Ready, set, go – no test notes!
This is Part III of a three-part article on how ear-training improves your sight-reading. If you haven’t check out parts one and two, start with Part I.
Hearing Your Opening Entrance
The first two articles in this three-part series explain how learning the fundamentals of relative pitch automatically and permanently improves your sight-reading. Essentially, by learning and engraining each of the musical intervals you develop a capacity for reading music ‘note to note’ – just as you learned to read your written language ‘word to word.’ However, we still need to address the issue of hearing your initial entrance. Therefore, this final installment outlines how learning the ‘clues’ of relative pitch will speed up the development of this performance instinct.
1) Hearing Your Part In An Ensemble
Aside from learning each interval as a separate musical element, another subcategory of relative pitch deals with the sounds of what are called scale degrees. These scale degrees are simply the way each note of the keyboard sounds in relation to a major scale. These scale degrees are assigned numbers which denote the distance from that pitch to the root note of the scale.
For example, here is the C major scale with each note of the scale numbered one through seven. This system of labeling each note – the scale degrees – using numbers is the same as solfège. The only difference is that we are naming the degrees with numbers rather than spoken syllables (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1 = do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do).
Scale degrees in C major. Do = 1, re = 2, mi = 3, etc.
1.1) Each Scale Degree Has A Unique Sound
By learning the intervals thoroughly, you can’t help but pick up the sounds of these scale degrees as a nice aside. And while each scale degree can be thought of as some interval up or down from ‘1,’ it’s important to recognize that each scale degree – like the intervals – has it’s own unique and predicable feeling. What this means is that if you are playing in an ensemble and you know:
- Your scales (note spellings in each key),
- What degree each note is in that scale,
- And the sound of each scale degree…
…you will know what every single note on your sheet music is supposed to sound like.
And just so you know, this is a strange thing to explain but an easy thing to know. So, if these claims don’t make total sense just yet, just trust that they are true.
2) Hearing Your Entrance While Playing Alone
Without some musical context to give you relative pitch ‘clues,’ all trumpet players need to develop a sense of where each note lies on the instrument. After playing long enough, this kind of happens on its own. But, an established sense of relative pitch speeds up the process – by a lot. This is because ear-training essentially makes you a more talented musician. And your talent largely dictates the amount of time it takes to develop reliable musical instincts.
Besides, even if you don’t know what the first note is supposed to sound like, you will – in most cases – by the second note of the melody. But that’s only if you know the intervals! For example, if you were to play the example below – and, say, start on an A rather than an E – there wouldn’t be another tone waiting for you a perfect fourth up with that same fingering. So, within two notes you’d spot the error and be able to self-correct. The better you are at spotting and correcting errors, the faster you improve as a trumpet-playing musician.
Ok, Ok. But, Can’t I Just Use A Tuner?
Now, all of this interval practice seems like a lot of work, right? I mean, couldn’t you just use a tuner instead? They only cost, like, 20 bucks.
To that I will simply say that I have known many hobbyist trumpet players that insisted on using a tuner. And no matter how long they continued to play, they still couldn’t tell the difference between an E or an A. Believe it or not, I’m not trying to be an arsehole. It’s just true. Besides, learning the intervals only takes about 15 minutes a day. And once you’ve got it, the retention is permanent!
Convinced Ear-Training Will Help?
If you’re starting to suspect that ear-training will make you a better, more-fluent and intelligent trumpet player, be sure to check out BTB’s ‘Ear-Training for Trumpeters.’ It’s a self-paced, ground-up approach to learning the intervals backwards and forwards. Once you finish the course, you’ll have permanent awareness of relative pitch that’s always working for you in the background – guaranteed.