I’m thinking about taking singing and piano lessons. There’s an opportunity to do so in my town—is it worth taking these lessons to improve my breath control when playing the harmonica, as well as to develop my general music theory and musicality (e.g., playing by ear)?
My take is the more the merrier. ![]()
I find that poor as I am on each of my instruments, experience on each helps provide insights for the others. YMMV. We are all different.
PS. I only started on this active music thing around 6-7 years ago, after nearly 60 years of believing that my teachers had been right when they labelled me tone deaf, so I‘m no expert, just some guy having fun making music, instead of just listening to it.. ![]()
@oldprogrammer0x01 No doubt ALL musicians benefit from singing and piano lessons, regardless of what instrument they play.
If you can sing it you can play it.
And it all makes sense on a piano.
Hope that helps. Rock on! ![]()
Absolutely agree with @DavidW’s take on playing music! I feel the same way. Just have fun playing the music you love. I have gotten so much enjoyment from playing several instruments, including piano, and singing. I agree with @Luke that piano helps to make sense of it all. I have learned some theory along the way, too—not a plan, just asked questions to help me understand what I was trying to play/sing. I’m not an expert, either, but it’s been so much fun!!
@oldprogrammer0x01 : I hope you decided to take the lessons. It would be good to hear how it’s going for you! ![]()
Never too old to learn my friend
After see this reply, I’ve booked the first lesson at local private music college. Now I’m waiting for a contact from my music teacher. I’ve decided to start with piano/keyboard and focus on music theory. I plan to start playing the harmonica from sheets not tabs and later by ear.
Maybe in the future I’ll be able to play jazz :). This is my dream for many years. I have some books and other materials and chromatic harmonica EasyTop Forunner 2.0 as well.
But firstly theory, ear training and blues as a fundaments of jazz music ![]()
Thanks to encouragement me, I’ve appreciate it!
An excellent decision !! I wish that I had started in this way.
Yesterday I had my first music theory class. I have carte blanche when it comes to the scope of the material. Which theory topics do you think are essential, and which ones can be skipped?
My goals are:
- be able to play music from sheet only (not “translate” to tabs),
- be able to transposition from another melodic instrument,
- be able to “generate” a good backing tracks (or find it at forum and be able to value it’s correction or not) in iRealPro,
- and last but not least be able to play music from ear.
I have books like “Music Theory for Dummies” and “Blues Harmonica for Dummies” and I plan to add them to my learning with my teacher. My teacher isn’t familiar with harmonica, so we focus on piano/keyboard as our primary instrument for theory lessons. But it isn’t an issue, I can learn harmonica specific things by myself.
@oldprogrammer0x01 #1 takes some time, but it’s very straightforward in most cases. For #4, there are computer programs and phone apps for ear training. For general ear training, I use a phone app called Chet; for harmonica bending training, I use Bender Trainer. Both have worked well for me—even five minutes of ear training a few days a week does wonders in a few weeks!
I don’t know much if anything about #2 and #3.
Interesting that you mentioned books! I was going to post today asking about everyone’s “harmonica library.” I just bought “The Harp Handbook” (3rd edition) by Steve Baker. I’ve read the first couple of chapters, and I really like it. I had “Blues Harmonica for Dummies” a couple of years ago, but I somehow lost it! I would like to know about other good books out there on the harp (and not just instructional texts: Baker describes “The Harp Handbook “ as more like a reference book, and that’s been useful for me).
The other day, I heard an accomplished musician say that singing while we play another instrument helps to connect yje sounds with our motor memory. Playing the harp while we play another instrument may well do the same.
The challenge is to sing while play the harp
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