Tag Archives: singing

How to Play Music by Ear

Many people ask me, can you learn to play by ear or is it something you’re born with? I personally believe that everyone can improve their ability to play by ear. Some people just have an innate sense that allows them to play by ear without much effort, while others will have to work harder at it; the bottom line is, anyone can learn to do it.

Now there are limits to what you can achieve. If you’re tone deaf you probably won’t get to a level where you can transcribe Charlie Parker solos but you can definitely train your ear and improve.

The single most important thing you must do to train your ears is sing. Last week we talked about Why You MUST Sing Your Music and this topic has parallels. I was very fortunate to study solfeggio, which is sight-singing with the syllables (Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do). When this is sung correctly it quantifies all the pitches in a scale. But you can do the same thing without having to practice sight-singing for years.

Try and quantify the pitches within a scale. Take a song that you know and try it out. The example I give in the video is Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. If you break down the first note in the song you can begin to construct the other notes around it by simply singing up and down in pitch. For example, take Yellow Submarine in C major so it starts on a G. To find the next note, determine whether the pitch goes up or down (in this case it goes up) and find the next note – which is A. When you get to the next note, it drops dramatically in pitch so it’s a bit more difficult to find. If you had years of theory training you might be able to tell it’s a perfect fifth, but even if you have no training at all you can figure it out by going down step-wise through the scale. Sing the pitch of the note in the song to yourself and then sing the pitches of the scale going down one by one until the pitch matches (which in this case is a D).

With a little bit of practice anyone can learn to interpret and play music by ear. You just need to start singing and testing yourself!

Thanks for joining me, Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com

How to Sight Sing Intervals – Music Lessons

This is a very interesting topic that someone asked me about the other day. It’s not that hard to sight-sing scales and it can be very beneficial to gaining a deeper understanding of your music. But the question is, how do you practice sight-singing intervals? Other than sight-singing a wide range of music, how is it possible to become better at sight-singing intervals that aren’t just one note apart as in scales?

You will see a demonstration in the video that accompanies this article that may help you achieve comfort in singing all of your intervals! I highly encourage you to watch the video for a thorough understanding of these techniques.

The first exercise (that I actually learned as a child) is based upon the notes of a major scale going up by a third and down by a step over and over again until you reach the octave above. Then go backward going down by a third, up by a step on and on until you are back on the starting note an octave below. This is extremely helpful in hearing and singing thirds.

Later in life, I wondered why stop at thirds? So (with some prompting from my father) I expanded my horizons to other intervals! First, try going up by fourths, down by thirds again and again as before – then reaching the top and going down by fourths and up by thirds which brings you back to the starting note. This is a challenging exercise which is very helpful for understanding other pitch relationships. If you are brave, you can go through all of your intervals in a similar manner. It gets progressively harder – wait until you try sevenths!

At first, this will be a great challenge. But eventually, you will become fluent with all of your intervals utilizing these exercises. You will get to a point where you will begin to comprehend the notes of music you hear because you will have mastered all diatonic pitch relationships.

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

Why You MUST Sing your Music! Piano Lessons

Singing might often be overlooked by most musicians but it’s an essential component in musical development and education. When it comes to piano, you can produce a tone without hearing it first. Singing is the absolute opposite of this – you must hear the notes first or you can’t possibly sing them.

Singing lends more to music than you might think. Like we talked about in our video this week, the breath and the cyclical nature of things weave its way into music. Understanding this relationship is extremely beneficial to a pianist and that’s why if you are a piano major at a music conservatory, you will have to either play an instrument in the orchestra or sing in the choir. Adversely, if you play an instrument or sing in the choir, you will need to learn to play the piano!

The tone the piano produces is a sharp attack, a quick decay, and a slow descending sustain. Music, on the other hand, is produced in round phrases – much like singing or breathing. That’s why it’s always a good idea to sing along with your music while you are learning it. It might sound silly but it’s an extremely helpful tool to get you to understand how the music should be played and heard.

In the video accompanying this article, I play the Chopin Prelude in E minor. I demonstrate the benefits of singing the melody while playing the chords. By singing your parts you will start to understand the structure of the music like you never have before; it’s enlightening.

I really can’t recommend this technique enough. It’s something that every pianist must do as it helps enhance your understanding of music and will greatly benefit your playing. There is no substitute for this technique so even if you cringe at the sound of your own voice you should do yourself a favor and sing along – I guarantee it will help!

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com