Lovely

[losthobos]

A moment that changed me: ‘I threw away the sheet music and all the colour and passion I had for the harp came back to me’

I fell madly in love with the instrument as a child, but my dyslexic brain fought with the way it was taught. For years I struggled - until some advice from my dad set me free

www.theguardian.com

 

[Ffingers]

A moment that changed me: ‘I threw away the sheet music and all the colour and passion I had for the harp came back to me’

I fell madly in love with the instrument as a child, but my dyslexic brain fought with the way it was taught. For years I struggled - until some advice from my dad set me free

www.theguardian.com

...and you don't have to travel far to meet musicians who have successfully found their own courses without the constraints of formal lessons and written theory; likewise true talent wasted because of narrow minded teachers who are unable to accept the principle of "music first, theory next."
Not that the curse of bad teaching is limited to music, it can be found in many other fields of learning, of which mathematics is but one.

 

[Dingo40]

You know the old calumny:
"Those who can: do!
Those who can't: teach!
Those who can't teach: teach teachers!
( Those who can't teach teachers write books on education theory!)

 

[dunlustin]

A very moving account.

As for 'those who can..' there is another group:
Those who "can but can't make a living at it and really resent having to teach to pay the bills."
They probably cause the most damage.

 

[Ffingers]

A very moving account.

As for 'those who can..' there is another group:
Those who "can but can't make a living at it and really resent having to teach to pay the bills."
They probably cause the most damage.

They can be the death of inspiration, as well as not having the capacity for the lateral thinking needed to find a paying job while they pander to their 'muses'.

 

[TomBR]

I enjoyed that Guardian article a few days ago.

I think the crucial thing is that there isn't a "right way" for everybody. Some will take to the "classical" notation-based route and play amazing music, for others, like the harp-player in the article a more informal route is preferable.

Sadly but not surprisingly school education has tended to focus on just the one approach.

"Wrong" is when someone is forced to take the road that's not right for them.

When I was a nipper back in the sixties I was very inspired by a book called "Making Music" by Nicholas Fisk (IIRC.) He said, pick up an instrument and have a try, go where it takes you, but you may find that lessons, or help from someone else, will keep you moving forwward and stop you getting bored with what you can do yourself. Of course now there is limitless inspiration online.

(That's a really sad story about the harp in the article. I remember an American maker saying "There are two sorts of harp makers, those who have had an instrument collapse, and those who are going to!")

 

[jozz]

Coincidentally, I was at a festival yesterday, enjoying a solo harp - when one of our band discussed his sheet music issue. He was convinced he could never play from the heart. I am quite sure anybody can, but quite unsure how to convince him of that. Or how to teach someone in a later stage. All I could think of is: just try.

 

[Ventura]

personally speaking, being unconventional apparently by nature
(adults at the time called it being something else)
may have given me a leg up on memorization

first, the oft mentioned method of hand writing my song assignments out every week
including lining the staffs on plain paper and writing in the lyrics
made me intimately acquainted with each song
(perhaps subconsciously memorizing by familiarity)

second, the oft mentioned fanatical transcribing of popular songs by
Jobim or Walter Wanderly or Rush note by note using a 3" reel to reel
tape recorder (perhaps subconsciously memorizing by familiarity)

and finally, the habit i developed to religiously NOT listen to the radio,
to avoid places with rampant MUZAK, etc.

i am still the only person i know who does not have music playing while driving

UNLESS i programmed it myself for the express purpose of studying the songs,
i simply do not allow myself to casually listen to music that will clutter up my mind

as a result, i literally can practice a song while i mow the lawn or paint the side of my barn
in my HEAD and whistling and singing acapella or just by thinking it through
(musical isometrics)

i managed to focus my brain's subconscious on the songs i wanted to learn and play
so they all simply become a part of me and then naturally were memorized

yes i can play from sheet music and learn songs that way, but to be honest when i DO
find a song that way, i search for the definitive recording and add it to my programming
(hence, Ella singing "a small Hotel" became my guide for that song, just as Baker made me
understand "Funny Valentine")

i don't know if these practices can help anyone else memorize songs, but i think
they worked for me quite well and without me even knowing it

these practices got to the point where i could study a bunch of songs off and on
for literally years and think about them individually from time to time until
finally one day in general practice one would float to the surface and i would
just "have it" accordion focused arrangement chords and all

i guess for me it is a lifestyle

and i do get the hits.. i just get them from friends and other sources rather than
randomly on the radio when they are recommended to me

so a teenage Goth turns me on at age 60 to Evanescence and i learn a couple
of their songs that appeal to me same way some girlfriend 50 years ago cried
over "Wildfire" (so of course i learned it)

and i refuse to allow some pop commercial jingle to take up residence in my head..
anytime some spurious waste of notes makes it past my natural defense i kick
my brain into some instantly overpowering memory of a Led Zepplin tune to drown
out the noise

my excuse has always been that natural Memory is a finite and precious commodity,
and i can't afford to waste any of mine on bad songs

 

[Ffingers]

i am still the only person i know who does not have music playing while driving

I cannot bear to have music on while driving.
I like to listen to music, giving it my full attention.
I can't do that and attend to the myriad of things which need to be considered in the process of controlling a motor vehicle, especially when there are others on the road who seem to have their heards in the clouds or any place other than in the process of guiding a couple of tons of metal and plastic weaponry.

 

[Ventura]

I cannot bear to have music on while driving.
I like to listen to music, giving it my full attention.
I can't do that and attend to the myriad of things which need to be considered in the process of controlling a motor vehicle, especially when there are others on the road who seem to have their heards in the clouds or any place other than in the process of guiding a couple of tons of metal and plastic weaponry.

hehehe

i am not alone anymore !

and of course it is worse nowadays.. they have earbuds in listening intently to
God knows what while driving and so cannot even hear traffic noise around them
THAT MAY SAVE THEIR LIFE if they could react in time