When I was first learning to play the whistle 25 years back, my three year old daughter was just learning to read, and had a book of nursery rhymes, with words and pictures but no music. Good luck with it robert dausy - why not start doing this in your christmas break if you have one. It may take some few months to get to where you feel comfortable trying this in public. This is a very simple way of saying what needs to happen, and the process may not feel simple, but that is what needs to happen. To play by ear you simply need to remap this reflex so that your knowledge of what the tune does next will cause the fingers to move in the same way. My friend has trained her reflexes to where the sight of a particular dot configuration causes her to move fingers in a particular way. Once you’ve got that the problem begins to disappear. If this is the case then I recommend choosing a secluded room and playing without any sheet music for a little while every day for a couple of weeks until you get the concept of playing by ear. I wonder if robert the originator of this thread has this condition? That would explain the perceived need for 'Violin Music' as distinct from 'Viola Music' - a distinction which still eludes me as a non sheet music player. She has, in effect, become just like my brother in law’s Pianola - it can play perfeclty first time any tune for which you put in the paper roll with the little holes in - but without a roll it cannot play anything.

And unless it is a particularly technically demanding piece in terms of finger stretching, she can play it at a good speed first off.īut without any sheet music she cannot even play 'Happy Birthday' (that’s observed fact, not just hyperbole). Any tune written down in the traditional dots on lines notation and placed before her - she can play it. I have a friend who plays violin - she plays very well (with verve and panache if the sheet music says 'with verve and panache'), and plays in a local orchestra. I understand the physical differences between a viola and a violin - I’m still looking for what distinguishes Viola music from any other kind. Re: transposing viola music to violin music I’m interested to know the answers on these because it affects someone else I know who has similar issues, but can’t articulate the problem so clearly. (That’s like a whistler who is used to playing in one key simply using a different whistle on those occasions when society dictates that a tune needs to be played in a different key.) So to return to my sheep - isn’t it the simplest answer to play what you see for viola whilst holding a violin - thus transposing it up by a fifth. If it has notes on the C string of the Viola then it has to be transposed up some amount to fit on the fiddle - as per your description above it would be uncomfortable/impracticable to go up a whole octave. Now - my other question - what defines the music as being Viola music? - is it just that the range of notes within the tune goes below the bottom G on the violin/fiddle, or is there something more complex going on here that is beyond my ken? Thanks Greg - I understand that - very helpful.

Transpose in finale notepad