Bbc Play It Again, Last episode this evening Options

[sarah-flute]

I forget exactly, but it was basically that it being the Royal Academy of Music, he was only happy with the "music" bit of that. He was a bit snotty about the "royal" and the "academy", as others have said, having studied at a prestigious university I felt that was a bit stupid.

I agree with the negative comments, sadly. I didn't necessarily agree with his teacher's presumption that "the early stuff isn't/can't be fun" but besides that she quite clearly knew her stuff and was very patient with him, trying to give him a good solid foundation, and it seemed like he genuinely couldn't hear that what he was doing wasn't sounding good - or that the people he found who "they taught themselves, so can I!" obviously listened to the sound they were making and knew what was and wasn't good, whereas Oddie seemed to assume that it was ok as long as he didn't sound that bad.

I did feel he wasted the opportunity he was given, and the whole programme was slightly disappointing.

[skylark]

I also thought his comments about the Royal Academy of Music were ridiculous

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) What a philistine!




Wikipedia:

A person called a Philistine is said to despise or undervalue art, beauty, intellectual content, and/or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to favor forms of art that have a cheap and easy appeal.

It was his veneer of arrogance that wound me up - including his rather silly comments about the RAM.

I missed the programme and now I'm itching to know what Bill Oddie said about the RAM. Can someone tell me please enlighten me?

I forget exactly, but it was basically that it being the Royal Academy of Music, he was only happy with the "music" bit of that. He was a bit snotty about the "royal" and the "academy", as others have said, having studied at a prestigious university I felt that was a bit stupid.

I think it was even more stupid that this, if my memory is correct. I think he said he couldn't relate to any of the words in the phrase "Royal Academy of Music", except perhaps the word "of". He then said what his problem was with each word.

How utterly puerile. You'd expect somebody who is supposed to be intelligent to be able to see the bigger picture.

[sarah-flute]

Your memory of it is probably clearer than mine, skyers...

Bah. What a shame to end the series on that note after it sounds like the other episodes were great.

[andante_in_c]

I really really enjoyed this episode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) I thought it was a great example of how not to teach an adult (or even any) learner. Finding out why and how he wanted to play would have been a good start, rather than teaching a relatively random series of chords because that was how the teacher was taught. Priceless!

[dacapo]

I really really enjoyed this episode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) I thought it was a great example of how not to teach an adult (or even any) learner. Finding out why and how he wanted to play would have been a good start, rather than teaching a relatively random series of chords because that was how the teacher was taught. Priceless!

That's not how I remember the first lesson. I thought she identified a song that he really wanted to play (was it Knocking on heaven's door? - I didn't know it so may have got the title wrong) and taught him a chord sequence to support it.

[TSax]

I really really enjoyed this episode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) I thought it was a great example of how not to teach an adult (or even any) learner. Finding out why and how he wanted to play would have been a good start, rather than teaching a relatively random series of chords because that was how the teacher was taught. Priceless!

That's not how I remember the first lesson. I thought she identified a song that he really wanted to play (was it Knocking on heaven's door? - I didn't know it so may have got the title wrong) and taught him a chord sequence to support it.

That's what I thought too, and weren't the chords he started with (CAGED) chosen because they were open chords on guitar (don't know not a guitarist) rather than a random series?

Of course the program was heavily edited too, so although we didn't see the initial discussions about why and what he wanted to play with the teacher it doesn't mean they didn't happen. As viewers we saw those bits in various sequences at the beginning of the programme as Oddie was introduced. It may well have been decided that showing those conversations with the teacher would only duplicate what we had already seen.

I wonder how much, if any, Oddie's attitude to his teacher was influenced by the fact that she didn't fit the stereotype of the typical electric guitar rock hero.

[sarah-flute]

I thought also that she was trying to get him playing stuff that he wanted to play - Knockin' On Heaven's Door was his suggestion if I remember rightly... she asked him specifically for suggestions and picked up on one that she thus knew he liked, and knew from her own experience was suitable.

I also distinctly remember Oddie saying he didn't like the sound he was producing for that song, and she demonstrated that with the same good technique and ringing chords, she could twiddle a knob and produce the sound he was looking for, whereas he seemed convinced that the way to do it was his way, ie not stopping the chords properly which gave a similar but very ugly sound. & even after that he decided in his wisdom that she was wrong.

(I did also think it was a bit dumb, though not BO's fault as it wasn't necessarily something he would've automatically known, that no one thought to get him a basic acoustic to practise on while he was working... surely a whole lot better, for practising chords and just staying familiar with the feel of the instrument, than just not playing for days at a time.)

Of course, it is impossible to know exactly what went on considering we saw an hour's footage of a 6 month experiment.

[gwu]

It was his veneer of arrogance that wound me up - including his rather silly comments about the RAM.

I missed the programme and now I'm itching to know what Bill Oddie said about the RAM. Can someone tell me please enlighten me?

I forget exactly, but it was basically that it being the Royal Academy of Music, he was only happy with the "music" bit of that. He was a bit snotty about the "royal" and the "academy", as others have said, having studied at a prestigious university I felt that was a bit stupid.

I think it was even more stupid that this, if my memory is correct. I think he said he couldn't relate to any of the words in the phrase "Royal Academy of Music", except perhaps the word "of". He then said what his problem was with each word.

How utterly puerile. You'd expect somebody who is supposed to be intelligent to be able to see the bigger picture.

Thank you sarah-flute and skylark. Bill Oddie's comments re the RAM must have been a bit of a clanger as his teacher, Bridget Mermikides, completed a masters there.

[andante_in_c]

I really really enjoyed this episode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) I thought it was a great example of how not to teach an adult (or even any) learner. Finding out why and how he wanted to play would have been a good start, rather than teaching a relatively random series of chords because that was how the teacher was taught. Priceless!

That's not how I remember the first lesson. I thought she identified a song that he really wanted to play (was it Knocking on heaven's door? - I didn't know it so may have got the title wrong) and taught him a chord sequence to support it.

No, the chord sequence for Knockin' on Heavn's Door was different: it included an Am7 as I recall. When I started guitar (years ago) I began with chords which could be used for a number of songs: G, C and D7, and progressed to adding others as needed. It got us singing and playing straight away (even if it was Grand Old Duke of York!).

[buckley56]

I really really enjoyed this episode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) I thought it was a great example of how not to teach an adult (or even any) learner. Finding out why and how he wanted to play would have been a good start, rather than teaching a relatively random series of chords because that was how the teacher was taught. Priceless!

That's not how I remember the first lesson. I thought she identified a song that he really wanted to play (was it Knocking on heaven's door? - I didn't know it so may have got the title wrong) and taught him a chord sequence to support it.

No, the chord sequence for Knockin' on Heavn's Door was different: it included an Am7 as I recall. When I started guitar (years ago) I began with chords which could be used for a number of songs: G, C and D7, and progressed to adding others as needed. It got us singing and playing straight away (even if it was Grand Old Duke of York!).

Re Bill Oddie on Play it Again.
Most of the comments have already been made and I agree with most of them.
Oddie gives the impression that he hates everybody, but wants everyone else to love him.
The CAGED lesson that Oddie received was not exactly correct. Although these are open chords on a guitar,
the CAGED system is actually for remembering the other positions on the fretboard for these five chords. Basically by just remembering the word CAGED. It works well if you're familiar with barre chords up the fretboard. Not relevant to Oddie!!! Anyway he behaved exactly the way I thought he would - i.e. an arrogant little man with a bad attitude - his daughter was barely any better either!!