Learning to Play by Ear
On one of the first days they canceled school due to the coronavirus pandemic, our youngest, Natalie (10), was practicing her cello when she stopped and ran over to me. "Guess what, Mom?" she asked. "I was practicing another song and the first few notes sounded kinda like 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' So I kept listening to the notes and tried to figure out the rest of the line playing by ear... and I did! Listen!" Then she carefully played a melody that would have made Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz proud . That conversation got me thinking: Learning to play by ear... one note at a time... without the benefit of instructions [aka sheet music]... isn't that what we're all trying to do right now? ( Note : Playing by ear in the music world r efers to playing compositions without the benefit of sheet music. Instead, the musician would simply use his/her ear to feel out the composition and follow the musical progressions.*) Maybe it's tryin