Do you play by ear, or do you sight-read music?
That question is too simply asked, when presented as either/or. If you mostly play by ear, then a better question is: Do you use chord charts or fake books or other notated musical “hints” as you play by ear? Or, if you mostly sight-read, a better question is: How much do you use your ear when you sight-read?
There is a wide spectrum between playing by ear and sight-reading music. At one extreme of this spectrum is the performance of a musical savant who can play on the piano with amazing fidelity some complex music he has heard for the first time. At the other extreme is a professional Holloywood musician who can play his part upon first reading as though he had been practicing it for weeks. Most instrumentalists play somewhere between these two ends of the spectrum.
I’ve observed that some musicians who are fairly far out at one end of this spectrum or the other hold a surprisingly degree of awe about the musicians at the other end. I’ve heard musicians who play very well by ear discount their skill and express envy of the musician who can more literally play from sheet music. And I’ve heard musicians who are excellent sight-readers express envy of those musicians who play by ear. These must be cases of grass looking greener on the other side of the fence.
All musicians deserve credit, however, for playing by ear, more or less. A musician who is sight-reading is not some sort of computer with an optical scanner reading the sheet music and sending signals to his arms, hands and fingers to press this or that key with so much pressure. There’s a brain operating in the middle of all of that, which adds rich musical interpretation, based on prior musical experience and overall life experience of emotions. The musician is telling a story in sound as he is playing. He is playing by ear, even if he doesn’t give himself credit for that.
Still, I must confess, I envy musicians who play well by ear. That shouldn’t be easy for me to say, since the name of my business is Notation Software.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Bernie // Mar 22, 2008 at 4:29 am
I am a reader and envy people who can play accurately by ear, but most I know play in one key, and are limited in their repitoire. Since I am not one of the gifted examples, I find that first reading the piece, giving it my interpretation, and then memorizing, is the only way I can achieve this. Either way, I think it is important to maintain eye contact with the audience, and avoid the mechanical impression of staying glued to your music. It also allows you to use much more expression.
The downside, it seems, is that these days, people think you are playing a sequence and pretending to play. This is because of the technology available today that allows this, and the performers who do it, but this is a whole different subject.
I am glad you started this forum, Mark.
Bernie
2 Derek Sanders // Mar 23, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I started playing by ear at 7-8 years old, I still play by ear but along the way I learned how to read at a professional level. I developed a system of teaching to play by ear and had many successful students. In 1984 I wrote a bok on how to play the piano by ear and copies have gone all over the world, it also included a cassette in which I demonstrated all the examples. It is a very simple system, after getting my students proficient at it I then taught them how to use music without needing to read it, I always strove for simplicity, that way no one gets frustrated. One tip I would give to anyone who plays wrong notes. LEARN the piece so that it is indlibly ingrained into your brain…Any good teacher will tell you…”If you can’t sing it or hum it right, you’ll never play it right…but ALWAYS have fun , music is a pleasure to enjoy, getting too serious about it does not soothe the soul so whether it’s by ear or notes always treat it as fun and you’ll make it easier on yourself…….Derek.
3 Everyday Mark // Mar 23, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Above, Derek recommends singing or humming it as a way of learning to play it. This would include “playing it in your ear” also.
Do some of you use singing, humming, or playing it in your ear, as a method for learning to play a piece?
I’ve done this some, and keep promising myself to use this method more.
– Mark
4 Bernie // Mar 24, 2008 at 4:55 am
I am self taught, except for 6 mos of lessons 45 yrs ago, so I don’t profess to be an expert. However, I have learned a few things over the years.
The first requirement is to learn the scales in all keys you are playing in. For example, if you are in the key of G, you have to know to hit an F# etc.
Secondly, is training your ear to identify intervals. There are many free or inexpensive courses on ear training that helps you identify how many keys apart a 3rd, or 5th are, and correctly identify that interval in your head. Remember you are establishing new neural connections, and it takes time and practice.
This is fine for single note right hand melodies, but we have to put chords with this. Let us say we are playing in C. Using the interval method, simple country tunes usually follow a I,IV,V7 progression. First being the root(C), 4th(F), and 5 7th chord(G7). In G, it would be G,C,D7, Eb is Eb, Ab, Bb7 etc.
Next is applying this to the right hand. You are in C, playing a C chord, your right hand has a C melody note. You can now add your G and E below it, knowing that it is a C chord. This means that you also have to know all of your chord inversions.
However rudimentary, this will get you started.
Bernie
5 Everyday Mark // Mar 28, 2008 at 12:33 am
Hello Bernie,
For those of us who rely on notation, it would be useful to find some resources on “how to unlearn sight-reading.” That would be a good project, for some of us to research what some of the best books, methods, and perhaps software tools there are for learning to play by ear, especially for musicians who already read.
I’ve tried jazz piano lessons, but not with very much success. Of course, chord progressions and scales are central in jazz piano lessons.
Cheers
– Mark
6 Bernie // Mar 28, 2008 at 5:48 am
The simplest, but hardest, is to throw away your crutch and rely upon your ears. You already know your chords, which is more than ear players probably know. Anyone playing for a while knows the 1,4,5(7th) in most keys. The other part is teaching your brain ear-hand coordination. That is, when you think of the next note in the melody, how many keys to skip to reach that sound. Usually you are one or two intervals off.
I am guilty of relying on my notation, but have been forced, on occasion, to wing it, with surprising results. Put away the music and work on it everyday. Slowly, but surely, you will improve.
7 Jim Plamondon // Apr 5, 2008 at 2:26 am
I wonder if this group agrees that the basic steps proposed by Bernie, above, could be facilitated by the use of the Thummer and the ThumMusic System (www.thummer.com).
- The Thummer’s keyboard has the same fingering in all keys, and ThumLine notation is the same in all keys, so any given pattern (intervals, scales, chords, chord progressions, etc.) need only be learned once for all keys.
- The Thummer’s keyboard exposes these patterns consistently to vision and touch in addition to sound, so “more brain is devoted to learning less stuff.”
- The Thummer’s keyboards are mirror images of each other — just as one’s hands are — so it is easier for one hand to reflect the actions of the other, in accompanying a melody or improvising over a chord progression. This is especially true of the Thummer’s keyboards are oriented back-to-back, so that the fingertips of one’s opposing hands are nearly touching each other when playing the same chord, scale, melody, etc. in different octaves.
What do you think?
Thanks!
Jim Plamondon
CEO, Thumtronics Inc
The New Shape of Music(tm)
http://www.thummer.com
Austin, Texas
8 Tanner Parker // Nov 7, 2009 at 2:15 am
I am a self taught guitarist since the third grade and i play entirely by ear. I’m not claiming to be a savant or anything. But i am able to still play music with those around me who sight read, which seems to be most people i know. There is one advantage to playing by ear that i have found and that is when it comes to playing with another musician on the fly you are able to pick up on the mood and direction of their music and play music with them. Not play music that harmonizes but that really comes together with what they are saying. Playing by ear seems to dwell in a whole other realm. It shows in the way you play. Now, I know that people who can only sight read music or can do half and half are not computers that can only scan music and play but when you compare someone like that to people who play entirely by ear they seem to lack a sense of passion heard through the music. A instrument is like a microphone for the soul and you really have to be able to amplify these sounds. People who play by ear tend to be very good at doing this. They are able to take a mood, emotion, feeling and project it through music unlike anything else.
9 Play Piano Chords By Ear. | 7Wins.eu // Nov 27, 2009 at 10:25 am
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