[MusicTlk] General Discussion About Learning Music, with a Focus on Accuracy

Mon Sep 9 12:05:23 UTC 2024

Hi Linda,
Always nice to get an email from you, hope things are going well! I'm curious how you manage to play these daily services on organ. I substitute on organ for churches when needed. I find it takes me so long to learn preludes and other service music to have that ready. How do you keep up with having these types of things ready to go for each service? How often do you personally repeat organ music? I hope to get better and faster with this, so would love your advice.
Thanks,
Chase Crispin
Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 8, 2024, at 9:08 PM, Linda Mentink via MusicTlk <musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ella and All,
> 
> I will try to be brief here. I use both methods to learn music. When I was younger, I relied heavily on Braille music. I'm a Soprano, and I sang in choral groups in college and in the community. I had readers dictate the notes, dynamics, tempo changes, and words to me. During performances I often had the lyrics memorized and just watched the notes. That way, I was sure how long to hold a note before a rest, what the dynamics were, etc. The same was true for solos, except when I had to have my music memorized for college juries and concert choir concerts. The women had to wear long, white gloves through which it was hard to read Braille. So I HAD to memorize. Long story, but I won't go there. That was in the late 1970's!
> 
> I have a file cabinet full of all the music I copied by hand and some I bought. I sure wish I knew what to do with it!
> 
> I use mostly hymns and gospel songs now. When singing in our church choir, I write notes if I have to, but most of the music is simple enough that I can get it after a few times through.
> 
> I teach vocal music at our Christian school, grades 3-12, and accompany my classes on the piano. I also play the organ for our daily morning chapel services. Since the music we use is not available in Braille, I have learned them all by ear. Yes, I miss chords, bass notes and inner parts, and often change my errors when I hear my students singing parts. When working on music for Christmas and graduation, when the students sing for the congregation, I write out each part so that I can play them in class. I'm not one of the congregational accompanists, so I don't have to be as picky.
> 
> I use my BrailleNote Apex for church and school, and my hymnal and song files are full of notes where I need them.
> 
> I'm 68, and had Bronchitis in 2012 that I didn't know was Bronchitis. So I don't do much solo work anymore. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
> Blessings,
> 
> Linda
> 
>> On Sep 8, 2024 6:49 PM, Ella Yu via MusicTlk <musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> I know this is a topic that has come up many times over the years in
>> various settings—email lists, forums, and in-person conversations. However,
>> since we all love sharing advice, I think it’s important to revisit the
>> topic: should we learn braille music or not? What are the considerations
>> for choosing to learn and use braille music (aside from the obvious need to
>> acquire it)? There’s no simple, black-and-white answer to this question. I
>> want to start by saying that I don’t mean to be judgmental about anyone’s
>> approach. I just think it’s valuable to have a healthy conversation about
>> this topic from time to time.
>> 
>> One of the most commonly cited reasons for learning braille music is to
>> gain the same musical independence that sighted musicians have—learning
>> music without being influenced by others’ interpretations and being able to
>> see all the musical information in front of you. But one issue that doesn’t
>> seem to get enough attention is learning music accurately. By "accurately,"
>> I don’t just mean playing the right notes, I’m talking about rhythmic
>> accuracy, especially in higher-level classical music, where precision is
>> key.
>> 
>> For example, a highly syncopated or rhythmically complex passage in, say,
>> 4/4, might feel/sound like it's in 3/8 or 6/8 or something else. How do you
>> personally respond to that situation? Does your approach differ depending
>> on whether you use braille music or learn by ear? For me personally, when I
>> learn such material by ear, I tend to feel the music the way it sounds
>> (i.e., in 3/8 or 6/8) rather than the way it’s written in 4/4. I've also
>> had situations where learning by ear made it harder to get the rhythm
>> exactly right because I didn’t have access to the notation, which led to my
>> teachers having to correct me more than I would have liked. I find that
>> braille music solves this problem for me because I can see exactly how the
>> rhythm is written, even if I ultimately feel it differently. This
>> information changes how I conceptualize and memorize music. Another thing
>> is interpreting rubatos, ritardandos, and other tempo changes in
>> recordings, especially with human-made recordings or YouTube videos.
>> Without the written notation, the likelihood of misinterpreting these tempo
>> fluctuations as extra beats, time signature changes, or rhythmic
>> alterations, can be quite high, at least for me. Similarly, distinguishing
>> between actual staccatos and short eighth notes in recordings can be fairly
>> tricky, though it is possible, and braille music helps clarify those
>> details.
>> 
>> Of course, there are ways to work around these issues if you learn by ear.
>> For example, customized recordings can be made to provide all the
>> information you need. Another option is generating MIDI recordings from
>> notation software, which avoids human errors in rhythm and note accuracy
>> and reduces the chance of being influenced by someone else's
>> interpretation. However, MIDI-generated recordings typically lack spoken
>> cues for dynamics, articulations, and other musical details. Whether using
>> MIDI or human-made recordings, adding a metronome or click track can help
>> with rhythmic accuracy.
>> 
>> So, my main questions for all of you are:
>> 1. If you use braille music, what are your favourite reasons for doing so?
>> 2. If you prefer learning by ear, how do you handle rhythm and accuracy
>> without the written notation? What methods help you fully understand the
>> music?
>> 3. For the vast majority of instrumentalists, reading braille music and
>> playing at the same time is physically impossible, as we all know. How do
>> we make braille music relevant and meaningful in this context? I feel that
>> more people know braille music exists and that it can be useful, than, say,
>> ten or twenty years ago, but the inability to read and play an instrument
>> simultaneously (which isn’t anyone’s fault) still seems to be a notable
>> point of resistance. I completely understand if this is one of the main
>> reasons some of us prefer learning by ear.
>> 
>> I think it’s important to have this discussion with nuance and respect for
>> individual differences. As someone who is fluent in braille music and
>> generally loves using it, especially for classical music (orchestra,
>> chamber ensemble, and solo pieces), I understand it may not be the best fit
>> for everyone. For full disclosure, I am a classically-oriented musician who
>> has been totally blind since birth, and I play piano, violin, and viola at
>> a relatively high amateur level. I personally like using braille music for
>> learning classical pieces for both solo and ensemble contexts (though solo
>> violin/viola music is easy to learn off YouTube recordings for the most
>> part, though the two-handed nature of piano music is a different story). I
>> am also fluent in learning by ear, which I find particularly useful in
>> non-classical settings. My ear skills help me conceptualize the music I
>> play, and I often pick up certain things more quickly by ear than through
>> reading music, and I don’t think this is exactly an uncommon experience for
>> sighted musicians, either. For ensemble music, I also practice extensively
>> with recordings so I understand exactly how my part fits with the rest of
>> the ensemble, so I pick up quite a bit of information by ear that way, even
>> though I'm using braille music to learn all my notes, rhythms,
>> articulations, etc.
>> 
>> I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
>> Ella
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