Playing For Dancing

Hello there,

A hectic time this month as our son John got married on the 14th February to a fantastic girl called Anna. As a wedding gift to them I have given them the trusty Yamaha HC4 organ. It is funny how music can play a large part in our lives. John and Anna were both involved with a performance of South Pacific many years ago. They did not know each other then, as he was at a boys high school and she at a girls high school. It was a combined school presentation. John was the percussionist and Anna played the trumpet in the orchestra.

Well I am only on a short note today, but I feel that a quick mention of playing for dancing is called for.

I actually met Susan my wife at Ballroom and Latin American Dancing lessons. playing the organ to a rhythm helped me with timing and a knowledge of the different rhythm patterns.

I am giving you a link here to one of my dance pieces. Enjoy it. It is called Let's Cha Cha Cha.

Let's Cha Cha Cha

In my next article, I will go further into this subject .

Bye for now.

Robin

Learn To Play Music Without Reading Music

For many people, attempting to play an instrument of any kind is a nightmare. First you have to learn to hold it, manipulate it and/or sit at it properly. Finally you have got that right, but then you have to ask yourselves the BIGGY? 'What do I play, and does it mean that I have to try and understand those little black tadpoles that seem to be going up or down, long black-barred climbing frames, with some of them even holding hands with each other."

The answer is NO.

As a musician who plays by ear, I feel that for many of you out there who are struggling to get to grips with your instrument, some helpful hints, tips and advice, may make the difference between you starting to enjoy yourself at your new found pleasure, or you placing your unwanted instrument on eBay, due to frustration at not having made any headway in learning.

Now before you think, "Oh Yeah, and what does he know" My Son is a percussionist, my daughter a Professional Jazz Singer and Teacher and my Son-in-law, a Professional Jazz Guitarist, who manages a music shop, and YES, they do all read music. The difference between us is that they all learnt basic music at school and then had lessons. I didn't.

"Why do I play by ear you may say." Well I had two brothers that were much younger than me. They had Recorder lessons in school. As mentioned in a previous blog, in about 1972, my Dad (bless his soul) decided in his wisdom to buy a brand new Electronic Organ for my two brothers and myself, to learn music on. You see in his childhood, he lived in a two-up, two-down terraced house As it was a large family of TEN, he slept in the attic/loft and as a kid, and that was where he tried to learn the violin. Needless to say, he did not and so although he loved to listen to music, he was only able to play by ear. You see nobody actually helped him to do even that. For you in today's information ridden Internet World, Help is only a click away.

As they say " Do not fear, Robin is here"

Music lessons at school for me had been basically singing from song books (words-only). I had no idea of basic music theory, but I had a vague idea about organs as my Godfather was a semi-professional musician who played the organ in clubs. When I visited his home I listened and watched as he played his late sixties, Lowrey Holiday Organ

The reason that I I play by ear, is that I have great difficulty in reading music. If I tried to read a piece of music, I would memorise the melody and then only follow the chords. Pretty soon I would have those memorised to. This does allow me to play many things straight off the top of my head. Dad and Mum often liked melodies and songs that we had no music for. As I mastered the two keyboard organ with bass pedals, they would ask if I could play certain tunes for them. I found that I could, be it a hymn, a march, a folk song, Waltz, Rhumba, Rock and Roll, slow or fast.

So what is the secret to playing by ear? My answer is, if you can hum it or whistle it, you can play it. Maybe not perfectly at first, but that will come in time. The more you play a piece, the easier it gets. I played regular charity sessions with a professional organist, and he would shoot over to me as I finished playing a piece of music hoping for a copy of it as he could only play by reading the music. He was disappointed as I played by ear.

My advice to you now is to make a start on playing by ear and follow on with further help such as this.

Finally, pick something easy to play in an easy key and try that first. My starter was always "God Save The Queen" Being English, I knew both words and tune. I did it in the key of "C" which was good for my instrument, and it was not to long.

Always have confidence in yourself, and remember when you are playing, that if "YOU ENJOY IT" other people do not matter. The ones who comment or criticise the most, are those who cannot do it themselves.

Bye for now,

Robin