YOU (ALSO..?) PLAY BETTER WITHOUT SHEETS

[♔Chello]

YOU (ALSO..?) PLAY BETTER WITHOUT SHEETS

I've played all kinds of music since I started playing at 15, and I've done this by ear.

Of course I've practiced to be able to play certain songs, but I always find that the intuitive ones I start with sound best.

That's how it is EVERY time.

When something becomes too rehearsed and "perfect", the music loses a lot of its spontaneity - I've used (simple) sheets occasionally, but find that these limit spontaneity and deprive me of intuition, which is a little different every time, depending on the mood and occasion.

I've always believed that it's permissible to miss a few keys sometimes, as long as the performance has a certain musical expressiveness.

A good example of this is Martin Harris from Yamaha, who plays absolutely fantastic live without sheets - and he allows himself to miss a few keys sometimes.


- This doesn't matter, when what he does is so engaging...?

[✪aprilla]

For me it depends on the mood and what I want to do, sometimes I do like to be accurate to the sheet. There is a challenge to it that I enjoy, and then to make that sound musical rather than programmed. But I also will take the sheet as a suggestion, especially with lead sheets, and just use it as a hint of where to go. Also, they serve as my memory bank for when I'll forget both how to play it and even if I ever did play it. For me memorising lasts about 5 minutes, I do  like sheets LOL

 

[♔Chello]

✪aprilla

Thank you very much for your well-made opinion.
Most people probably think the same as you.
Even professional musicians.

I'm a little different, because I can still, for example, play melodies with complex chords on an accordion, even though I've played the accordion very rarely since 1998.

For some strange reason, I don't forget it - maybe I don't remember everything immediately, but after trying a little it seems like the memory is in my fingers - they "remember" the configuration.

My father, who was a semi-professional musician, was like that too, but he also used sheets as an aid to remember, which is certainly very sensible.