Music as a language

[pbwalker]

Musician or not, this video is really moving. Probably one of the best Ted talks I've seen. Really listen to what he's saying, then go back and watch his playing. Victor Wooten is probably one of the best bass players today, and is on par with Jaco or Billy Sheehan.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=3yRMbH36HRE[/youtube]

Really motivating...

[C-dub]

Very cool!!!

I was an okay trombonist in high school as a freshman. The other trombonist at my school was one year older than me and easily 10x better. As a junior, he was the #1 high school trombonist in 14 states in the New England region. Sitting next to him for three years made me a much better musician and if he weren't only one year older than me I would have been the best in our county in my junior year, but alas, I had to wait until my senior year for that.

I didn't know what this method was called, but it is basically the way I'm teaching my daughter. She's having a hard time reading music still, but she can play many things just by ear and she's much better than I was at her age. In only her second year in band she keeps playing the melody regardless of which instrument is supposed to be playing the melody. I guess the band director goes along with this method a little, because he hasn't gotten on her about doing that.

[chasfm11]

Very cool!!!

I was an okay trombonist in high school as a freshman. The other trombonist at my school was one year older than me and easily 10x better. As a junior, he was the #1 high school trombonist in 14 states in the New England region. Sitting next to him for three years made me a much better musician and if he weren't only one year older than me I would have been the best in our county in my junior year, but alas, I had to wait until my senior year for that.

I didn't know what this method was called, but it is basically the way I'm teaching my daughter. She's having a hard time reading music still, but she can play many things just by ear and she's much better than I was at her age. In only her second year in band she keeps playing the melody regardless of which instrument is supposed to be playing the melody. I guess the band director goes along with this method a little, because he hasn't gotten on her about doing that.

What you are referring to is the Suzuki Method
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_method

It isn't that the method doesn't teach reading music eventually but that they concentrate on the mechanics of playing the instrument first. Some kids never study long enough to get to the reading part. Suzuki taught by imitation and many of his students played impressively, following his example.

As an ex-music teacher, I can tell you that kids have to do a lot of difficult things all at once in order to play music with a group. The idea of allowing those who learn faster through imitation to do it is a good one and I used it a lot with beginning students. I was never a keyboard player but had to play piano well enough to pass a difficult exam and had to memorize the music for that level before I could play it. I never got to the point where I could play music like that by reading the notes, even though I can read music well for the other instruments that I can play.

Music can never be the "one size fits all" approach that is used in the classroom. Kids learn different ways and at there own speed. I had one little girl who frustrated me every week at her lesson for almost two years. No matter what I tried, she just wasn't progressing. I was ready to go to her parents and suggest that she do something besides play a musical instrument when she walked into a lesson and there it was - everything that I had been trying to teach her. From then on she advanced at a pace that was remarkable. She just had to do it her own way.

Too many people get caught up in the mechanics of music. To get to the point where it is a language, you have to get past the individual notes and even the patterns that they form. The expression that comes from where it note is specifically louder or softer than the ones around it, whether a musical phrase starts or decays quickly and whether is has intensity or is subtle all go toward making music "speak." Watching others at the moment where they come to realize that "speech" is very rewarding.

[WildBill]

Thanks for the post PB.

[jimlongley]

Here is a young lady who spoke to me.

The big guy is Mike Caldwell, who had played harmonica for Charlie McCoy and Loretta Lynn among others and he is teaching a seminar on "The Craft of Country Harmonica."

I don't recall a whole heck of a lot about what he said before he invited Kaleena up to do her rendition of "Orange Blossom Special" and when she came back and sat down behind me, I told her that I was selling my harps and taking up basket weaving. She is just 21 years old.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ckz2jushoc992 ... .54.07.mp4