How to learn Irish tunes by ear from a session recording
Learning tunes by ear is fun, but I don't do it with my ears alone. I learn most by hearing someone else play a tune, following the score while they play, then trying it myself. This is that method, one phrase at a time.
By Wiktor · Updated
Pick one tune and one recording
Pick a tune you want to hear again, ideally one your session plays. Use a clear recording. One fiddle or whistle is far easier to follow than a full pub with five instruments and people talking over it.
If your recording is a whole set, find where your tune starts and ends. You don't need the name to start learning it. Tune Companion can suggest one, but check it against what you hear, because names and settings vary.
Sing it before you play it
Put the instrument down. Listen a few times, tap the pulse and notice where the melody repeats. Most session tunes have an A part and a B part, each played twice, but don't force a tune into that shape if it doesn't fit.
Then hum a phrase back. Your voice doesn't matter. If you can't sing it without the recording, you don't know it yet, and hunting for it on the instrument will take longer than another listen. People skip this step more than any other, and I think it matters more than any other.
One phrase at a time
Work out the first short phrase. Find its first note, then the next few. If your player can slow the recording without changing the pitch, use that to hear the detail, then go back to full speed for the feel.
Play the phrase from memory, learn the next one, join the two, and only then move on. Keep the rhythm right even when the fingering is easy. Right notes in the wrong rhythm take longer to fix later than wrong notes do.
The B part
Same process. Listen for phrases it borrows from the A part and for the point where it turns back to the start. Practise the last few notes of each part going into the first notes of the next.
Then close the recording and play the whole tune slowly. When you stall, find the exact spot instead of restarting from the top. Write it down, "B part, second phrase", so tomorrow's practice starts there.
Keep the score next to you
Having the music in front of me helps a lot, even if all it does is show me where I am. Watching the notes go up and down while someone plays tells me which way the next phrase is heading before I've heard it properly. Compare your playing with the recording and the score: the rhythm, the phrase endings and any note you keep getting different. Remember that a score is one person's setting. When it disagrees with the player you learned from, the player isn't necessarily wrong.
Leave rolls, cuts and variations until the plain melody is solid, then add them one at a time. The next day, try the tune before you press play. Whatever you can't remember is what to work on.
Take it to the session
Play along with the recording once you can keep up. Then play without it, and practise coming in after a phrase of listening. At a session you'll rarely be the one who starts the tune, so this matters more than playing it from the first note at home.
At the session, listen for their version and play only while you can follow. If it's too fast, sit out and keep working on it. One tune learned well from the people you play with is real progress.
Keep learning
Pick your next tunes from my 20 tunes for your first session, then look at the sets players save together. Every session plays its own versions, so check with the people you play with.