From Terry K. : What I've noticed is that "ear" pianists usually have a very simple left hand, probably just vamping two block chords, which is perfectly adequate for accompanying your friends singing. Whereas most written piano music has bass patterns usually consisting of single notes, and is to me the most difficult part of playing piano. So my question would be, OK, I can understand you playing the treble clef melody by ear, but how do you go about putting a suitable left hand to it? S: Thanks for this. I'm running up against just that issue. I'm attempting to deal with it by learning bass lines from a video that comes with written score, hoping I'' be able it to transfer some patterns to what i do by ear.

From CapriUni: …been fascinated with the ideas around literate cultures (cultures based on writing) and oral cultures... ...YoYoMa mentioned Indian musician who didn't read music learned/perceived music differently. ... He couldn't start playing the piece in the middle, but once he heard the whole thing once through, he knew it cold. S: I've noticed this with me in singing. If i'm asked to reproduce a certain passage (for the pianist & me to get it right) I have to sing it from the beginning. The "right thing" always seems to be the relatiionship to what goes before & after, not a "stand-alone". And: I wonder if there is a left-brained/right-brained thing going on, wih reading & decoding words and music are mainly activities of the left frontal lobe, and spatial (musical?) relationships are the domain of the right. Musical notation may have given the Western cultures complex harmonies, but our rhythms are pretty simple compared to Arabian music, for example...

S: I have suspected something like this, & I'm so glad i brought the question here. (The music-teacher member of our group doesn't see any validity to the idea), which has been slowly dawning on me as i note the differences between her approach and sound -classically trained, and our 2 members who ONLY do aural, and have color and rhythm seemingly "in them", which Kathy ("the musician") doesn't seem to hear,or be able to reproduce. I am also listening to our taped practices, and thinking that my simplistic ear-playing (Kathy & I play piano on different pieces) is sounding at times, much closer to what i would like our accompaniment to sound like someday. I intellectually find this hard to believe, but am not surprised, actually.

From the Shambles: In a purely musical sense I think generally the results of notation not to be such a wonderful thing at all. But it is swings and roundabouts as you say - syncopation has saved us. S: Thanks, I believe it.

From Pict: (this is what I was hoping I would hear!!) Sight reading is useful but a good knowledge of theory is far more useful I learnt by ear then gradually learnt theory if I had to do it again I would do it in exactly the same order.I think being able to play what you hear in your head from solos to large structures is the best point to get to musically and in music the ear rules supreme. S: YAY!!!

From A1: I definitely think playing by written notes (which I used to do with woodwinds) and playing by ear involve opposite sides of the brain. In my case, the cross-communication between sides is kind of slow sometimes. S: I do know I am a very right-brain person. A larger and more interesting question i'd love to know more about is further implications, behaviorally, between pen-&-paper cultures, and aural. Maybe I'll read CapriUni's refs. (I already read Shlain's book- it was excellent, and he came close to making his point, which was very counter received wisdom in this culture we're all operating in)