Anyone have any suggestions on how to go about re-training tin ears?
I have a hard time hitting the right note if I’m trying to work out a piece by ear. I can hum the tune ok, but when I try to play it without using music I don’t hit the right notes - I’ll sometimes be off by a note or two. I can tell its not right when I play it.
I can play from written music pretty well, and do OK with a piece if I’ve played it a few dozen times and have it memorized.
I thought perhaps there might be some drills someone might suggest to develop ear-to-brain-to-fingers accuracy.
Repeat, repeat, repeat…I play by ear only so far, and when I am learning songs I will hit the wrong notes, but after a few repetitions my fingers get comfortable with where they are supposed to be. Make note of a few key transitions (as in “vital”, not music key) throughout the piece to make sure you are on track.
Is the problem more of a “I am misstepping when I am trying to learn a new piece”, or a “I know the piece by heart but can never find the notes on the first try”, or a “I end up in a completely different key then where I am supposed to be”?
The first one: you should work through the melody a few more times till you are comfortable with it
The second: repeat, repeat…
The third: This one gets me sometimes unless I am dead sure of the first note. Memorizing finger placements for the first few bars helps me here.
I would suggest you contact the music department of your local college to see if there is an instructor who gives private lessons. Explain your desire to be able to improve your ability to ‘ear-out’ tunes and see what they suggest. I think it would be money well spent to take a few lessons and get some professional musical evaluation.
I’m with Tony. Most colleges will have some sort of ear training course. It takes a huge amount of practice, but your ability to tell when it’s wrong gives hope. You aren’t tone deaf, you just lack training. They’ll probably start by teaching you to sing in solfedge, pitch numbers, or some similar system. Ear training courses are usually geared for vocal performance and reading, but the abilities transfer directly to instruments, especially simple ones like the whistle.
Good luck–let us know how it works if you decide to try it!
Bob,I would recommend seeking out someone adept in the art of throat singing who can teach you the basics…learning this technique was for me a revelation and eventually led me to whistle playing.There is a fascinating film called Ghenghis Blues about throat singing in Tuvla you might like to check out.Learning this technique enabled me to become aware of overtones I never new existed and really helped to fine tune my ear and if anyone is interested I can post this as a new topic.If this is too left field for you I would suggest,although it will be painfull,that you refrain from using notation for some time and learn some new tunes only by ear:) Mike
[ This Message was edited by: mike.r on 2001-09-24 07:01 ]
I would like to hear(read) more on this throat singing. I’ve seen/heard it done but have no idea how they do it. Is there a way to learn it without a teacher? Thanks a plenty.
It all starts with scales. Make sure that you can play, on a D whistle, the D major, G major, and E minor scales. (While you’re at it, Bm, E dorian, and A dorian, D mixolydian and A mixolydian would be good ones too, but that can come later.)
Pick a tune that you can hum or hear clearly in your head. Pick a starting note. The right starting note can be difficult, but for the moment just pick anything. Hum the first note. Hum the second note. Work your way up or down the scale from the first note to the second note. You can number the notes of the scale, and then the number of the note you end up on is the interval. For example, if you end up on scale note 3, the interval is a third. I recommend that you do this both without an instrument, writing the notes down as you find them (either using standard notation if you know it, or using scale numbers if you don’t.), and with your whistle. Now go from the second note to the third, etc.
What happens, if you work at this enough, is soon you don’t have to count the intervals anymore, you just know them. More practice will make you fast at it.
The reason I strongly suggest a teacher, besides my desire to stimulate our sagging economy, is that having it demonstrated is much easier than having it explained. Joe’s suggestions make perfect sense to someone who already knows how to do it, though!
Personally, I don’t know if I’d have the self-discipline to do it on my own, especially if I weren’t sure what I was doing.
I went through this when I was about 12. I don’t think it’s about discipline so much as obsession. (I was pretty intense as a kid.)
Joe
On 2001-09-24 15:24, WyoBadger wrote:
Good ideas, Joe.
The reason I strongly suggest a teacher, besides my desire to stimulate our sagging economy, is that having it demonstrated is much easier than having it explained. Joe’s suggestions make perfect sense to someone who already knows how to do it, though!
Personally, I don’t know if I’d have the self-discipline to do it on my own, especially if I weren’t sure what I was doing.
Tony and Wyobadger - I agree, I know some professional music folks I can ask for help. I know a high school music teacher, and my daughter’s Suzuki teacher. Also, I’m going to do more research on Solfedge etc. One of them already pointed me towards http://www.earpower.com as a resource. Theres probably others.
MikeR - I appreciate the suggestion, I understand the value of the concept, but I think I’ll hold off on the throat singing for now - my wife is already making suggestions about the type of professional help I need. I do see the wisdom in refraining from notation for a while. I’ve got some L.E. McCullough CDs I can use for this (121 Irish Session Tunes).
Jomac - Looks like an approach I can do pretty easily. I’m gonna try it. Still not sure about recognizing tones i.e. hearing someone play 440 hz and recognizing it as an “A” not a “B” or “G”. Maybe the Solfedge or pitch numbers will clear that up. Or maybe I need to practice scales a lot more.
And discipline is not an issue - everything I’m doing is for fun. Its interesting, like figuring out a puzzle. Plus, I feel like I am slowly but surely improving.
Also, I’m not completely doing this on my own - I get a lot from this web site.
When I was taking ear training in college (Two years of it) with Art Davis (played bass with Coltrane) and Alan Remington, they explained an article they came across. The article explained that hearing pitch (being able to hear and understand what the notes are and thier relationship to each other, in other words intervals, or even being able to hear a single note and identify it) is a physical matter. Like bones and finger nails, the ear drum has a hair like fiber structure. The denser (More) the fiber the more sensitive the ear. May have something to to do with natural musical ability…hearing it at least. The fingers are a whole nother matter. Just wanted to add this to the intresting topic. I do believe ear trainig is the single most important practice in music.
Happy whistling-Jack Orion
This isn’t intended to recognize tones that way, that’s what they call perfect pitch. What my method does is develop perfect RELATIVE pitch: given one note (somebody plays it for you and identifies it) you can instantly, effortlessly identify any other note they play. So when I learn a song by ear, say from a CD, I have to figure out first what the first note is. After that, I just know what the other notes are, as long as I can hear it in my head.
I can often do what you said, however. I seem to “remember” the sound/pitch of my bass G string. So working from that, I know any other pitch using my “relative” pitch shtick.
Jomac - Looks like an approach I can do pretty easily. I’m gonna try it. Still not sure about recognizing tones i.e. hearing someone play 440 hz and recognizing it as an “A” not a “B” or “G”. Maybe the Solfedge or pitch numbers will clear that up. Or maybe I need to practice scales a lot more.