How many of you do this? I have started playing the tunes in my head that I'm learning at the moment - not just sounding the tune but playing it with 'mental fingers'. I can even notice when I get it wrong and slow down whole passages, going over the fingering carefully to get it right. I'm sure it helps when I get my flute back in my hands.
fyi, that "Bruno Martelli" was a reference to an old American TV show.
I once saw a news feature about an elderly fiddler whose wife said that, while in bed, he would finger tunes on her forearm in his sleep. (He played some, for the TV news. And he was pretty good, so it must work.)
I haven't tried the fingering part though. High level athletes often do
mental rehearsals of their events. Watch the faces of high jumpers
and pole vaulters sometime. You can see by their eye movements
how they pre-visualise what they're about to do.
I'd say the danger of mentally doing fingering and bowing is that
you've got no feedback from an instrument. You don't know if
you're mentally practicing wrong notes! For that reason, I don't
try to do it.
For some reason I can tell if I do a wrong note, as long as the tune isn't brand new and I've worked on it a few times. Just like when typing I know when I've put in a wrong letter.
I had a friend in university who learned the whole of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" while we rode 2 hours home on the bus. He played it in his lap. Granted, he's extraordinary, but I figured if he could "practice" in his head, so could I. It does work...imprints the tune and the actual notes in the mind somehow...nice to know I'm among good company.
Even though there is no feedback from any instrument I think you get some sort of feedback from your fingers. At least I do.
Sort of like typing, just like Bredna wrote. When you've done it for a while you just know where the keys are and you type away without thinking, often noticing mistakes before you actually see them.
I've also played tunes with my fiddle in my lap, as if it were a mandolin, silently plucking the strings. Just to repeat tunes, keep them fresh, without having to worry about disturbing sleeping neighbours.
Mozart and others wrote and played in their heads.
Herself hates when I do it- particularly the part when i am figuring out fingering (as an "emerging" box player, fingering isn't always automatic!) and I can't get it right.
One of the customers at work asked me if I played the bagpipes the other day. I had no idea what he was on about but said I played the fiddle instead and he kindly pointed out to me that (with my right had not left....) I stand moving my four fingers about on my thumb (as if playing the tune) when my hand is down by my side! I even used ornaments!
Heh. I'm gratified that someone sort of correctly identified my Bruno Martelli allusion. But if you think it was a TV show, you haven't quite got the whole reference.
Plus, you missed the very beautiful Meg Tilly in her very first on-screen role!
When I play my fiddle, surely, but not when I'm just "fingering" in the air. Hup was concerned about not getting feedback when "practicing" without an instrument I was pointing out that you (well, at least I) do get some sort of feedback, even though you can't hear anything.
Should have pointed out it was a reply to Hup's post I guess.
Playing the tunes without an instrument
Playing the tunes without an instrument
How many of you do this? I have started playing the tunes in my head that I'm learning at the moment - not just sounding the tune but playing it with 'mental fingers'. I can even notice when I get it wrong and slow down whole passages, going over the fingering carefully to get it right. I'm sure it helps when I get my flute back in my hands.
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by Bredna
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
I do it all the time, moving my fingers a little bit in the air as if I was playing. I bet it makes me look a bit weird...
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
I don't move my fingers physically at all, so nobody else would notice, unless by doing it i get a strange look on my face?!
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by Bredna
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
The power of visualization!
Gag, that sounded like some new age seminar about the medicinal properties of various incenses.
...but really, sure! Visualization works!
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Martelli! Bruno Martelli!
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by jwvansteenwyk
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
fyi, that "Bruno Martelli" was a reference to an old American TV show.
I once saw a news feature about an elderly fiddler whose wife said that, while in bed, he would finger tunes on her forearm in his sleep. (He played some, for the TV news. And he was pretty good, so it must work.)
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by John Galt
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
"...I wanna live forever, I'm gonna learn how to fly..."
Yeah, great, thanks fellas. I feel old now.
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
i finger my pens in school.. theres nothing that says"ur a sh*te teacher" quite like a few reels
# Posted on August 11th 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Hey SWFL: "43 episodes, 1982-1987"
If the shoe fits....
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by John Galt
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
You have to have a concept of the tune in your head before
you tackle it on an instrument, so "playing" without an instrument
is essential.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Hup
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
I haven't tried the fingering part though. High level athletes often do
mental rehearsals of their events. Watch the faces of high jumpers
and pole vaulters sometime. You can see by their eye movements
how they pre-visualise what they're about to do.
I'd say the danger of mentally doing fingering and bowing is that
you've got no feedback from an instrument. You don't know if
you're mentally practicing wrong notes! For that reason, I don't
try to do it.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Hup
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
For some reason I can tell if I do a wrong note, as long as the tune isn't brand new and I've worked on it a few times. Just like when typing I know when I've put in a wrong letter.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Bredna
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Did the obscenity filter remove an 'i' from Trucks' post (and not the one replaced by the asterisk)?
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by GaryAMartin
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
small favors... tee hee
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by John Galt
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
I had a friend in university who learned the whole of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" while we rode 2 hours home on the bus. He played it in his lap. Granted, he's extraordinary, but I figured if he could "practice" in his head, so could I. It does work...imprints the tune and the actual notes in the mind somehow...nice to know I'm among good company.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Fort Wayne Fiddler
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Even though there is no feedback from any instrument I think you get some sort of feedback from your fingers. At least I do.
Sort of like typing, just like Bredna wrote. When you've done it for a while you just know where the keys are and you type away without thinking, often noticing mistakes before you actually see them.
I've also played tunes with my fiddle in my lap, as if it were a mandolin, silently plucking the strings. Just to repeat tunes, keep them fresh, without having to worry about disturbing sleeping neighbours.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
"no feedback from any instrument".... surely there's usually a sound, Pontus?
Or do you play your theremin unplugged?
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by RockyRoader
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Whistle
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Power27
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
He did say "any instrument"...and s/he 's a fiddler.
I'll just stay quiet.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by RockyRoader
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Well, I've heard of "air guitar" - but "air flute"?
But come to think of it, flutes do work with air ...
... and why not also air fiddle, air whistle, air pipes etc., as well?
.. but best of all, would be "air bodhran" - even Llig might vote for that ....
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
SWFL
Its not new age.
Mozart and others wrote and played in their heads.
Herself hates when I do it- particularly the part when i am figuring out fingering (as an "emerging" box player, fingering isn't always automatic!) and I can't get it right.
"Air Box"
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by zippydw
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
I am glad to read that you can think (and play) outside the box, Zippy.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
You are trying not to allow your thinking to be "boxed" in, right?
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
No zippy, I agree, it does really work!
...despite the fact that it sounds like something that should be sold alongside of holisitic medicines.
Yeah, thanks Forrest. I had such the crush on Debbie Allen back then.
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Of course, there's playing instruments without a tune: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/22342
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by Joe Wass
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
One of the customers at work asked me if I played the bagpipes the other day. I had no idea what he was on about but said I played the fiddle instead and he kindly pointed out to me that (with my right had not left....) I stand moving my four fingers about on my thumb (as if playing the tune) when my hand is down by my side! I even used ornaments!
# Posted on August 12th 2009 by creathana
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
Heh. I'm gratified that someone sort of correctly identified my Bruno Martelli allusion. But if you think it was a TV show, you haven't quite got the whole reference.
Plus, you missed the very beautiful Meg Tilly in her very first on-screen role!
# Posted on August 13th 2009 by jwvansteenwyk
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
"That's not music, Martelli! ..."
# Posted on August 13th 2009 by jwvansteenwyk
Re: Playing the tunes without an instrument
"surely there's usually a sound, Pontus?"
When I play my fiddle, surely, but not when I'm just "fingering" in the air. Hup was concerned about not getting feedback when "practicing" without an instrument I was pointing out that you (well, at least I) do get some sort of feedback, even though you can't hear anything.
Should have pointed out it was a reply to Hup's post I guess.
# Posted on August 13th 2009 by Pontus Adefjord