About me

 About me (as far as musicality is concerned!)

I have never been able to work out if my own particular musical aptitude is in any way unusual, or just what any musically literate person can achieve. Here is a summary of my particular talents as I see them, an honest appraisal hopefully, but those who know me can judge if I am wrong!

 

1. So I can read music, but not particularly brilliantly: sight reading either for voice or instrument is unlikely to come up with a perfectly correct rendition, but will probably be about 80% accurate for a fairly straightforward piece, less so for complex rhythms or lots of accidentals
2. Learning by ear is much easier for me. In a choir piece, once I know my part, I only need the music to remind me of words, dynamics or expression (unless it is particularly tricky bit) … I sing the notes by memory.
3. Harmonising comes completely naturally. Whenever I hear a melody, once I have heard it a couple of times, I am likely to start humming my own harmonies, often without even realising I am doing so. Being forced to sing a melody all the time feels like being put in a straitjacket to me.  Especially in church. I don’t know how much this can be explained by my childhood background in the Brethren, where we sang unaccompanied, in harmony, without any music, in our morning meetings of open worship (…. My father was the ‘precentor’ in our fellowship, who led everyone in singing, by selecting an appropriate tune for whatever hymn had just been chosen by one of the congregation, and pitching it appropriately.)
4. So I can sing harmonies to songs without first planning them or writing them down. I can record parts for simple tunes 'on the fly' without knowing what  I planned to sing in any formal way …. For me it can be much more effort to notate the music than to just perform it (although I am also perfectly capable of notating, composing and arranging using formal scores)
5. This all applies to voice, but to a certain extent to instruments too. I am not a particularly accomplished instrumentalist of any sort, but can easily pick out a tune on piano, recorder or clarinet if someone mentioned a song that I knew. And can sing along with a guitar playing basic chords to many simple melodies (…. Or at least I used to be able to do so, I’ve not picked up a guitar for years so I am sure I would be a bit rusty!)
6. Some accomplished musicians say that they need the music in front of them, and are completely stumped if asked to play something, however simple, without music …. Well that’s not me! Once again I think it comes from my father, who is a very competent pianist, but plays much better without the notes in front of him.
7. Other musicians can only play by ear, never having learnt to read music, or seen the benefit in doing so. That's not me either - I am pretty fluent in the 'language of music' in its written form - I can read it, write it, sing from it, play around with it....
8. Perhaps I am the best of both worlds? Or maybe Jack of all trades, master of none? Who knows?!

 

So this is me, a summary of what I know about my musical aptitudes. What I don’t know, is if my talents are in any way special or unusual? I’ve never mixed with enough musicians to get a feel for this!

In this blog I will perhaps explore the limits of my musicality, to find out how and where I should focus to extend my capabilities. Hopefully some of my readers will offer ideas and assistance to me in this journey, and we will be perhaps able to help and support one another as we develop our musical lives.