Playing the violin by ear

June 20, 2010 at 03:03 PM ·

 If you want to play by ear you must be able to play scales in all positions on the violin. Then you must know the melody so well that you can whistle it. After that it is only a case of finding the notes on the violin. 

If you want to improvise you will need a deeper understanding of chord progression and chord structure. This comes with training unless you are very gifted.

June 20, 2010 at 03:23 PM ·

I'm not sure that I agree about playing scales in all positions in order to "play by ear" (I'm speaking in terms of relatively simple tunes).  I've just begun violin lessons.  I'm currently learning to play the G, D and A major scales in first position (4th finger on the descending scales has been giving me fits!).  Prior to starting the lessons, I was playing pieces (folk songs, melodic themes from some classical pieces) by ear.  Good technique wasn't always in the picture, but my fingers just seemed to know pretty much where to go.  The melodies were recognizeable right from the start (with some "clinkers" here and there), and then perfected with practice.  Unless "playing by ear" is being defined as flawless execution of complicated pieces right fromt the get-go, I think a good ear and familiarity with your instrument are the top requirements. 

June 20, 2010 at 05:58 PM ·

Playing by ear is just working things out by listening to them, rather than reading them.

Much as I am an advocate of plenty of scale work, you don't need to be able to play them all in loads of positions etc.

You do, however, need to be able to judge interval size and direction. Copying what you whistle or sing is good practice, as is playing tunes with one finger first, then finding the noites with more fingers.

As for needing training to play over changes, most jazzers until the last thirty years did not study jazz formally, and very many now are mainly self-taught

gc

June 20, 2010 at 08:12 PM ·

William,

Let me see if I understand your problem.  It sounds like you learned to play from sheet music - probably in 1st position, and maybe some in 3rd position.  You're now having difficulties playing in several positions from memory, and you revert back to 'correct' positions, which are just the position(s) that you first learned.  There are no 'correct' positions.  This is a common stumbling block.  But playing in several positions has value because some passages are difficult in, say 1st position, but pretty easy in some other position, say 2d position.  This is true in classical pieces, and really true in improvisation because some chords/scales are much easier to navigate in 2d or 3d position, and when its easy, your mind can think about something else to improve the musical delivery.

There is really no substitute for practice on this ability.  It does get easier the more you do it, but it takes time to build the mental flexibility and comfort level.  You might want to try my exercise book, Arpeggios, Rhythms and Scales , which has several fingerings written out for each scale and 7th arpeggio in all 12 keys.  It may help you to see it 'on paper' to get started.  Eventually, as you get comfortable with multiple positions, you can memorize the arpeggios and scales.  You'll then find that its much easier to memorize bits of music in multiple positions.

June 20, 2010 at 08:17 PM ·

it seems to me that when William says he has to put this finger here and that finger there, it may be a problem with judgeing interval size and direction as Graham says. But wouldn't that be a "part of" knowing your scales? If you skip a note or 2 in the scale, then you're judgeing interval size, yes? But knowing the scale would be an essential foundation imo.

I don't venture too far out of the first position, but I am into a fair number of different scale types & modes. Would you like to be able to improvise, learn tunes, or a bit of both?

PS. Mike's post just got in ahead of me. I received a copy of his book a couple of weeks ago.

June 20, 2010 at 08:38 PM ·

hang on a sec, to say I don't venture out of the first position is not true. I know where my major scale patterns are right up the finger board. But then I just transfer them to the mode I want. I realize this not quite what Mike is talking about, and I'm looking forward to slowly but surely going thru his book.

June 21, 2010 at 07:43 PM ·

Playing by ear is all about figuring out how the fingers connect directly to the sound, without using the notes as an intermediary.  Scales and arpeggios do help a ton, but I teach it to my beginners with simple stepwise tunes, showing them how the fingers go up and down to match when the notes go high and low.  From there we add small skips, and we can start improvisations including harmonies.  I don't teach this nearly as well as I'd like to yet, but I have found that once students get the hang of how their fingers can create a melody shape, it often does come naturally at least to an extent.  I'd say feel free to just start playing around with simple patterns, not even having music in front of you or a song you plan to play.  As you get the hang, scales and arpeggios and interval training will help you develop it by leaps and bounds.

Also, check your notereading and see if you are actually reading music, or just reading fingerings.  Can you look at the music and get a general idea of the melody without actually playing it?  Or are you just plugging the fingers into the notes, and seeing what kind of music will come out?  See if you can start making that connection too--that the notes are really just a picture of the sound you want to make, and a reminder to your fingers of how to make it.  That will really free you up to be able to improvise and play bey ear even when you are looking at music.

Rote and repetition are usually a tool in starting to play by ear, but it sounds like maybe you're trying to transition to a total shift in teaching style. If you're trying to grow your playing but spending all your time trying to figure out how to do it without notes, consider whether this is the best teacher for you right now or if you should be with somebody who can transition you a little bit more smoothly.  That's just a consideration.  Three are great teachers who teach both ways or a combination, and "shock treatment" of using a different method is not always a bad thing.  I will often give a couple weeks of more intensive reading assignments to students who are sliding by and approximating everything by ear, or doing an improvisation lesson or scale pattern assignments with a student who is overly glued to the notes.  As long as your teacher is teaching to you, great.  The problem comes when the teacher can only teach one way and can't make the connection with your learning.  If you're not sure, talk to him/her!