DIVING DEEPER INTO COMPOSITION

(part 10 of 20)

Ear Training

The ear can be trained alone at the piano (or even purely in the mind, though that takes more effort). An example of where to start:

1. Invent a little melodic pattern with three different notes on the piano.
2. Sing the pattern several times, matching pitch as carefully as possible.
3. Rearrange the three notes in the mind and sing them, then check pitch by playing it on the piano. Do this several times.
4. On the piano, add a new fourth note to the original pattern.
5. Sing the expanded pattern.
6. As in step #3, rearrange the now four notes in the mind and sing them, then check pitch by playing it on the piano.
7. Add a new fifth note, and so on.

Another exercise:

1. Play a C and sing it.
2. Now sing an ascending C major scale without the help of the piano, hold the top C.
3. While still singing that top C, play the C on the piano to check pitch. Repeat those steps.
4. Periodically reinforce the entire scale by singing each note and then immediately after playing each on the piano.

Eventually try that with different modes and non-Western scales, checking pitch on any uncertain notes. Go slowly. The singing tone doesn’t need to be great, but the pitch should be as accurate as possible.

Try singing a one octave chromatic scale, again holding the top note and checking pitch with the piano. It’s a good idea to break it into small bits at first, playing the piano to reinforce what is about to be sung: C, C#, D… D, D#, E… C, C#, D, D#, E. And so on.

Sing while improvising. Try to match the melody, then switch to singing the bassline. Sing a sustained drone while improvising around it. And most important: Make up other exercises as difficulties arise. If something’s too difficult, simplify it. Build up gradually. Take breaks often. It’s a very slow process, but it’s a crucial skill for music composition.

There’s a huge amount of ear training software these days. Much of it focuses on listening to and identifying intervals, scales, chords, and rhythms, as well as notating randomly generated melodies. There’s a free ‘interval ear trainer‘ at musictheory.net and a recommended Android and iPhone app is Perfect Ear. These are good resources, but singing at the piano with customized exercises and while improvising is most useful.

It’s typically much easier to hear something in the mind than it is to accurately sing it, or to play it on an instrument. So as skill increases–singing more complex music with less need to check pitch on the piano–it will become easier to play and notate musical ideas that are dreamed up. It’s common to have a musical idea in the mind, but struggle to sing it or find the right notes on the piano. The mind has a way of skimming over imperfections so they’re not noticed. What sounds perfect in the mind might only be an approximation. This can be frustrating when trying to sing or play it. Training the “inner ear” will ease that frustration.

As audiation and improvisational skills increase, so will the ability to improvise in the mind. Hearing harmonies and multiple voices in the mind is more difficult, but that too will come with persistence (well, hopefully not hearing actual voices…).

Next

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Index

• Introduction
• Why Piano?
• Improvisation:
  • Performance-Improvisation vs Composition-Improvisation
  • Learning to Improvise
  • More Improvisation Techniques
• Notation:
  • Computer Notation
  • Learning Notation
• Related Skills/Knowledge:
  • Music Theory
  • The Artist Trains the Mind’s Eye, the Composer Trains the Mind’s Ear
  • Ear Training
  • Musical Form
• Composition:
  • Getting Started with Composition
  • More on Baroque Dances, Simple Forms, & Repetition
  • Composition Exercise using Baroque Dance
  • More Advanced Composition
  • Other Forms
  • Counterpoint
  • Aesthetics
  • Writing for Other Instruments
  • The Elusive Creative Flow