Practising Music

[thereallynicelady]

Hello Marc,

Thank you for your comment. To answer your question in one word - yes. I'm a fairly good sight reader but first time through I may leave out a few notes for the sake of keeping the tempo going. I may also hit a few 'bum' notes in my haste. Each time through I'll add a few notes that I missed. If I get to a place that is particularly tricky then I will have to practise in order to get up to speed.

I've never been really happy playing octaves. Being a sight reader I look at the notes as I'm playing and very rarely look at the keyboard and playing octaves is a challenge because the whole hand jumps rather than having to 'feel' for the notes. I then have to work out the amount of jump in relation to my body rather than looking down at the keys. If I do look down from the keys I tend to lose my place.

Say hello to your dad for me. It would be interesting to know his way of playing. Does he always follow music, if so, does he have any problems fitting in all the notes, or is he able to work out the accompaniment by ear? I am in awe of anyone who can just 'play' without any music. I'm afraid I need the dots in front of me. OH has the music to start off with and then learns it off by heart through practice. When I attempted to play the banjo I was in a dilemma because I had to look in two places at once - the neck of the banjo and the music - this is not good for someone who gets travel sick!!!

I wonder if anyone else would care to share how they learn a piece - those who only play the banjo and those who play other instruments aswell. It's quite easy to see who has played the guitar before, (I used to - only at an easy level), because of the way they hold their hands. Does anyone else have problems reading the music and looking at the banjo neck at the same time?

Regards to your dad, Marc - I always look forward to seeing him on one of your videos.

[Jody Stecher]

How those who have played guitar hold their hands?

[Trapdoor2]

Now I'm self-consiously thinking about how my hands look. Am I a guitar-style banjoist or a banjo-style banjoist? Argh!

I cannot look at the music and the banjo at the same time. Glance at one, glance at the other. I'm sure it is similar to the piano...some notes/positions are in the muscle memory and require no "looking" for your fingers to find their way; others require only a quick glance...and even further, some require concentration (and perhaps a pair of pliers).

[Sylvia]

Hello Nice Lady,  Read a tip once regarding the reading of the music when playing banjo, could have been on here at some time, anyway it is that you don't have the music stand in front of you but to the left, you can then see both music and the neck of the Banjo. I find this works pretty well.

I like to try and memorise the Banjo pieces ( as I used to with guitar ) however when it comes to playing with others in a group  situation for an audienc ( always small ) I just read the music as do the other members of the group. when I'm playing Alto Sax and Tenor Recorder. The pieces are practiced and rehersed for quite a while before we perform before an audience.  Oh and for the Sax and Recorder the music and stand are directly in front of me.

Sylvia.

[marc dalmasso]

manreallyfromNice to reallynicelady : anyway , you do a fine job with the small exception of ...........................the Roland . ...what about an upright Bechstein in your house ? i saw on the pictures ian uploaded on the site that William J  Ball had one ..

Yes , my father needs the dots to play but he can play everything at 1st sight ; he learned to play flute , piccolo flûte & piano when he was 7 or 8 years old with his neighbor , Henry Pierre Pierre ; he was a compositor and my father may play piano when he played his compositions on the flute

He say it ' s easy to play at first sight because the score is printed and when he started to play flute in the brass band of the city when he was 16 ( he is 81 ) , most of the the music ' scores  for the harmony was handwritted ; we had small problems with the " reprises "_ don ' know the word in English ( when you have to play A twice , for instance , then B & C then A again ) because sometimes the  CE ' scores are not clear ; So , most of the time , i print all the parts  , i try to limit to 4 pages ; i saw that the pianist ( which is now dead ) with chris Sands used to do exactly the same thing