 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2005-03-22 13:19
Many threads here mention hearing the music and playing along, Ralph G and his swing band, for example, i.e., "playing by ear".
Although I am sure there must be a substantial element of native talent in this which not everybody is blessed with, is it at least in part a learnable skill?
If so, can anybody suggest exercises, or some sort of "method" to try?
The goal is to, in effect, find out how much, if any, of that "talent" is lurking beneath the covers, so to speak. And then maybe develop it somewhat.
Or else just settle for reading music.
JDS
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Author: majakr
Date: 2005-03-22 13:54
Yes there are different methods to exercice this.
One is: play intervals! Before you play a certain interval tray to imaging how it will sound like (or sing it). When playing interval, listen carefully to the intination. This exercice will improve your capability to hear and distinguish intervals.
It is also helpful to regulary play easy tunes without notes. Do this in different scales. Also play the same tune not thinking of the melody but of the harmony of the tune. Then play variations of the tune (e.g. change from minor to major or vice versa, etc.)
Cheers,
Martin
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2005-03-22 15:46
Dang straight it's a learnable skill. All music majors have to take aural training classes to learn this very thing. First thing they teach you is solfege -- just learning do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do and gradually mixing up the changes between the intervals. Eventually they add accidentals to the mix. Pretty soon it becomes second nature. Additionally, my instructor would play simple melodies on the piano and we'd have to transcribe them. Plus all kinds of other exercises I can't remember, including (wince) solo sight-singing in solfege. Do this for three hours a week over two semesters and there's no way not to learn it.
I was fortunate in that I could do this stuff even in high school, so I breezed through aural training. For most of my classmates, though, this was totally foreign to them. But everybody made it through.
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
Post Edited (2005-03-22 15:47)
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2005-03-22 18:05
"Buy a play along recording. Play through with sheet music. Then gradually memorize. Each day start with a tune you know. Learn 10 tunes and play them with a play along recording. Beyond this....start very simple transcribing. You might also try "call and response". Have someone play a short melodic idea...you repeat it. Also have someone play a tune for you. Learn this melody from them.....they play....you duplicate.....short bits first and then tie it all together. It doesn't have to be perfect at first....just an approximation. Intellectualize at your discretion but don't overdo it. You should know the key......let nature and your body take over.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: ron b
Date: 2005-03-22 19:27
You're already blessed with the 'talent', John. You've been using it all you life. Playing by ear is exactly like learning any language, by repetitive imitation.
I don't remember off the top of my head who originated this, not I for sure, but it's true that we learn to talk before we learn to read.
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
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Author: diz
Date: 2005-03-22 20:27
Certain intervals can be learned by association easily, too ... for example a third - use the opening two notes of Brahms' 4th symphony. A fourth the first two notes of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusick. A minor third, the first two notes of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto ...
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-03-22 22:33
Solgege in college! Geez, when I went to grade school we learned that but we called it our Do,re, mi's .....
Bob Draznik
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Author: ken
Date: 2005-03-23 03:29
Welcome to the club Ralph ... you hipster. Doing just what you did by playing what you hear is COOL 101; on the drawing board it's "the ability to hear theoretical concepts internal or audible and develop them using perfect and relative pitch". But, the REAL challenge is integrating the "technical with the conceptual"; demonstrating a huge repertoire base and vocabulary where the tunes and ideas flow endlessly and the Real Book stays in the trunk.
Learning by singing and transposing scales, chords, and progressions also build lasting skills. I would urge anyone to incorporate these fundamentals into their practice routine.
Pity, not all of us can be Brecker, Daniels, Evans, Cannonball or Coltrane --- besides, it's hard enough living up to the impossible musical demands and expectations we place on ourselves. v/r Ken
Post Edited (2005-03-23 23:49)
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2005-03-23 13:24
It is pretty standard that commercial/jazz players have to learn tunes. Ask any jazz player what key or keys are common for a tune....say "All the things you are" and they will have answers. Learn tunes in the standard key first. Jazz courses include learning tunes. There have been many articles in magazines on this topic. You should have a general idea about the tune....what key is it in.....what is the starting note.....certain difficult areas for example large intervals or an unusual bridge. I would suggest learning dixieland tunes on clarinet. Again if you can play with a play along recording...it is better than unaccompanied. Contact someone who is a good dixieland player and take a lesson....or study with a piano player and record the sessions. Keep it simple....start with easy tunes....even now I'm sure you have a repertoire of licks that you use when testing reeds....even if it is noodling....that a start. good luck
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: clarinetgiggirl
Date: 2005-03-24 15:31
You can learn to do it - I struggled terribly to start with, but its getting easier and easier.
I took a simple melody and note by note, copied it until I could play it by ear. When I started, I had a lot of help from a friend of mine who would play bits of tunes very slowly for me to copy. I also found that it was easier to transcribe melodies from recordings of him on clarinet with no other instrumentation to distract my ear. Transcribing from different instruments was near impossible when I started learning.
Nowadays, things are much easier, though I do "cheat" and use a computer programme to slow things down a bit when I need to.
Its a great skill to have. Essential for improvising and a brilliant side-effect is that it is much easier to memorise tunes learned by ear than read and much easier to transpose them into different keys. Good luck!
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Author: music_is_life
Date: 2005-03-24 16:15
ooh ear training! I have been in music theory for 3 years, so I'm no expert, but I think I could give you some advice on what has helped me!
amazingly, singing helps SO much! If you can sing it, you can play it. in many festivals that I have been in, the conductor has us sing our parts- sometimes he wants us to sing all the correct notes (in tune) as well as the rhythm. then afterwards, play it, and we sound much better after that.
I wish I could remember what the ear-training computer program is called that I use...i could get back to you on that. but essentially you can decide how hard you want it to be, and it plays intervals (either seperately, or at the same time), and you have to decide if that particular interval is a Major 2nd or something. it's a great program and REALLY helps train your ear.
and then there are some common songs that fit into intervals... like a Perfect 5th is the star wars theme... a major 3rd is "twinkle twinkle little star"...a tri tone (either augmented 4th or diminished 5th) is "maria" from "west side story", etc. if you can hear those songs as you listen to the intervals you can identify them better, and voila! ear training!
another thing- I was auditioning to get into Hartt school of music (anyone hear of it?) and one of the placement tests included some rhythm and some tone...but I think both would be considered ear training. anyway- the rhythm one played a simple rhythm, then embellished it (twice) and you had to decide whether they were in fact the same simple rhythm but with more notes, or not at all the same. And to do that, you had to keep hearing the rythm in your head, even though more notes were playing. And the same for the one based off of tone. You'd hear a simple tune, then it would be embellished and you would have to determine which one was in fact an embellishment and which wasnt the same at all. and again, you hear the tune in your head and ignore the other notes playing. but guess that was possible for me because of my ear training, and I am supposing you are not at that point yet??
I also recommend learning solfege. I still dont have it down cold, and I'm sure I would be better at sight-singing if I did. though I have done significantly well with what little I do know. you just have to know what an F is going to sound like in relation to a D in the Key of D minor, for example. that comes with practicing intervals and, well...training your ear so it knows what it's supposed to sound like.
sing scales and arpeggios (and etc.)
-Lindsie
Post Edited (2005-03-24 16:19)
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Author: music_is_life
Date: 2005-03-24 16:49
Brenda wrote:
> "Twinkle twinkle little star", Perfect 5th.
whoops! momentary lapse of reason...
-Lindsie
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Author: allencole
Date: 2005-03-24 16:59
Singing is a very good start indeed. My ear really took off when I was in eighth grade and was placed in an adult church choir. Singing bass not only helped me get used to following the 'bouncing ball', but also got me used to chordal root motion.
On your horn, start with very simple songs in simple keys.
Each note of the scale has a tonal feeling of its own (check out the "Do Re Mi" song from "The Sound of Music") and you listen for familiar feelings as you hum simple songs.
I usually start students off by having them play "The First Noel" in conjunctioin with their scale study. They are told that the song starts and ends on the third note of the scale. (the song is like a long scale run, except for a very few jumps)
Two Rules:
1 - Notes do 3 things: Go up, go down, or repeat themselves
2 - In most songs, notes move between adjacent pitches in the scale. Just move up and down the scale until you hit a point where it ceases to work.
When jumps occur, there are two methods to solve them. First, try jumping 2 notes, then play again jumping 3 etc. until you hit target. Second, play the notes you know and hum the note you need. Then match the note you're humming on your horn.
When attempting to play songs by ear, frequently play your scale to refresh it in your fingers and ears.
Here's a good way to begin identifying scale elements by ear. Sing to the end of a song (most songs end on the root note of the scale) and then start to sing the next verse/chorus. See if you can tell what note of the scale the song begins on, by comparing it to the note that the song ended on. Check your guess by singing a scale upward from the last note of the song to the first note of the next verse.
Very quickly, you will start to hear all sorts of scale and arpeggio fragments in songs that will help you in playing by ear.
Allen Cole
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2005-03-24 17:21
A wonderful collection of advice and good counsel.. Thank you indeed.
May we push things back one notch, to "remembering" what you have heard?
Any tips for musical memory building?
I seem to be able to "reproduce" (in my head) a few bars, but then the fog closes in and can't think/feel/hear/"see" the next notes at all. I can find them by pure trial and error and when I hear the note actually played I'll say, "Oh, so that's it". But that is hardly gonna get me thru many melodies in my lifetime.
Is a fair part of muscal talent the ability to remember and "hear" complete melodies all the way through? (Musical genius creates them, too, but that is another story.)
JDS
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