Fear-training.
I mean, ear-straining.
Uh, ear-training.
For those of you who have tried ear-training in the past – with disappointing results – this article is meant to help you understand why it may not have ‘worked.’ Then, we’ll explore how you can ensure that your time spent ear-training actually makes a practical difference to your trumpet playing.
So Many Methods, So Few Results
With no shortage of methods, apps, tips and tricks for learning the fundamentals of relative pitch, you’d think we’d all have ears like Mozart. Yet, when meeting someone who can look at a piece of music and sing it out loud – or notate a simple melody without an instrument – it appears to be more of a magical super-power than anything else.
So, with so many available methods for learning these skills, why do so few possess them? Assuming we are all prepared to study a bit each day, it’s useful to examine two possible reasons: either the method is subpar, or not enough time is taken with each step along the way.
Even Music Majors Suck at Ear-Training
When I was in college, all incoming music majors were required to take four semesters of ‘aural skills.’ These classes were intended to teach the student the basics of relative pitch. Or, recognition of the sounds – and corresponding note names – when two or more musical tones are played together.
For some reason, these classes – which deal with such an abstract topic – are always at, like, 8 o’clock in the morning. And as if crawling out of bed isn’t already hard enough for many musicians, attempting to take musical dictations solely by ear (at the butt-crack of dawn, no less) was especially challenging.
The thing about these classes that tends to overwhelm musicians is that few are taught the basics of relative pitch before getting to college. And as the semester went on, you could pretty much split the students up into one of two sub-groups:
- Those who easily aced everything (because they already knew it).
- And those who were in completely over their heads by the second week (and didn’t learn a goddamn thing all year).
But, somehow, we all passed. Then, we were off to pay for that next round of credits! 😉
Even Post-Grad Musicians Suck at Ear-Training
After undergraduate studies, I attended graduate school at yet another university. One of the first things entering grad students had to do was take an aural skills placement exam to determine who might need a little extra help. I guess they figured this would be necessary.
After taking the test, many of us – myself included – ended up in the ear-training ‘refresher’ course. And looking back, I don’t seem to remember a single person in that class who could accurately sing a written melody. But, by the end of the semester, we all passed. It was an ear-training miracle!
Learning Takes Time
It wasn’t until after finishing my ‘formal’ education that I sat down with ear-training and really gave it a go. At the time, I was undergoing an embouchure change and needed a way to improve my playing that didn’t involve bashing my face in.
One of my main discoveries during this period was that without enough time to properly internalize each relative-pitch morsel, you don’t stand a chance at retaining the information. For example, a college semester is about 16 weeks long. And, if you were only required to learn the twelve chromatic intervals during that time frame (which you’re not – there’s a lot more), that’s just over a week to internalize each sound.
The problem is, you can’t dictate how long it takes to learn. And maybe I’m a slow learner, but I seem to remember it taking more like a month for each interval. And oh yeah, I was fresh out of school, single, sans children and up to my ears in free time. The point is that if the semester moves more quickly than your ear – you’re screwed.
Interval Recognition by Song Association
Another problem with ear-training is that the popular methods of ‘learning’ the intervals are more like methods of ‘meeting’ them. For example, relating the sounds of the intervals to familiar melodies may get the beginner acquainted with these sounds, but in the end, it may also leave gaps in the ear’s awareness. This makes the time spent practicing less helpful in a practical, musical sense.
To show you what I mean, sing the lyrics to ‘Here Comes the Bride.’ The interval between the first two notes – ‘here comes’ – is called a perfect fourth. If you know how to sing ‘Here comes the bride’ – and you know the interval between ‘here’ and ‘comes’ is called a perfect fourth – then you know one of the intervals!
Now, since you’re on a roll, let’s add one more. Our second interval is called the perfect fifth. The sound of the perfect fifth is the sound – or distance – between the first two ‘twinkles’ in ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’
Interval Comparison Test
Now – just for fun – let’s test your ability to distinguish between the fourths and fifths. This test is about three minutes long and contains nothing but perfect fourths and perfect fifths played harmonically – or, both notes at the same time. In real life, these intervals are played harmonically and melodically – one note after the next – in both ascending and descending order.
To ‘pass,’ you are allowed only one mistake. Any more, and you need to retest until you can make it through the entire tape with just one error. If you find yourself confused, let the tape run and allow the sounds and corresponding answers to imprint themselves on the mind. This is a big part of effective ear-training, so you may as well get in a little practice while you’re here.
Harmonic Fourths and Fifths Speed Recognition Test:
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How Did You Do?
Some of you may have passed this tape with 100% accuracy. If you did, that indicates these intervals have been thoroughly internalized.
However, if you had trouble, that is normal. This level of familiarity is not common – even among highly-trained instrumentalists. But, if you want your awareness of the intervals to make a practical difference in real musical situations, they must be internalized to the point of thought-free recognition. Because, if you have to think, it won’t make too much difference while you play.
Learn It Once And You’re Done
Once you have truly mastered the sounds and possible note combinations of each interval, tests like the one above are as easy as telling the difference between a cat and a dog. That’s because each interval has a unique quality. And once you learn that quality thoroughly and regardless of musical context, you will know it for the rest of you life.
How to Learn the Intervals (For Real This Time)
Learning the intervals to the point of them becoming a feeling – so that you make accurate snap-judgments – is easy. All you have to do is take your time, learn each interval thoroughly, one at a time, and then learn to recognize them quickly with drills like the one above.
To begin, pick an interval. Then, become accustomed to the sound of that interval by playing it on the piano or any instrument that allows you to sing along while you play. Play and sing the interval from any and all notes, both up and down. You can sing the name of the interval as lyrics. For example ‘perfect fourth’ where ‘perfect’ is the first note and ‘fourth’ is the second.
Singing the interval name as lyrics will get you familiar with each interval’s sound. However, if you want your establishing sense of relative pitch to make the biggest difference to your trumpet playing, you need to understand what are called musical ‘spellings.’ These spellings are simply the names of the notes on the keyboard, and how we use different enharmonic spellings to label each interval. When you know the sounds and possible note-spellings of each interval, your sight-reading, instincts playing by ear and musical dictations improve automatically.
‘Ear-Training for Trumpeters’
If you find this interesting, check out BTB’s relative pitch ear-training course, ‘Ear-Training for Trumpeters.’ ‘Ear-Training for Trumpeters’ is a step-by-step, bite-sized and graduated approach to learning all of the chromatic intervals – so that it actually makes a difference to your playing. By the end of the course, you are guaranteed to recognize the fundamentals of melody and harmony instantly, accurately and without thought.
Check it out: ‘Ear-Training for Trumpeters‘