Ear Training at the Piano – Recognizing Intervals

Ahhhhh, that good old subject of “EAR-TRAINING” ! Can’t get enough of it, wouldn’t you agree? Actually, each and every single time we listen to any kind of music, we’re “training” our musical ears in one way or another – either passively or actively. What I mean is, when you listen to something, you are thinking about it in some way – either as entertaining or analytically or both. Does that make sense to you? So it’s a matter of how we choose to listen – now, let’s talk a little about training ourselves to recognize intervals. Much can be gained from being able to recognize intervals.

I think of “ear training” as “increasing our awareness or sensitivity” to certain aspects of what we’re listening to…

I would like to use a short excerpt from an online coaching session of mine…

“_______________________

……….The concept of “ear training” should be looked at closely; here’s what I have to say about it: I feel that most people, who approach “ear training” as a study, tend to make it more of a job than necessary. Now, I don’t mean that they put too much time into the study of it; rather, the process tends to be “strained.”

______________________________________”

Although it would be pretty challenging for me to provide as in depth an explanation about the process as I am able to in an actual one one of those coaching sessions (one reason being that I cannot use musical examples here), I can at least touch the surface here. What I was referring to when I said “rather, the process tends to be ‘strained.’” was that I feel that the study of ear training often results in the student becoming a bit too judgmental and/or critical toward his or her personal efforts. The way I see it, every encounter with the ear training process should be approached from a perspective of curiosity. It’s been my experience that the ear training exercises often lead an individual to becoming too hard on himself or herself – it shouldn’t be that way – because this kind of “opinionated self-evaluation,” if you will, gets in the way of the process itself. To me, when you are applying the principles of any ear training instructional material, you need to fully accept that you might not be right most of the time – but it’s one’s ATTITUDE toward this that will either lend itself to wonderful leaps of progress – or a limited amount of progress – it’s very important to acknowledge, I feel. Another way of putting it : you can do no wrong – you can only listen and have fun making “sound distinctions” – it must be a game that you feel like you are always winning, regardless of what kind of results you are getting from your efforts. To keep the ears open, the self-judgment must be gone.

Training yourself to recognize intervals will do a world of good for you – really, it will. In the latter part of my 88 Keys To Learning email program, I touch upon some ways to go about this and I’d like to address it here a little right now :

The goal is to eventually recognize those intervals without giving thought to it. To accomplish this, you want to expose yourself more and more to trying to create the distinctions between them when applying yourself. I strongly feel there is much that can be done on your own (especially if you have a resource that you can refer to, such as a private teacher, coach, etc. when you most need it)

There are so so many methods that have been written – which is why I have, up to this point, opted not to write another book or program about the subject – I think it’s been done more than enough – instead, I like to use the personal coaching as a much more personalized tool when it comes to this. The biggest reason being that no book can become acquainted with the way a particular person is THINKING about the process as he or she proceeds – that’s where I come in and have some fun with my online students.

One thing that can be helpful to you: in my online coaching sessions, I like to have you pick one interval to start with. For example, the Perfect 5th – we want to be able to sing that interval from any starting point. So, you might start on C (actually play it on the piano) and sing G above – then test yourself by playing it and see how you did – BEING WILLING TO FULLY ACCEPT THE RESULT YOU GET WITHOUT JUDGEMENT, OKAY? ! Then proceed to C#, etc, until you’ve covered them all – THEN you’ll want to sing down the P5th as well – so do another “round” with these descending 5ths. A round or two a day can be good enough for some – stick with the one interval you choose (in this case, the P5th) for a week or so – you’ll be able to do these in your sleep after a while. Just keep this in mind: IT HAS TO BE FUN – the more fun you make it, the less of a job – the less strain – the most benefit.

Remember, a “musical ear” is really the ability to make sound distinctions – our ears are the vehicle of transportation of the sound, but it’s our brain that’s doing the work – and we want to be empathetic with our brain’s current ability – be a friend to yourself throughout the whole process; make it a game – that’s the ticket!

Your enthusiasm for learning more and more will get you to the point you want to be – just keep staying curious – and MAINTAIN A HEALTHY LEVEL OF APPRECIATION FOR WHERE YOU ARE AT – ALWAYS! I’d write that a hundred times here if I knew you’d read it a hundred times:o) Please read that again…. here, I’ll make it easy:

MAINTAIN A HEALTHY LEVEL OF APPRECIATION FOR WHERE YOU ARE AT – ALWAYS!

And, of course…

Practice With Passion!

Related Earrings Articles