Sometimes I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.
Sometimes I feel Inadequate.
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.
Sometimes I feel like I feel like I’m floundering.
Going to and fro. Go to work. Go home. Go to the supermarket. Go Eat. Go to Sleep. Go to the gym. Always on the GO! When does it end? Why does it have to be this way? Is there something else out there? For me? For my family? For the world?

I say Yes! Emphatically Yes!

The answer is simply to stop and smell the roses. Yes! Smell the Roses! Take some time to just enjoy nature! Make time to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. Send a text to a friend just because! Focus on someone else! There is a God who cares! You may not believe it, but its true.

I find that when I’m feeling down, I just have to sing a simple song and I feel a whole lot better. There is something about that sweet, simple song that just soothes the soul. There’s the old negro spiritual that says, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, a long way from home.” If you ever feel that way just remember there’s some One who cares. Take the time to day to tell someone you love them.

I Know I Will and I know I’ll also take the time to Play It (Music) By Ear!!!

One of my piano students recently asked me, “How do you find the key of a song?” I looked at her and said, “That’s a very good question.” The answer is not that easy to find as well as not that easy to figure out unless you have more information about the song and the documentation surrounding it. But there are quick things that you can do to figure out what key a song is in or what key a song should be in.

The first method may be kinda silly but if you don’t know then ASK someone who does. Maybe someone has already played that song and you can ask them. This is especially true in a Band Setting, where you have to depend on the other people in the band in the first place.

Secondly you could use the key signature of the song or look on a repository like Ultimate Guitar and look for the chord chart. This most likely will have the key on it, and you could identify the key that way.

The third method is using the Major Chord Method. Each song will have 3 major chords in it. The 1, 4 and 5 chords are always MAJOR chords, while the 2, 3 and 6 chords are ALWAYS MINOR chords. If you can identify these 3 major chords, you can infer the KEY from that. For example if your song has A, D, and E as the major chords, then the song MUST be in A. And so on. Here’s a chart from Ultimate Guitar that shows this information:

Key  1   2   3   4   5   6    7     
C    C   Dm  Em  F   G   Am   B-dim 
D    D   Em  F#m G   A   Bm   C#-dim
E    E   F#m G#m A   B   C#m  D#-dim
F    F   Gm  Am  Bb  C   Dm   E-dim 
G    G   Am  Bm  C   D   Em   F#-dim
A    A   Bm  C#m D   E   F#m  G#-dim
B    B   C#m D#m E   F#  G#m  A#-dim

This chart is very helpful in determining the key of the song. Now I’ve mentioned Major and Minor chords, which I’ve discussed in a previous post. I’ll have to come back to it soon. But needless to say this chart needs to be looked at and memorized as it would help in easily identifying the key. I’ll revisit the differences in a Major and Minor Chord in a later post or see my recent post. Now when you find your key, just keep on playing and working it as you Play It By Ear!

So I’m Back in the Saddle Again!!! It’s been a while since I posted something up to this blog. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to write about. I did. But I didn’t do anything about it. So recently my friend Robert Kennedy issued a challenge to me to start writing again for the month of May 2014.

So I took up the challenge to right about what’s going on in my life. A lot of it will deal with music, and more specifically Playing Music By Ear. Some of it will deal with health and fitness. I will let you know how I’m doing with 31 posts in 31 days. I’ve started this a few times and I’ve never quite finished the race. But this time I will complete this task.

There’s a lot that can be said about starting something new and sustaining it. The question remains how do you go about doing this? The answer? You COMMIT to it! No matter what it is, you have to stay committed to your task. You have to move forward in your endeavor and never waver. If you look at the lives of successful people you find that there’s a common thread in all their lives. They have a tenacious spirit that won’t quit. Even in the face of great obstacles they find a way to get it done.

So I’m back in the saddle again and I won’t give up! I won’t quit! Recently a friend of mine started on his journey to wellness and health. He has a mantra that I’ve come to adopt as well and it is: I Can, I Will, I Must! (#iCaniWilliMust)  There is no other option!

Yesterday you said Tomorrow. Today – What’s Your Excuse?

So I’m back in the saddle again, and I’m ready to:
Play It By Ear!!!

Language is so important for communicating different things at different times. It is a very important thing that helps people interact with each other through life. Music as a language is such a powerful medium of communicating, because for a lot times there are no words, and you still have to have something to say.

In my recent Blog Post on Play It For Language – Part 2, there was a Ted Talk Educational video that talked about Music As A Language by Victor Wooten, renowned Bass Guitar player. In that YouTube Video, he espoused the fact that children who grow up in a house full of musicians, tend to learn to jam and play by ear a lot faster than children who do not.

I thought about it, and I had started to do this very thing a few months back. I must say that my kids with this method of music instruction, namely just jamming with them and imparting my musical knowledge as organically as I can. It has been surprisingly satisfying. I don’t know if I had shown this video to you yet, but here is a little sample of me and my son just jamming to Chick Corea’s SPAIN! This clip is only a minute long.

I don’t know if I mentioned this, but my son heard me playing this tune and wanted to learn it, so he just started to play it. So I stopped by and started working with him on it. We worked on the phrasing, and different things over time, like adding the bass note in the left hand, among other things

I recommend this method to everyone who is thinking of learning or teaching music. Find a mentor/teacher if you can. And remember that your attitude determines your outcome. So remember:
1. You have to enjoy it.
2. You have to embrace it.
3. You have to Be PERSISTENT!
4. You have to BE
5. You have to have SOMETHING to say!!!

So do as I do! Just pick up your instrument and PLAY IT BY EAR!!!

Just recently I posted an article on language – You Talk Before You Can Speak! In that article I basically acknowledged how music can be learned in the same way that we learned the language that we speak, that we communicate with. This post is simply a follow up on that concept and is in the form of a YouTube video from Ted Talks by the Extremely Talented Bassist – Victor Wooten! He talks about Music As A Language – The Way All Musician’s Should Learn Music. Take a listen and let me know what you think:

Let’s Jam! That’s right! Just Pick Up Your Instrument and
Play It By Ear!!!

I was talking to a friend recently, and I had an interesting perspective on teaching my kids to play music. I was lamenting that I wanted them to be able to read music as well as play music by ear. He said something that stuck with me all weekend long. He simply said, “Don’t worry about them reading music. How long did it take you before you learned to read English? – You Talk Before You Can Read!”

WOW! It’s so true. In 99.999 percent of the time children learn to speak before they can read. The reading comes at different times, but most start the reading process when they get to school. This is something that I never really thought about. It will change the way that I approach teaching young people to learn to play.

Take a look at this video featuring jazz legend, Bassist Jaco Pastorius, as he gave a lesson on the bass guitar. He talks about his philosophy on playing and how he learned to read music long after he had learned to play by ear.

So pick up your instrument, no matter what it is. Have Fun and continue to Play It By Ear

Believe it! It is true! A Clear Mind Is Essential to being effective in life. You need a clear mind in your personal life. You need a clear mind in your business life. You need a clear mind in your spiritual life. And you need a clear mind in your musical life, which includes Playing Music By Ear 🙂  I had to say it.

One of the ways to keep a clear mind is through exercise. I find that when I exercise in the morning, I function better that day. It’s a really good way to start the day and I can maintain a clear mind. Sometimes I may feel sluggish after a meal, but if I can do a quick 20 pushups or so, I’m able to function much better.

I really started working out on December 1st, 2012, when I did 1 pushup. Today, January 9th 2014, marks the 405th day since I started. So today’s total is 405. Here’s a video of a person you may know finishing a workout:

I will have more to say on this subject later on, but right I’m smiling. Why? My mind is clear and so I will always be happy to Play It By Ear!

To Teach or Not To Teach? That is the question. Well for some teachers its not even a question. It’s anathema to them. What am I talking about? Playing Music By Ear. It just is not done. I have had people come to me and tell me that they started experimenting with playing by ear and their music teacher forbade them from doing so. And so it is now that they “THINK” that they can’t play by ear so they don’t try.

I’ve wondered to myself, “Self! What is the reason for this kind of thinking by music teachers who insist on teaching ‘By The Book’?” And the answer is a simple “Lack of Understanding.” In my humble opinion and experience, people fear what they don’t understand and they can sometimes pass that fear on to their students. It is also true that you can’t effectively teach something that you don’t intimately know. Music is a performing art, and you have to be able to demonstrate the lesson as it happens.

There are people who say that playing by ear is just memorization of songs. And to a certain extent that is true. Playing by ear is more a matter of a coming together of a working knowledge of music theory, chord progressions, bass line movement, alternate harmonic anticipation and melodic interpretation. For some who have more experience playing by ear, you can utilize structures and chord progressions that may come from other songs and intersperse them into what they are playing as they are playing it. This is often seen in Jazz, Gospel, Country and other popular music genres of modern times.

So if you want to learn to play by ear does that mean you shouldn’t learn to read music as well? I answer that with an emphatic, “NO!” Learning to read music opens up a whole new world to the music performer and rounds out his or her education. It enables a musician to be more marketable and versatile when they can do both – Read Music and Play By Ear!!! Its quite interesting to note that musicians who can only read music look up to musicians who just play by ear. And musicians who play by ear look up to musicians who only read music.

Oh for the day when musicians can be equally proficient in reading music and are also able to Play It By Ear!!