Piano idiot here - what does "play by ear" mean wrt piano music

[mathnerd]

I am hearing the phrase "play by ear" with respect to piano music a lot from my family members. One of my BILs and his son never learnt music formally and hence never learnt music theory and cannot read music, but they are both in a band and "compose" music all the time and never use any sheet music - they picked up piano, flute and guitar this way. How is that possible at all? How does one figure out multiple finger combinations on an instrument without ever knowing the meanings associated with each key/chord/scale?

The reason this came up is because they are visiting for the summer now and they told me that I need to pull my DS out of his piano classes, put him in front of an instrument and let him "fool around" with melodies by himself in order to become creative! (ofcourse, I have no intention of doing that). But they definitely got me thinking about music and how the brain learns it. Their beliefs are 180 degrees removed from my impression of music education that I am a little taken aback. I was of the opinion that a strong grounding in the theory of music is necessary to become a fine musician. Apparently not, according to some. Any people with piano background care to enlighten me on this? Thanks in advance.

 

ETA: My DS goes to a piano academy where the teachers are highly qualified in piano education with decades of experience teaching children (his teacher has done it for 32 years) and they make it fun as well as educational. They teach sight reading, music theory, ear training, finger positioning as well as piano playing - they incorporate a lot of games into the classes for the younger set to keep them engaged. They have recitals, mini-recitals, guild exams etc to motivate their students.

[Joker]

My husband played many instruments before learning to read music. He can hear a song on the radio or tv and then sit down at the piano or guitar and play it at home. It boggles my mind. He also had the girls doing a lot of playing around on instruments before they learned to read music. It's worked well for us but only one of them has his ear and can do what he does.

[kiwik]

My grandfather played by ear quite well. It is kind of like being naturally mathy and just getting stuff or seeing different ways of doing things.

 

personally I still think that learning theory and music reading. You wouldn't get far in an orchestra without it and working everything out by ear can be slow. Think of touch typing versus self taught. But I am not musical and would have no show of learning to play by ear.

[Arcadia]

Play by ear is like when someone hears a piece of music or a tune and can just play it on a musical instrument. Quite a few of my extended family have perfect pitch and can tune an instrument by ear. It is a skill that is both innate and cultivated.

[petepie2]

I would agree with not ditching piano lessons! Yikes! But I think learning to "improvise" should be encouraged. However, not all piano teachers teach it. Knowing how to move away from the page and be creative and original is a great skill to have! It's very freeing and offers an outlet for personal expression. Some people can improvise without understanding theory at all, or they just pick up the theory that they need along the way. But if you know chord theory and scales, you have the foundation for beginning to improvise. It just involves taking a risk and stepping off the page. The theory gives you the rules for keeping the train on the track, for the most part.

 

The pianists I know can either sightread really well and can't leave the page OR they can improvise really well and can't sightread worth a lick. Both pianists are handy for different things, but having both skills would be ideal. It shouldn't have to be either/or.

 

For adults I like the book "The Aspiring Jazz Pianist" by Debbie Denke for learning chord theory and for providing a framework to practice improvisation.

[WishboneDawn]

I am a "by ear" person. My daughter reads music. We have a hard time talki g about music because of that. Personally, I don't quite understand how people can't play music by ear and marvel at those that can turn a page of symbols into music or that those pieces I might make up have some underlying structures that can be translated and transcribed onto paper.

 

I'm slowly learning to read music with my choir but I still primarily learn everything by ear.

[Lilaclady]

I think it is nice to learn to play by ear but I will not stop the piano lessons as it helps to develop the child well. I think some people are quite gifted and well able to play instruments well by ear but it is still better to combine that with a good ability to read music.

[crazyforlatin]

I cannot play by ear but DD can, which causes friction as I would like her to read music and she would rather hear it played first. Suzuki isn't working out the way I hoped but I have other pieces of music that forces her to sight read. I think those who play by ear have perfect pitch, perhaps? DD does but I wonder how it works with others; for example, my brother plays by ear, composes his own songs, has trouble reading notes, and does not have perfect pitch.

[FO4UR]

I'm a musician...vocal. I will be the first to tell you to keep your dc in piano lessons with a strong emphasis on music theory and sight reading.

 

 

That said, if theory is the sum total of his music education it's like you are giving him only the rations needed to sustain life and denying him the pleasure of *food.* Give him a balanced diet. He needs time where he "just fools around" or only plays the pieces that really float his boat. *AND* he needs to be pushed along to ingest enough theory and sight reading to introduce his palate to new flavors. It's not either/or. It's both.

 

 

If he only plays by ear, he is doomed to be stuck with what he has heard. It's like being a great story teller, telling all of your stories from oral tradition. That is a wonderful skill, a great heritage...but learning to READ opens up a whole new world and makes you a better storyteller...or musician if we are talking about reading music.

 

I am a mediocre musician, at best. I have the degree b/c I read music. Many excellent "play by ear" musicians (who put me to utter shame on their instruments) failed to get the degree (and career) b/c they couldn't hack the theory/sight reading/piano classes. Always make decisions that open up opportunities. .02

[Catherine]

I think a good musician needs both. My children have all learned music using the suzuki method, which teaches by ear to very young (non reading) students, then teaches to read music when the child is learning to read letters and words. Both are valuable skills and both have their place in the repertoire. Jazz musicians who improvise need robust auditory skills, and classical musicians who need to learn and perform large volumes of material in a short period of time need to know how to read well and quickly. I think both are necessary.

[LMD]

I do think developing the ear is very important, I also think learning to read the music is very important! It is possible to do both! Having a good ear, being able to listen to a piece of music and 'find' the notes on an instrument is a skill, it will help in many ways - learning pieces, memorization, recognizing key, musical form... I was a singer, I also learned to read music early on, now I play and teach piano - I teach both ear/aural development and note reading.

[duckens]

On creativity in music:

 

I teach dd6 piano. I have been teaching her since she was 4. She is near the end of My First Piano Adventures, Book B. I do not consider her to be an intrinsically musical child. She does not dance, and she does not sing.

 

My background:

I am NOT a professional piano teacher. I have no music (or any sort of college) degree of any sort. When I was a child, my parents (at my request) signed me up for piano and violin lesson, but I never practiced, so I am NOT a remarkable musician. In retrospect, I am just now realizing the incredible high quality of music teachers I had, both in the public school ,music classes, and through these private lessons.

 

The system:

Inspired by the Suzuki method (and as discussed by Andrew Pudewa of IEW in one of his downloadable talks about memorizing poetry), I have dd6 play her old songs every time we practice. I created a chart of the songs in her book divided into a 5*** day week.

 

On the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th, she plays all the songs on List 1 that she knows so far.

On the 2nd, 7th, 12th, 17th, 22nd, and 27th, she plays all the songs on List 2 that she knows so far.

Etc, etc.

This gives her time to warm up her fingers. If we miss a day, I don't sweat it. We just follow today's date to tell us what to play.

 

She also plays the most recent 4-5 songs.

 

***Earlier in the year, songs were organized on a 2 day, and then 3 day chart, when there were only a few songs.

 

The creative part:

Since dd6 has been playing the same simple songs again and again and again all winter long, she can play many by memory, although I don't require it.

 

On her own, she changes patterns. She changes fingerings. She uses the left hand to play the right's part, and vice versa. She rearranges the notes in a chord. (Instead of playing a C-G chord, she will play a G-C chord at the top of our limited keyboard).

 

Because she is so familiar with these tunes and so comfortable with them, she is exploring different ways to play them.

[duckens]

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More blathering on by duckens:

 

The arts are exploring new ways to teach.

 

I am currently reading an essay about how traditionally music has only been taught to those who were "talented." You had to have talent and abilities BEFORE lessons were considered a worthy investment of the teacher's time. In the meantime, the masses were usually forgotten for formal musical education and appreciation.

 

Basically, some people could figure out music on their own, and some could not.

 

Likewise, consider art. Until I was an adult, this was the same philosophy for teaching drawing. Either you could draw, or you couldn't. It wasn't until I was an adult that I started to explore the idea that ANYONE could learn to draw. Yes, some could figure out the rules for drawing on their own, but we all could learn to draw with lessons and practice.

 

Another example:

The main character in Good Will Hunting has an innate talent for math. He can just LOOK at a math problem, and understand what is going on. Are there individuals like this in our world? You bet! But most of us need tradtional training, lots of practice, and lots of data (number theory, cartesian coordinates, negative numbers, fractions, etc) to apply solutions to these questions.

 

How this applies to the OP:

OP's BIL and nephew have the musical version of being able to figure out the rules of music in the same way that some children can draw really well at a young age.

 

They are able to just LOOK at (or HEAR) a situation (or object to draw, or complex math problem) and it makes sense to them. Like the good drawers and Will Hunting, they are able to take the information into their brains, understand it, and express their understanding by communicating it to others.

 

Good drawers communicate by using their brains to make their hands create what they see.

Will Hunting communicated by using his brain to solve the problem.

BIL and son communicate by using their brain to make their hands and/or mouth change their ideas into song.

 

SOME people have these talents innately. MOST of us need training and background. I have also met people with innate talents who are stopped by a ceiling because of no formal training (in their specific field of music, art, math, etc).

 

Even Mozart and Beethoven took formal lessons.

[Forgiven]

My mom plays the piano by ear. She wishes she knew how to read music. She can play anything she hears. But on the flip side of that, if someone needed her to accompany them and she didn't know the song, then she would not be able to play it--even if they gave her sheet music.

 

I do think that letting children fool around with the piano and make their own music, and try to play by ear is important, but so is learning to read music. Especially if your child wants to eventually compose. How can someone write down their music on a sheet if they can't read it to begin with?

 

I would keep your child in his classes, but let him fool around, let him try to play things by ear.

 

My daughter takes lessons with theory and site reading, etc, but her teacher also encourages her to try new songs with playing them by ear. My daughter has a good ear for music, though. Her teacher told me that she doesn't tell all her students to do that.

[WishboneDawn]

I cannot play by ear but DD can, which causes friction as I would like her to read music and she would rather hear it played first. Suzuki isn't working out the way I hoped but I have other pieces of music that forces her to sight read. I think those who play by ear have perfect pitch, perhaps? DD does but I wonder how it works with others; for example, my brother plays by ear, composes his own songs, has trouble reading notes, and does not have perfect pitch.

 

I think perfect pitch comes with more formal traing. I have good relative pitch; I can hear music and then sing or play it. Perfect pitch is being able to reproduce a note without hearing it or naming a note you've heard, no? I can't do that.

[LinRTX]

Playing by ear means you have a natural ability to play the music without the notes written down in front of you --without ever having seen the notes.

 

My daughter composes music. She went to a composition class when she was 9 or 10. Her compositions were some of the most advanced there, but her actual playing ability was far behind anyone there. She could hear and feel the music in her head, but because of poor instruction, she could not play music from a written sheet well at all.

 

This past year we finally found a teacher that would use her natural ability and work with her, She has flown through 4 levels of playing ability and her compositions have improved also.

 

So, all that to say don't stop the lessons! The theory is necessary. My dd enjoys the piano so much more after having proper instruction.

 

Linda

[Ellie]

I am hearing the phrase "play by ear" with respect to piano music a lot from my family members. One of my BILs and his son never learnt music formally and hence never learnt music theory and cannot read music, but they are both in a band and "compose" music all the time and never use any sheet music - they picked up piano, flute and guitar this way. How is that possible at all? How does one figure out multiple finger combinations on an instrument without ever knowing the meanings associated with each key/chord/scale?

The reason this came up is because they are visiting for the summer now and they told me that I need to pull my DS out of his piano classes, put him in front of an instrument and let him "fool around" with melodies by himself in order to become creative! (of course, I have no intention of doing that). But they definitely got me thinking about music and how the brain learns it. Their beliefs are 180 degrees removed from my impression of music education that I am a little taken aback. I was of the opinion that a strong grounding in the theory of music is necessary to become a fine musician. Apparently not, according to some. Any people with piano background care to enlighten me on this? Thanks in advance.

 

ETA: My DS goes to a piano academy where the teachers are highly qualified in piano education with decades of experience teaching children (his teacher has done it for 32 years) and they make it fun as well as educational. They teach sight reading, music theory, ear training, finger positioning as well as piano playing - they incorporate a lot of games into the classes for the younger set to keep them engaged. They have recitals, mini-recitals, guild exams etc to motivate their students.

 

Many people who learn to play instruments cannot play by ear. This surprises me to no end. I don't understand how that can be, but it is so. Playing by ear is a good, useful skill.

 

However, ITA with you about not taking your ds out of his classes. Having been involved informally with church choirs and random singers, I would choose being able to read music over being able to play by ear.

[wintermom]

I have my own "theories," but when I just read that Stevie Wonder studied classical piano to hone his craft it totally convinced me to keep my dc in music lessons. Stevie had about as much natural talent that seems possible, with tons of opportunities to learn and improvise with extremely talented musicians, and yet he still went out of his way to study traditional music. That speaks volumes to me.

 

I play in a band with very talented musicians who used to be rock musicians as a profession. They write music, play multiple instruments, sing and improvise, but cannot write their music down. It limits them in sharing with others and submitting their songs for various audiences, etc. Music theory isn't very fun or exciting, but without it a musician has just closed a few doors on him/herself. With modern recording technology, it is less important and there are ways to get around it, but it does make things simpler when there is a common written musical language.

 

Every person is different, musically, as well. Some are natural "play by ear" people, some need the notes written in front of them, some a bit of both. Not everyone is going to be able to create their own music without instruction, and some people may have their natural musical joy and creativity crushed with too much strict musical instruction. I have no idea what the actual balance is with myself or my own children. I just know that the more musical experiences I've had, the better and more confident I get.

[wintermom]

I wanted to comment specifically to being about to play in a band without having "notes" in front of you. When I stopped piano lessons and started organ lessons and guitar, I learned to play a song by using simply chords. It's really simple to learn to play a new song with just chording. You can add in partial chords, different chord positions, a little melody here and there, and then improvise with what sounds right. Though having years of playing chords, arpeggios and scales on the piano made it very smooth to play the right notes quickly and easily.

 

The classical composer would have learned and played around with all the various chord combinations and harmonies, and Mozart could write it all down from simply hearing it in his mind. Unbelieveable, but he had been playing music and hearing music from a very young age. The combinations of harmonies are so much more complex in classical music than in any other form of music I've heard. There are just so many different instruments, sounds, and parts that all fit together. I think that the orchestra conductor is the only one who see all this, though. Us less experienced listeners just cannot hear everything that is going on.

[mellifera33]

Playing by ear is not always a natural ability. Aural learning is the norm in many folk traditions, and for most it takes practice to become proficient at this type of learning. In some circles, musicians scoff at learning by "the dots," as they refer to written music.

[wintermom]

Playing by ear is not always a natural ability. Aural learning is the norm in many folk traditions, and for most it takes practice to become proficient at this type of learning. In some circles, musicians scoff at learning by "the dots," as they refer to written music.

 

 

Not just folk traditions, but pretty much any choir has a huge element of singing by ear and copying what your hear. It definitely takes practice and can be trained. Some people have more natural skill than others, for sure.

 

I'm not totally sure if a musician would feel humbled or proud that their "cool chord" isn't written down for them to be able to play it. But if they aren't able to write it for their grandkids to play it when they're gone, it is sad that the music could be lost.

[Paula in MS]

There are some people who can play by ear well because they were born that way and it comes naturally. Some develop this skill because they experimented enough with their instrument to learn it. Some of these people did so because they didn't have access to formal lessons. The thing is that some people think both methods are mutually exclusive, and they are not. I had formal (classical) piano lessons as a child/teen. I could not play anything by ear....because I never tried. When I became an adult, I was thrown into a band at church that only played from lead sheets. I had to learn improvisation skills quickly. As a pianist, you are limited if you cannot do both to some degree, especially if you are an accompanist. Most ear players are not going to be able to attempt anything in the classical genre at all unless they are amazingly gifted.

 

You should get your piano teacher to work on some ear training. If she is unable to do this, find another teacher. She should be able to teach simple improvisation techniques as well as work with students on hearing the difference between a third, fourth, etc. Once that is practiced, even a note reading student will have much better luck picking out melodies on their own.

 

 

[LMD]

There are some people who can play by ear well because they were born that way and it comes naturally. Some develop this skill because they experimented enough with their instrument to learn it. Some of these people did so because they didn't have access to formal lessons. The thing is that some people think both methods are mutually exclusive, and they are not. I had formal (classical) piano lessons as a child/teen. I could not play anything by ear....because I never tried. When I became an adult, I was thrown into a band at church that only played from lead sheets. I had to learn improvisation skills quickly. As a pianist, you are limited if you cannot do both to some degree, especially if you are an accompanist. Most ear players are not going to be able to attempt anything in the classical genre at all unless they are amazingly gifted.

 

You should get your piano teacher to work on some ear training. If she is unable to do this, find another teacher. She should be able to teach simple improvisation techniques as well as work with students on hearing the difference between a third, fourth, etc. Once that is practiced, even a note reading student will have much better luck picking out melodies on their own.

 

 

I really agree with this. This kind of aural training and intervals is an aspect of practical music exams too (ie, you'll lose marks on these points even if you play the performance pieces perfectly).

[SweetMissMagnolia]

my 10yr old son is learning to play the piano by watching video lessons online....of course we have beginner books,but my techo-geek prefers the "cool" way LOL.. I keep trying to tell him that if he wants to write his own music/songs,that he needs to be able to "read" music to write music and he still needs to do the practice lessons in the book.He has really only shown interest the past few weeks and he's amazing us.(As soon as I can get a good video of him playing I'll share).....

[Candid]

I agree that allowing a child to fool around with their musical instrument can help their creativity. BUT look at this in the world of story. Is it better for your child never to learn to read, but instead only hear stories orally and then come up with his own stories? Or does learning to read open a world of story to him that he will never hear?