s/o--Karin, (and others) how do you teach playing piano by ear?

[chai]

Karin,

 

In another thread, you talked about the importance of learning to play by ear and by reading notes. What are some ways that you can teach someone to play by ear?

 

My dd has a great ear for music and dabbled on the keyboard/piano since she was young. She can play simple tunes by ear. In fact, when I tried to teach her to play piano at age 5, she kept wanting to learn by ear rather than learn the notes. She just started formal piano lessons with a teacher 7 months ago. DD is doing really well and progressing rapidly--and finally reading notes to learn new songs. However, I would really like to have her work on playing by ear as well. I caught her transposing some of her songs already--I think that might help. Any other suggestions?

[Storm Bay]

One professional musician I met who learned totally by ear, learned to hear and play music with harmony by first listening to music and learning to play one line at a time. I'm not sure how old she was when she did that. This is beyond what I've done--the most I did was to learn to play back a line of music when I heard 2 lines at once for part of the ear training portion of a piano exam I took.

 

I had some great ear training books in Canada. These aren't for playing by ear per se, but for developing the ear. They teach students to recognize intervals by sound (eventually all of them, but younger kids start off with the simpler intervals such as 3rds, 5ths & octaves.) First they should recognize them broken, then solid.

 

Later, they can learn triads in root position, followed by triads in first & second inversion. Broken, then solid. Same with chords (4 note chords are what I learned in root position & then in 1st, 2nd & 3rd inversions.)

 

Playing back a line you've heard twice is another exercise. Once that it mastered, the 2 lines. I my case, the 2 lines started in the senior levels, but if someone's good by ear, you can try that when she's ready. I guess this should have become before the first thing I posted!

 

However, if she is NOT dyslexic, she should also do tons and tons of sightreading if she's this good by ear naturally. Sight reading should be easier than what she plays. Once she's advanced enough, usually 2 levels below what she's playing, but for now, method books she's not using (find them used). You could also ask her teacher for suggestions. I emphasize this because you don't want her to be limited. I only suggest ear without lots of reading where dyslexia is seriously hindering love of music.

 

As for becoming a fabulous reader of notes, the best method I've seen (and I've used the most popular ones and others) is called Music Pathways (NOT related to Pathways readers at all). It even improved my reading of ledger lines when I taught it. However, not too many people seem familiar enough with it to understand it's merits. It's one drawback seems to be that it takes too long to start hands together playing, but that is easily remedied.

 

Look for a PM from me.

Edited March 24, 2009 by Karin

[chai]

Wow! This was really helpful. This will help me talk to her teacher as well. I agree that dd should master note reading. Given her choice, she wouldn't do it, but she is not dyslexic. I can play, but I am completely tied to having the music in front of me. I also wished that I had learned to play more by ear and learned to improvise. I don't want dd to lose what comes fairly naturally now. I think that I will introduce a few piano "games" at home using your ideas.

 

Thank you!

[Storm Bay]

Wow! This was really helpful. This will help me talk to her teacher as well. I agree that dd should master note reading. Given her choice, she wouldn't do it, but she is not dyslexic. I can play, but I am completely tied to having the music in front of me. I also wished that I had learned to play more by ear and learned to improvise. I don't want dd to lose what comes fairly naturally now. I think that I will introduce a few piano "games" at home using your ideas.

 

Thank you!

 

 

Sounds good. But be forewarned, some teachers get nervous when kids with good ears do a lot of playing by ear because they've students like that have trouble learning to read music. btdt with some of my students, but I encouraged the parents with the sightreading stuff.

[Reya]

Suzuki is ear-based and can supplement a traditional program if you want a program that does it.

[Allearia]

my ds 7 has been doing piano for 1 1/2 years. He has learned to read music really well. Recently his teacher has also begun teaching him some songs by ear - mostly popular type songs that he really wanted to learn (the theme to Star Wars, Harry Potter) and also Cat's Cradle. She thought it was important to be able to do both. Maybe you could talk to the teacher about doing something like this. Generally he learns part of a song each week at the lesson and then practices at home with his other assigned songs. Sometimes the teacher writes the letter names in his note book to help him remember but sometimes not, such as Cat's Cradle was all memory.

[chai]

Suzuki is ear-based and can supplement a traditional program if you want a program that does it.

 

I did choose a traditional program because I want dd to learn to read music and she started at an older age. I haven't heard of using Suzuki as a supplement though; I'll look into that.

[chai]

my ds 7 has been doing piano for 1 1/2 years. He has learned to read music really well. Recently his teacher has also begun teaching him some songs by ear - mostly popular type songs that he really wanted to learn (the theme to Star Wars, Harry Potter) and also Cat's Cradle. She thought it was important to be able to do both. Maybe you could talk to the teacher about doing something like this. Generally he learns part of a song each week at the lesson and then practices at home with his other assigned songs. Sometimes the teacher writes the letter names in his note book to help him remember but sometimes not, such as Cat's Cradle was all memory.

 

This sounds interesting. How does his teacher introduce the song to him? Does she play something for him first and then have him play it? Or does she just give him something that he knows really well? Is he learning more than just the melody line?

[angieathome]

We used a computer program called Music Ace 1 & 2 by Harmonic Vision that taught basic music theory and had basic ear training elements like pitch matching and higher vs. lower note games. Each program is about $30--inexpensive, I think, compared to the cost of a few private music lessons. We tried a series of group lessons from a program called Musikgarten that claimed to emphasize ear training, but my daughter did not like it and we did not finish the series. It seemed to work for others.

[Donna]

My dd takes Suzuki violin and has an amazing ear. She also learns Celtic fiddle by ear. She can play anything she hears once or twice, picks out songs on her own, and writes her own music in her head (has 2 songs she and her brother wrote that were recorded and on the way to be copyrighted). The Suzuki method teaches them to learn music by hearing it over and over again so that the notes and later the musicality of the pieces become second nature like learning language. We used to play a game with me playing notes on piano and her following/playing back on her violin in a Simon Says kind of way. To us it was just a fun game we played when she was 3yo and we gradually increased the number of notes in the game.

 

Dd's Suzuki teacher was a traditionally trained teacher so she also teaches her to read music but in an indirect way that has worked wonderfully for all her teacher's students. Beginning in Suzuki Book 2, she began naming notes prior to playing them on a scale or arpeggio, then we went through one level of "I Can Read Music." Now she has the music in front of her while she is playing. It is music she has heard so she knows it, of course, but she also knows where to start when her teacher gives her the note name so I know she is reading somewhat. She can sight read notes on new music about 2 levels below what she can play and can read rhythms and bowings at her playing level.