By Mitch Rice
It is quite an obvious fact that when your musical ear is bad, you need to go for training to correct it. However, what most people do not know is that one actually needs to prepare ahead for this training. You may be thinking – “Of what benefit is an ear training course if I still have to do some preparation in advance? Why can’t I go for the course and just lay out all my issues to the instructor? Well, the simple answer is you would be doing more harm than good to your ears. Your music ear is not solid and even if you use ear training software, the magic will not happen overnight. Rome was not built in a day and your ears cannot become perfect for music all of a sudden.
This is why you need to do some preparation on your own and not just dump all your music ear issues on your coach. Dumping all the issues on your coach will show a lackadaisical attitude and lack of curiosity on your part. It is synonymous with saying “Coach, I have this problem but I do not want to figure out any part of the solution. At least that’s why I pay you, so figure it out”. People who exhibit this attitude will only worsen the situation as their expectation is for the coach to perform some magic and give them the best music ear within a day. Even when the coach outlines their routine ear training exercise, they won’t take it seriously. In this blog post, we’d be showing you some tips to prepare for that first ear training course so you can maximize your money, time and results.
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Get comfortable singing aloud
Your singing ability often suffers greatly when your musical ear is poor. Only a very small minority of persons with poor musical hearing are capable of singing well. Note that we didn’t say singing voice but actual singing. This implies that although your voice won’t be impacted, your singing style will. Your voice will be sonorous but you’d keep jumping from one key to another thereby confusing the instrumentalists and even yourself. As a result, you can start to doubt your talent and quit singing in front of others to avoid feedback. You need to start singing aloud back today. Even if they criticize you, take it as being part of the process of ear training for musicians with the end goal being you as a music boss.
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Learn the fundamentals of solfege
If you want to go professional in music, you cannot avoid solfege. It’s one of the basics of music that you need to immerse yourself in. It occurs when a specific syllable is assigned to each note on a musical scale. That’s why we have Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti and Do with the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. If you miss it at this stage, it may be quite difficult for you to advance to the next stage because whatever you’re listening to is being played on this scale. Little wonder why there is also ear training for guitarists, pianists, and other instrumentalists. They also need to know these things very well before they can play to the tune of a musician. Without a doubt, their professionalism didn’t fall from the sky. With the best ear training course you can reach your goals much faster.
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Practice singing intervals
The simplest definition of an interval in music is the distance between two pitches. It may be singing from Do to Re or from Re to La. A repetition of this practice technique will improve your ears so fast that you’d be able to use even complex songs to practice. It simply tones and strengthens your hearing sense so you can rapidly determine what key a vocalist is in and if the voice has changed.
One reason why people tend to ignore this exercise is because of the repetition. To them, repeating this exercise makes it lose its flavor. However, it is only in that repetition that you can be sure you know a particular note well. For instance, if a pianist plays Do and Re once a week, followed by Mi, Fa, and So four times a week, it’s likely that your ears will become habituated to Mi, Fa, and So. It becomes impossible for you to not recognize Mi, Fa and So whenever you hear it in a song. It’s that simple.
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Work on the fundamental chord progressions
Another element of music that should be prioritized by anybody trying to develop their musical ear is the basic chord progression. Truth be told, it’s not a piece of cake but at the same time, it’s also not too complex if you pay attention to details. You must first understand that chord progression is based on the music notes. The progressions are the real game changers since they make it simple for music to stay in your head.
The more you practice them, the higher the chances of music getting deeply stuck in your head. In other words, you can dive deeper than the surface to discern whether the singer performed well or not while others just hear the music’s surface elements. There are times when a person is singing and it makes sense to the ordinary man but not to a music professional because their musical ear can tell something is off. Also, a lot of songs are based on the same/similar chord progressions and this shouldn’t come as a surprise. For instance, “The Scientist” by Coldplay and “Clean” by Taylor Swift have very similar progressions.
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Learn any piece of music you enjoy
Without this particular tip, our list would be incomplete. What better way to exercise your ear than to listen to your favorite music? This will further aid retention and ease of practice as you are already used to the song. You would only have to work hard to figure out the notes, not the words. In fact, if you do this, you’re more likely to understand and complain less than if you learned a new song that you might not like or that isn’t in your music genre.
Final Thoughts
Without constant practice, you may not get the desired result. If you believe you’d only practice your fundamental chord progression once a week and succeed, you need to reshape your mentality. It is necessary to consistently practice and be purposeful since even those who listen to music all the time still have a developing musical ear. As you practice, ensure your mind is totally on what you’re doing or you’ll just be the enemy of your own musical progress.
Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.
