15 Ways to Make Ear Training Fun

Susan Loy-Milletics Musical Skills Leave a Comment

 

Training your ear to have good relative pitch is essential to basic musicianship.  A musician must have a good ear to play in tune with others, to play with correct intonation and to create music, whether by improvisation or composition.  As with practice, to achieve a good ear, you have to work at it every day.  But for some people, ear training drills are not enjoyable and thus, are avoided.  But it doesn’t have to be boring, there are many ways to make ear training fun.

Let go of fears and make ear training fun!

I find instrumental students are often embarrassed to play by ear or sing because they are afraid to play wrong notes.  Or they are afraid their voice is terrible.  Maybe you feel the same way – I know I did for a long time.  To get past the fear, it’s simply a matter of bypassing the ego, by making ear training fun.  And, the best way to move from frustrating to the fun is to have a playful attitude and be willing to try different approaches or games.

Tips to make ear training fun and increase your creativity!

1. Listen to a favorite song or composition and pretend you are playing along on stage with the group.  Many people will be more comfortable in using familiar music.   Sing or hum along with any part that catches your attention, such as the melody, the bass part, the rhythm or the harmony.  Then try playing that part along with the music.  As soon as you’ve figured out the key or melody or whatever goal you set for yourself, move on to the next song or piece.  I also recommend that you set only one ear training goal for each session.

2. Challenge your ear with the unexpected by playing along with the radio.  What if you want to jam with a group of friends, but you don’t know any of the music?  Practicing playing along with unknown music is a great way to become more comfortable with the situation and to increase your ear’s response time.  As before, grab any part of the music – melody, bass, harmony, rhythm – and play along.  Once you know what’s going on with the music, change the channel.  To really benefit, try this approach with musical styles that are not familiar to you.  Listen to pop, classical, opera, country, hip-hop, oldies, jazz, r&b, any style to broaden your experience musically.

Be silly.

3. Sing a little song to your cat, dog or fish and then find it on your instrument. Sometimes I take a melody I already know and assign new words.  Gershwin’s “Summertime” becomes my cats’ “Suppertime” song.  By singing a melody with my own words in a relaxed way, I make a stronger connection between my voice and the melody in my head.  And then it becomes easier to find on my instrument.  Allowing yourself to sing in a silly, non-judgemental way allows creative ideas to flow in easily.  Who knows, maybe your cat or dog will sing back!

Be serious.

4. Create an Interval Challenge for yourself or students and focus on one interval for each day or each week. In that day or week, listen closely for every example you hear of that interval.  Observe music on the radio, on television, in advertising, and anywhere around you.  Notice if the interval is ascending or descending.  Make note of what music you like that uses that interval.  Then use that interval in your practice session.   For example, if your “Interval of the Day” is a major third, practice chromatic major thirds up and down.  Play the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in all keys.  Try to figure out other melodies that start with a major third interval.  Jazz musician and creator of the jazz play-along system, Jamey Aebersold, has an interval chart that lists the jazz tunes that start with all the chromatic intervals.

Helpful Guides:

At the site www.jazzbooks.com, you can download the Free Jazz Handbook PDF.  You will find the really cool interval chart on page 22 of that PDF.

Or you can watch and listen to this video on YouTube that repeats all the chromatic intervals using songs.

Jamey Aebersold’s Ear Training book is also helpful.  It comes with a CD that has drills on all the intervals, chord qualities, and for the more advanced, chord progressions.  Plus there is an answer sheet–perhaps you should hide that!  Each interval has a separate track, so it is easy to focus on a particular interval.  And you can listen to the CD when you are doing something mundane, like house cleaning.

Another good book on the topic of ear training is Roberta Radley’s The “Real Easy” Ear Training Book (Sher Music Co.)   This is more of a textbook with a focus on learning to hear harmonic chord progressions.  The book has many activities, two CDs with audio files for listening, an appendix with the answers (hide this part!), and suggestions for transcribing.  Many of the music examples are from popular music, so this is an appealing textbook for those with an interest in the pop music industry.  There are some fun activities included, like “Stump the Band,” where students step into the teacher role.

Television tunes are written for the ear to remember.

5. Learn classic television theme songs. There was a time when every television show had a memorable melody which served as a signature tune.  In homes where the television was left on, you could be in another room and hear your favorite show’s theme song.  That would be a signal for you to drop what you were doing and go watch the show.  Nowadays with On Demand and streaming, the idea of a signature tune is less important.   TV tunes are often familiar, not terribly long and typically have a tuneful and catchy melody, making it easier to remember.

A search for TV Tunes on YouTube yields  99 videos of Classic TV Tunes at one channel.

Catchy 70s and 80s TV Tunes here

And for the adventurous, Music from Twin Peaks: The Return!

Yes, a lot of television music is available in print.  But, it is fun and satisfying to learn them by ear.  Starting with shorter melodies and working up to longer compositions to play by ear or transcribe, will build confidence in your ability!

And if you need to slow it down a bit, you can get software programs, such as the Amazing Slow Downer by Roni Music.

Or, Song Surgeon, which is more expensive, but has more capabilities

Use visuals to stimulate your musical imagination.

6. Watch a YouTube video (or DVD) with the sound turned off and play or sing some music to go with the video.  It’s like accompanying a silent film, without the anthology books.  While not specifically training your ear, it boosts your creativity.  Here you can focus on using your musical imagination to set a particular emotion or mood or characterization – just like a film music composer does.

Play well with others.

7. Practice with a friend and play some ear training games.   Play call and response back and forth.  Similar to the alphabet game, the first musician plays or sings a short phrase and then the second player must answer, but starting on the last note of the first player.  A wonderful book with a wide variety of musical games at different levels is Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians by Jeffrey Agrell (GIA Publications).  These games are great for the private studio, rehearsals, classroom or in your own practice sessions.

By the same author, Jeffrey Agrell is Improv Games for One PlayerThis book is not as comprehensive as Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians, but it is less expensive and will give anyone’s ears a boost in practice!

Classical musicians want to have fun improvising, too!

If you have a chamber music group, I can highly recommend From Sight to Sound: Improvisational Games for Classical Musicians by Nicole M. Brockman (Indiana University Press).  I suggest the book for chamber music groups because it deals not only with aural improvement but communication skills and musical understanding, which is essential for anyone in a small group.  I used games from this book with a saxophone quartet at a summer camp, and it was a lot of fun for the students.

There is rising interest from classical musicians wanting to improvise, so you will find that there are several other books available on the same topic.  Spontaneous composition is very liberating and the greatest self-expression in music.  While improvisation has deep roots in historical music, recent trends insinuate that improvisation is only in the domain of the jazz musician or rock musician.  But I believe that improvisation is for all musicians, regardless of genre or style.

Let technology help!

8. Get friendly with your tuner.   Play or sing something slow and lyrical with the tuner on and your eyes shut. Randomly hold out a pitch and guess if it is sharp or flat or in tune.  Open your eyes and face the truth.  Use the tuner to play the pitch with good intonation, then sing the correct pitch with the tuner.  Play the phrase again, and see if you can hit that note spot on.  Being aware of where the note is in tune and hearing it in your head is essential.  This is particularly challenging for extremely high or low pitches that might be out of your singing range.

9. Get a pitch-pipe or a Pocket Tone device and sing in your car.  Or while you are walking the dog or anywhere the mood strikes you.  Practice matching pitches and singing intervals.  Some musicians work on being able to sing and hear a concert “A” pitch anytime.

10. Put your digital technology to work by using a  free website ear training program like Earbeater.  Love to play with your smartphone or tablet?  Load an ear training app like Ear Trainer, which is at the app store on iTunes.  And on Google Play, there is My Ear Trainer.

11. Create your own play-along tracks using Garage Band or Band in a Box.   Both software programs have a lot of various capabilities and possibilities for fun!  With Band in a Box, you can also see the bass line, piano, drum, guitar, and solo part – so you can check your work if you are trying to figure out what they are playing.  There are many style soloists available with Band in a Box; if you like a particular solo you can also print it out

Rhythmic awareness is a part of ear training, too.

12.  Listen for interesting rhythms around you to imitate or put in compositions. Crazy as this may sound, I recently heard a motorcycle idling and it struck me that it created interesting rhythms.  They were rather syncopated and somewhat cyclic, but not completely predictable.  And it made me think that the rhythms of life around us are musical, too

13. Listen to some world music – West African drums, Asian or Indian music – Shake it up, baby!  Become aware of how the music is different from traditional Western music.  Notice complex rhythms and different use of pitches.  Here is a short tutorial video from YouTube illustrating some basic African drum rhythms and improvisation.  Here is a video of a Classical Indian Raga from YouTube.

Ear training doesn’t stop in rehearsals!

14. When playing in a group, pretend your ears are as large as Dumbo’s ears.  Try to scoop up every bit of musical information around you.  Try to compare your intonation with those around you and notice parts you never heard before.  Another tactic is to listen to orchestral or concert band music on the best earphones you can afford.  Try to hear everything.  Notice the range of dynamic levels.  Listen for the less obvious inside parts.  Become aware of the relationship between various parts.   Consider the role of silence in the piece.  Track where the melody or main motives are heard.  You can think of it as a puzzle for your ears if you like!

And at last, the 15th tip for having fun training your ears!  Play or sing duets with a friend. No friends?  Play a duet with yourself.  Record one part on your smartphone or computer and play the other part with it.  Or record yourself playing long tones, a scale, anything and you practice improvising on top of it.

Say “Yes!” to being creative and improvising!

Remember, your music doesn’t have to be in a jazz style – the goal is for you to express yourself and establish your own style.  Keep these basic ideas in mind for yourself or for students who are ear training:

  • Don’t be afraid – make mistakes and learn from them.  Jamey Aebersold says, “There are no wrong notes, only poor choices.”  David Baker used to say in his improvisation classes, “Let fo of your ego.”
  • Play or sing with your best tone.  Experiment.  Learn.
  • Make your first goal to simply open up your ear and just become more aware of sound, rhythms, harmonies, melodies and intervals.
  • Sing!  Even if you sound like a walrus, sing!  It is the most direct connection to your ear.  Singing is the most valid way to verify that you are truly hearing a tone, melody, interval, harmony or rhythm.
  • Be curious.  Be playful.  Make it fun!  Do not judge yourself in the process.  There is real freedom in becoming comfortable playing by ear.
  • Most of all, have fun!  The journey to your goal is not half the fun, it’s ALL the fun!

And for those of you who are procrastinating practicing, here are some more articles and websites on ear training  for you to explore:

www.musical-u.com

http://makingmusicmag.com/how-to-train-your-ear-for-perfect-pitch/

http://www.wikihow.com/Train-Your-Ear

http://www.jazzadvice.com/how-to-use-pop-tunes-to-improve-your-ear/

 

Keep Music in your heart and in your ears!

 

Susan

 

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