{"id":11575,"date":"2023-10-16T19:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T23:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/?p=11575"},"modified":"2023-10-02T11:41:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T15:41:40","slug":"play-by-ear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/","title":{"rendered":"Play by Ear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11576\" src=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg\" alt=\"Play by Ear--hands on piano keys\" width=\"550\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg 550w, https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear-432x270.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a>My sister received most of our family\u2019s piano ability. She plays by reading music, plus she can play by ear. If she hears a song, she eventually <a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/figure-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">figures out<\/a> how to play it.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>To play music by ear means to play without looking at printed music.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I have a hard time playing with or without the written score.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Play by ear also means to act without specific plans or rules.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We decide what to do as we go. Rather than worry about details, we<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Remain flexible.<\/li>\n<li>Adapt to the circumstances.<\/li>\n<li>Take <a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/one-step-at-a-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one step at a time<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Deal with events as they arise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We <a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fly by the seat of our pants<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Some of us do well playing by ear. Others desire more organization.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We want to know:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>What are we to do?<\/li>\n<li>When are we to do it?<\/li>\n<li>How do we do it?<\/li>\n<li>Who will help us?<\/li>\n<li>What happens every step of the way?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Whether we prefer to plan or not, we can make beautiful music with our lives. <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Every day offers opportunities to:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Do our best.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage one another.<\/li>\n<li>Worship God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cI will sing\u00a0and make music\u00a0to the\u00a0Lord\u201d (Psalm 27:6 NIV).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Thanks to Cindy Shoemaker for the suggestion and to Gail Gosser for the photo.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.us5.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=11983df7ac45be83499003741&amp;id=1797662da7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email<\/a>\u00a0and receive a free copy of \u201cWords of Hope for Days that Hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My sister received most of our family\u2019s piano ability. She plays by reading music, plus she can play by ear. If she hears a song, she eventually figures out how to play it. To play music by ear means to play without looking at printed music. I have a hard time playing with or without the written score. Play by ear also means to act without specific plans or rules. We decide what to do as we go. Rather than&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,9],"tags":[677,923,2050,2846,470,561,889,2845,925,127,1190,293,2844,495,2842,2843,20,249,938,268,276,486,924],"class_list":["post-11575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relationships","category-self-improvement","category-wisdom","tag-devotion","tag-diana-derringer","tag-encourage","tag-flexible","tag-god","tag-idiom","tag-idioms","tag-improvise","tag-life-lessons-from-english-expressions","tag-music","tag-opportunities","tag-organize","tag-piano","tag-plan","tag-play-by-ear","tag-play-it-by-ear","tag-relationships-2","tag-rules","tag-self-improvement","tag-success","tag-talent","tag-wisdom","tag-words-wit-and-wisdom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Play by Ear - Diana Derringer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My sister plays the piano by reading music, plus she can play by ear. I have a hard time playing with or without the written score.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Play by Ear - Diana Derringer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My sister plays the piano by reading music, plus she can play by ear. I have a hard time playing with or without the written score.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Diana Derringer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/diana.derringer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/diana.derringer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-16T23:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Diana Derringer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Diana Derringer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Diana Derringer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b\"},\"headline\":\"Play by Ear\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-16T23:00:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\"},\"wordCount\":261,\"commentCount\":10,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"devotion\",\"Diana Derringer\",\"encourage\",\"flexible\",\"God\",\"idiom\",\"idioms\",\"improvise\",\"Life Lessons from English Expressions\",\"music\",\"opportunities\",\"organize\",\"piano\",\"plan\",\"play by ear\",\"play it by ear\",\"relationships\",\"rules\",\"self-improvement\",\"success\",\"talent\",\"wisdom\",\"Words Wit and Wisdom\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Relationships\",\"Self-Improvement\",\"Wisdom\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\",\"name\":\"Play by Ear - Diana Derringer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-16T23:00:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"My sister plays the piano by reading music, plus she can play by ear. I have a hard time playing with or without the written score.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/\",\"name\":\"Diana Derringer\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b\",\"name\":\"Diana Derringer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98cae3bc33ed358692775eb07341ebdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98cae3bc33ed358692775eb07341ebdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Diana Derringer\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Diana Derringer is an award-winning writer and author of Beyond Bethlehem and Calvary: 12 Dramas for Christmas, Easter, and More! Hundreds of her articles, devotions, dramas, planning guides, Bible studies, and poems appear in 40-plus publications, including The Upper Room, The Christian Communicator, Clubhouse, Kentucky Monthly, Lookout, and Missions Mosaic, plus several anthologies. She also writes radio drama for Christ to the World Ministries. Her adventures as a social worker, adjunct professor, youth Sunday school teacher, and friendship family for international university students supply a constant flow of writing ideas. Visit her at dianaderringer.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Goodreads, Pinterest, and her Amazon page.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/diana.derringer\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/dcderringer\",\"https:\/\/linkedin.com\/in\/dianaderringer\",\"https:\/\/pinterest.com\/dianaderringer\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/DianaDerringer\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Play by Ear - Diana Derringer","description":"My sister plays the piano by reading music, plus she can play by ear. I have a hard time playing with or without the written score.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Play by Ear - Diana Derringer","og_description":"My sister plays the piano by reading music, plus she can play by ear. I have a hard time playing with or without the written score.","og_url":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/","og_site_name":"Diana Derringer","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/diana.derringer","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/diana.derringer","article_published_time":"2023-10-16T23:00:48+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Diana Derringer","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Diana Derringer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/"},"author":{"name":"Diana Derringer","@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b"},"headline":"Play by Ear","datePublished":"2023-10-16T23:00:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/"},"wordCount":261,"commentCount":10,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg","keywords":["devotion","Diana Derringer","encourage","flexible","God","idiom","idioms","improvise","Life Lessons from English Expressions","music","opportunities","organize","piano","plan","play by ear","play it by ear","relationships","rules","self-improvement","success","talent","wisdom","Words Wit and Wisdom"],"articleSection":["Relationships","Self-Improvement","Wisdom"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/","url":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/","name":"Play by Ear - Diana Derringer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-16T23:00:48+00:00","description":"My sister plays the piano by reading music, plus she can play by ear. I have a hard time playing with or without the written score.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/play-by-ear\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Play-by-Ear.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/","name":"Diana Derringer","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/85ed7222acffaa85dc5eba46656ab96b","name":"Diana Derringer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98cae3bc33ed358692775eb07341ebdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98cae3bc33ed358692775eb07341ebdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Diana Derringer"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Diana Derringer is an award-winning writer and author of Beyond Bethlehem and Calvary: 12 Dramas for Christmas, Easter, and More! Hundreds of her articles, devotions, dramas, planning guides, Bible studies, and poems appear in 40-plus publications, including The Upper Room, The Christian Communicator, Clubhouse, Kentucky Monthly, Lookout, and Missions Mosaic, plus several anthologies. She also writes radio drama for Christ to the World Ministries. Her adventures as a social worker, adjunct professor, youth Sunday school teacher, and friendship family for international university students supply a constant flow of writing ideas. Visit her at dianaderringer.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Goodreads, Pinterest, and her Amazon page.","sameAs":["https:\/\/dianaderringer.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/diana.derringer","https:\/\/instagram.com\/dcderringer","https:\/\/linkedin.com\/in\/dianaderringer","https:\/\/pinterest.com\/dianaderringer","https:\/\/x.com\/DianaDerringer"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11575"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11645,"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575\/revisions\/11645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}