Interval practice

Habits, where it comes to ear training, may be sometimes hard to break. But an ear is a terrible thing to waste. When you are able to unlearn your classical ear training, you'll be able to hear and identify music more quickly and easily.

Think of a a piece of music. How do they approach it? If they want to learn a piano concerto, it's understandable why they would be inclined to find the sheet music. But some classical pianists have even learned pieces like that by ear.

Then there are pianists like Glenn Gould. He not only learned the written music, but he could be heard on his recordings humming along with himself as he played. And what was he humming? Much of the time he was humming the inner voices of whatever Bach fugue he was playing. He had an acute awareness that he was singing through the piano.

When he hummed along, he hummed the melodies, not the names of the intervals. This is the first step in unlearning your classical ear training. If you're going to do interval practice, just sing the interval and forget about naming it. And when learning a tune, just sing it and internalize that.

Keith Jarrett, as many jazz musicians already know, also sings along with what he improvises. Though it could be said that Jarrett is hearing the music in his head first, creating it as he goes and then projecting it onto the keyboard through his fingers, it is much the same process as what Glenn Gould did. They both know (knew) they had to press specific keys in a specific order to get the sounds they hear (and heard). And what's more, in both cases the process far exceeded the necessity to consciously slow it down in order to 'find' the correct piano key to press.

Start by developing your . Play middle C on the piano. Keeping that pitch in your head, go to the grocery store and pick up your groceries. See if you keep that pitch in your head the whole time you're there. Of course, be careful while driving on the way - simultaneously keep focused on the road and what's in front of you. On second thought, maybe just try it while walking around the house for half an hour.

Then begin to internalize your singing. Think of a single note melody you would like to play on the piano. Sing the melody, focus on it. Pick a starting note. Then sing the second note. Imagine the sound, and look for the key on the piano that will produce that sound. Do this one note at a time; make it like a meditation. Know exactly which key you have to press down before you play it. Take as long as you need to think about each successive note and play it correctly the first time without 'guessing'. And if you find yourself wanting to think 'perfect 4th, minor 3rd,' etc., just clear your head and imagine the pitch again (without words). A little repetition and you'll have it!

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