Piano Lesson: Ear Training

Ear training is especially important if you want to improvise, compose, or figure out song melodies and chords by ear. A good musical ear is an acquired skill, not a gift. And like other skills, it is acquired through practice.

The more we train our ears to recognize this connection, the more we enjoy playing music, because we learn to understand what we play. Here are some questions I am often asked.

Who needs ear training?

All musicians need to train their ears to know what they are playing and to anticipate what they are about to play!

Why train the ear?

Because understanding the sounds we hear will be necessary to:

* Jam with other musicians

* To compose music

* Sing in tune

There are 3 qualities that every good jazz musician should possess:

* a great ear

* a strong sense of time

* has a unique sound.

While there are many different ways to approach these skills, the first two always require a certain amount of practice. The ear can be thought of as a muscle and, to some extent, should be trained as such. Improved ears will lead to better intonation, improvisation, ensemble playing, and transcription skills. With that in mind, here are three great ways to drastically improve your students’ ears and hopefully their playing in general.

Associating a familiar tune with each interval is a quick way to learn the distinctive sound of an interval. For example, a melodic interval can be ascending or descending. Either way, it’s still the same interval. Now, you don’t want to get confused with interval inversions because a minor third will still be a minor third no matter which note comes first.

Intervals can be classified as consonant or dissonant. I can tell you that it is much easier to hear the consonance or dissonance of the harmonic intervals than the melodic ones.

Here is a list showing the relative stability (consonance) or instability (dissonance) of octaves up to an octave.

Consonant: Perfect, unison, m3, P4, P5, m6, P octave.

Dissonant: m2, M2, +4. (o5), m7, m7.

Another soft approach is to describe hollow sounds, such as stark and earthy, Indian drones and Scottish bagpipes or heavy metal rhythm guitars.

Hallow: Perfect unison, P4, P5, P octave. These would be perfect intervals and their inversions.)

Sweet: m3, M3, m6, M6. (thirds and sixths)

There are now active and passive methods of ear training. A passive exercise would be to play two notes in a row and listen to that interval. Sometimes you will be asked to name the next note.

Harmonic intervals can be pierced in the same way. These types of exercises can be performed with chords or chord progressions.

Are you familiar with the underlying scales and the “Do” mobile solfeggio?

It is essential that you learn to sing a chromatic scale. Since chromaticism is prevalent throughout modern jazz, this exercise will improve both intonation and students’ understanding of the genre. As you sing through the chromatic scale, remember to use sharps when ascending and flats when descending.

Rising chromatic scale:

do, do#, re, re#, mi, fa, fa#, sol, sol#, la, la#, si, do

Do, Di, Re, Ri, Mi, Fa, Fi, Sol, Si, La, U, Ti, Do

descending chromatic scale

do, si, sib, a, lab, sol, sol, fa, mi, mib, re, reb, do

Do, Ti, Te, La, Le, Sol, Se, Fa, Mi, Me, Re, Ra, Do

target tones

Target tones are an essential part of any ear training regimen. They force students to listen not only to the tones of the chords, but also to the surrounding tones. Now, many students can sing a major scale correctly, but have some difficulty selecting specific intervals at random.

With regards to scales and scale degrees, the best way to practice this is through the use of target pitches. Here are some exercises:

C, // C, D, C // E, D, C // F, E, D // C, G, A // B, C, A // B, C, B // C

Ear training leads to better intonation, improvisation, band playing, and transcription skills in general.