Ventures in Listening: skipping the dots, #1

This article was first published on ABQ Trad, 13 January, 2020, under the title “Learning to Listen: adventures in skipping the dots.“

Learning to learn by ear seems daunting to so many of us music readers. However, I consistently have experiences during this learning process that extend beyond just learning the basic tune. Every few months, as my brain and body continue to adjust to the process, I have mind blowing moments.

Recently, I learned a tune that my friend Randal Bays recorded for me to learn. Now Randal, one of the worlds finest County Clare style fiddlers, uses numerous refined subtlties in his playing. By this I mean, his bow touch, the timbre, tone, and choice of articulations he produces, is a signature of his personal style, and it has a great number of subtle techniques to it. For an extreme and easy to hear example, throw on some headphones and listen to Randal play some tunes, and then listen to Gerry O’Connor, and you can clearly hear the differences between the timbre, tone, and bowing techniques and their end results.

Randal’s subtle quality to his tone, timbre, and articulations was the cause of my mind-blowing experience. As I learned a specific phrase of the tune from Randal’s playing, I automatically played a strike on my flute. The tune note was a low G, so my strike was an F# strike. I was striking (tapping my finger on the F# note hole) where Randal played a bowed articulation. But at some point I realized that, although extremely subtle, and some would surely say picky or even petty, I realized that the lower pitch of my F# covered up or masked the articulation that Randal played. His articulation disappeared to my ear, and all I heard was my F#. After a few iterations of the phrase, I thought, ‘wait a minute!’ I know Randal is a delicate player, and this F# is sounding ‘heavy’ and it covers up Randal’s articulation so much that I can’t hear Randal’s part no matter how softly I play.” So I experimented. I played an A cut instead. Pow! I heard Randal’s part along with mine. I was stunned. “Holy Cow!” Really?” I thought to myself. So, I tried it again. And again. Yes! It was a revelation! I discovered how to play along with Randal’s musical choice, instead of over it.

While this is not a concern for a session playing experience, it definitely transfers to how I might choose to accompany Randal on the bodhrán, and how I might make flute playing choices when in a duet situation with a fellow melody player. This experience shows how subtle even the choice of articulation can be, and if we’re listening carefully, we can make better choices. But only if we’re listening closely. And learning tunes by ear develops that skill.

So, learning by ear is a long learning process, and it’s not just about learning tunes more quickly (eventually). It’s about further developing our ears and hearing the deeper and subtler elements of this music we love. Give it a go, and see if you can’t blow you’re own mind!
Cheers –
Dain