This is me performing a piano cover of Fallin' by Jessica Mauboy. I especially wanted to represent the music of a successful Australian Aboriginal woman, and I felt that Jessica's music was meaningful, accessible and relatable for young people within their popular music cultures.
I challenged myself to learn this piece by ear, without the aid of sheet music. As a classically trained musician this was a complete mind shift for me. I needed to rely on my ear and my memory and think in terms of chords. I listened to this song many times, tuning in to the guitar accompaniment, checking my chords against chord charts on the internet, and observing a few different covers of the piece to see how others have interpreted it. Once I had figured out my own interpretation, I spent hours going over and over the piece to achieve fluency. My main problem was a memory one. I had difficulty remembering where I was up to in the music, what chord came next and how I had arranged the parts. Slowly I was able to gain a mental memory along with a muscular memory. This was a time consuming process, and one which was at times uncomfortable and frustrating. If I had sheet music I would have learnt the piece within a few playings, and mastered it quite quickly. Nevertheless, I feel that the skills I activated in order to learn and play this piece by ear, are important for me to develop as a musician, and this exercise was invaluable.