I may have mentioned that I've had Out on the Ocean in my head a lot of late, so I decided to learn it. It's quite basic, it's lively, it's Irish, people at the session know it...
The fan had no dots for the version he plays. He printed some from the session for me. They were all in keys I can play...but they all had too many notes. So the fan taked me through the tune until I could play it. The B part was a challenge as some of those extra notes had to be turned into other notes. I actually used my extra keyed note, and discovered that gracing on that is a serious challenge. I played phrases over and over until I had them nailed. And then...life intervened, the tune went out of my head, and I 've only just this evening had the opportunity to get back to my pipes. I asked the fan to hum the tune, then he went out. I picked up my pipes and...no tune. Totally forgotten. I googled. I found a version. Got it. Picked up pipes and...no tune.
The fan will come home later and I'll be able to ask him to take me through the tune again. Hopefully the tune will sink in, my fingers will remember and the tune will be learned. But what would have happened if I'd got the tune from someone in a session? Someone just passing through and not intending to return. Am I supposed to play the tune for several hours solid and thus remember it forever from that one time of playing it? Or does learning from ear only really work if you are learning the tune from a neighbour or someone who you see every month or week at a session? I think that next time I go through the tune with the fan I'll be noting the dots down and getting the best of both worlds!
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