Cuz I’m a giver
⎢ It’s only nature
⎢ I live for danger
⎢
⎢ 'Cuz I’m a giver
⎢ It’s only nature
⎢ I live for danger
⎢
⎢ I live for danger
⎢ I live for danger
⎢ I live for danger
⎢ I live for danger
⎢
⎢ Danger
⎢ Danger
⎣ Danger

「 Chorus 」
⎡ Still the danger in our veins, should it stay the same
⎢ Breathing you in, no pain no gain, just more of the same
⎢ I’m standing outside in the rain, calling out your name
⎢ As I watch you get high through the window pane
⎢
⎣ As I watch you die

「 Outro 」
⎡ Still the danger in our veins 『Danger』, should it stay the same
⎢ Breathing you in, no pain no gain 『Danger』, just more of the same
⎢ I’m standing outside in the rain 『Danger』, calling out your name
⎣ As I watch you die 『Danger』

The Clock

Angela Weddle

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