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A Path to Overcoming Musical Insecurity

Before diving into the nitty-gritty of how to train your ears, I want to share that the reason I am so passionate about encouraging you to gain the practical benefits of ear-training is because learning these sounds completely and permanently transformed my experience as a trumpet player and musician.

Prior to dedicating myself to learning the fundamentals of relative pitch, I always felt that something was missing. Like, I was disconnected from the music as compared to my seemingly more-talented peers and basically getting lucky as a player. This left me feeling painfully insecure as a sight-reader as I was often unsure of what the notes on the page were supposed to sound like.

However, once I knew how the song sounded, my confidence was restored. But unfortunately, that didn’t help much on the first few go-rounds. And believe you me, I got more than my fair share of funny looks from composers and directors over the years. (‘I thought this guy could play?’) Finally fed up with my shortcomings as a player, I set out to explore that aspect of musical training that I had avoided so long for fear of failure: ear-training.

Not really knowing what to do (or whether it would work), I dusted off a set of relative pitch ear-training tapes that I had laying around and started with track one. I worked through the lessons just about every day and I’ll be real with you – it was tough going, especially in the beginning. Most of the time I didn’t feel like I was getting any better. And even as i passed each lesson, it never really felt like I was ‘getting it.

Why Most Ear-Training Efforts Fail

Over time, what I came to learn is that this initial ear-training experience is common and necessary. In my case, the transformative effects of all that ear-training came in a single ‘beautiful mind’ kind of moment some months later. I was sitting in a production pit for ‘The Secret Garden’ when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, I knew what everyone in the orchestra was playing around me. Just like that, all at once.

Without a blind dogged determination, a lack of understanding this process is why most ear-training efforts fail. And adults, in particular, struggle to establish the freedom that a well-trained ear grants – not because it’s difficult (it’s not), but rather because you must be willing sit with the ‘not knowing’ long enough for the ear to work itself out. Craving instant results (and thinking they can intellectualize their way to the finish line), most give up before the information has had enough time to sink in.

This lack of bite-sized, long-term advancement is also where most methodologies fall short. Either there is no guidance through the days and weeks of ‘not getting it,’ or the curriculum moves through the sounds too quickly, overwhelming the ear. Incidentally, this is why many collegiate graduates finish their studies without an established sense of relative pitch. (Following the syllabus in a class setting does not allow the individual enough time to thoroughly absorb each sound before moving on.)

Instead, the best way to train your ear is to take one sound and learn it thoroughly at your own pace. Then, as that sound becomes familiar, you add the next, continuing until you’ve got a full set.

The Ear-Training for Trumpeters Method

The goal of Ear-Training for Trumpeters is for you to learn the musical intervals so thoroughly that you come to know them as a feeling. That way, this awareness is operating for you on a very deep level and will actually make a difference to your in-the-moment trumpet playing. 

The crux of learning the intervals so deeply is repetitive listening. That’s really all there is to it. The object is to begin to recoqnize the sounds as easily as knowing your best friend’s voice on the telephone. And in just the same way that you learn the sound of your best friend’s voice by hanging out with them, you learn to recognize each of the musical intervals by spending time with those sounds.

Ear-Training for Trumpeters introduces you to each interval by learning to ‘spell’ and memorize all of the available note combinations that create that sound when played simultaneously or back-to-back. Then, you practice the sound of the interval using the course outlined study techniques until it is familiar to you. As you study, quizzes and tests are included each and every step of the way so there’s no question as to when it’s time to move on.

Once you have the first two intervals under your belt, you move into the practice of learning to identify the intervals quickly through a series of 84+ rapid-fire, mixed-interval identification drills. As the first two intervals become well-known, you add another, gradually increasing the number of intervals contained in each drill. This trains the ear to identify each unique interval regardless of musical context and as its own unique musical character. 

The study of speed recognition is what sets you apart and permanently transforms your musical awareness. The speed of the drills leave no time to think. And because of this, your mind learns to recognize these musical patterns without needing to. In other words, you learn the intervals ‘cold.’ Then, as these sounds move deeper into the mind, you’ll discover every aspect of your musicianship leveling up.  

You, Too, Can Have Incredible Ears

The incredible benefits of ear-training are not reserved for the talented few. All it takes to learn these skills are ears, the ability to follow a normal conversation, and about 15 minutes a day until the training sinks in.

Additionally, the lessons of Ear-Training for Trumpeters have been written so that even someone with no prior musical training can move through the lessons and learn to understand music in this way. The only difference your current level of proficiency makes is in the time it takes to complete the course. By the end, you’ll have built up a complete musical awareness of each interval from the ground up and gained all the practical benefits.

• Easier to remember melodies
• Hear the music you’re seeing on the page – and then ‘sing it’ through your trumpet
• Read music silently in your head (like you’re reading the paper)
• The confidence to nail the notes ‘cold’ (without test notes)
• Learn new music on the fly by sight or sound
• Hear a melody and play it back instantly
• Improved musical concentration
• Quickly transpose melodies to different keys
• Write out a melody you hear without an instrument
• Learn songs in your head – just by listening
• Never wonder if you’re playing the right note again
• Focus on playing musically, rather than worrying about whether or not you’re going to hit the right note
• Listen to music and have everything seem crystal clear (it’s like getting glasses for the first time)

Ear-Training for Trumpeters Course Format

Your ear-training lessons can be accessed on any device with an internet connection. Plus, the speed-recognition drills are downloadable so you can take your ear-training with you on the go.

Here’s how the lessons look on the computer and iPhone, respectively: