Street artists and melodies

[SILVIA]

I was wondering if it happened to any of you as well to listen to a street artist playing a melody, probably an old classic like Can’t help falling in love or What a wonderful world, on his/her instrument and while you felt the magic of music filling the street you happened to think that the melody notes sounded innacurate here and there…if you experienced this what are your thoughts about it? Any street performer reading this that can explain how this works?

[Jozsef]

Yes, it happens, especially when it’s a beggar or other poor people playing very out-of-tune instruments. It’s unfortunate, but I’m not the kind of person to start lecturing them about proper tuning. I think they have bigger worries than that.

[SILVIA]

Hello Jozsef, I wasn’t actually referring to this kind of situation, but to seemingly accomplished musicians with some basic tech-setting as well and pretty decent instruments too. They play so many melodies in a row with no music sheet and create such a magic atmosphere and give joy to many people and… yet my ear … this is not in the least a judging point of view, if not a positive and grateful one…I’m just curious to know how they do that, what happens there to play so beautifully and yet not accurately. I just hope this doesn’t sound too silly

[sequences]

Hi @SILVIA,

I had a related question a few weeks back. I was told it is NOT about learning scales and intervals. hmm.
Not an answer, but not not an answer.

Recalling Major Scale Notes

Hi Richard, Thanks for the comments. For some background, I am enrolled in Justins Music Theory and I was also watching Stevie Ray Vaughan Tin Pan Alley (with Johnny Copeland) - YouTube and thinking about how these guys know what to play. I took a long weekend off which affords me time to think of these things. I have seen CAGED in my reading in several places. I know it is in my future but I haven’t been that far in the lessons yet. Good to know it will be a part of the ans…

There may be some things to interest you in that discussion.

[Jozsef]

Ah OK. We don’t really have that kind of buskers around here, at least not where my way usually leads. Maybe it’s just a one-off mistake on their part, but if it sounds good, it becomes “their version” of the song

[SILVIA]

It’s not unusual over here, especially if there’s a fair or some kind of event in the summer - I live close to the sea - maybe with fireworks at night, or over Christmas time etc.

I found this short video on my smartphone which is a good example of what I mean; my husband and I were visiting Lago d’Orta, a little gem in the north of Italy, very close to the much wider Lago Maggiore, it was the end of April this year and was Bank Holiday as we celebrate Italy’s liberation from Nazism on the 25th of April (just digressing)… anyway we were sitting on a bench in front of the lake eating our slice of pizza and having a beer and there was this saxophonist who really made the time we spent there super sweet…and yet I would have sang those songs differently if I had to sing them with my voice.

Lago d'Orta

@Jozsef

but if it sounds good, it becomes “their version” of the song

Absolutely

[SILVIA]

I will check it soon as I’ m so interested in scales and theory! But I never allowed myself to practice them too much because I could not make music out of them. Now I’m just starting to understand something…maybe…and I’m practicing just the easy C Major in open position.

[DarrellW]

I think that I know what you’re saying now, but I think from what I hear this is a bit of ‘artistic license’ what was being played by bending notes up or down slightly out of pitch to suggest a mood, it’s commonly used in some types of music.