# How to get the best ear possible for composing?



## handel_afficionado (Jul 18, 2022)

I want to improve my skills to be the best possible composer that I can be. 
I understand that having a great ear not only facilitates many tasks as a composer and it's crucial to audiate and transcribe more complex music from our head.

Sometimes I read stories of great classical and contemporary composers that made great use of their impeccable ears. I heard a story of Allan Pettersson composing a symphony while in a hospital bed without using any sheet paper. Just relying in his ear to audiate, create and memorize the whole work. When I hear such stories I feel a bit down because my ear skills are so far away from that. 

Instead of moaning and complaining of how much my ear skills suck I would like to ask for tips to improve. 

I've been doing sight singing. Following the book : Sight Singing Through Melodic Analysis, A Guide to the Study of Sight Singing and an Aid to Ear Training Instruction by Leland.

I do the exercises 4 days a weeks for about an hour per session.

My piano teacher told me to sight sing a lot. That would make my ear great. My composition teacher told me to copy scores but I feel no improvement from doing this. I end up copying and can't hear the pitches in my head and just copying notes on paper.

I read that practising transcribing is super important but I don't have training on that. If this is crucial how one begins learning the skill of transcribing music?

As another way to improve my ear and musical literacy I started to follow score videos on youtube. I basically listen to the music, maybe a piano piece by Schumann and try to hear and follow a melodic line while seeing the notes on the sheet music. I don't know If this is a good way to develop my ear. I'm just trying things.

One thing that made me see improvement was studying counterpoint. I was making species counterpoint exercises and then I would played them on a keyboard. My ears started to pick the different lines from a piece of music. I just realized after writing this that I need to pick counterpoint again and improve a lot more

If I have 1 to 2 hours a day to improve my ear skils what should I be doing?


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## d.healey (Jul 18, 2022)

handel_afficionado said:


> I read that practising transcribing is super important but I don't have training on that. If this is crucial how one begins learning the skill of transcribing music?


Get the sheet music for a piece that you like. Don't look at it. Transcribe the piece (or a few bars of it) by ear as best you can. Look at the sheet music for just the part you transcribed and see how well you did. Learn from your mistakes. You can start with something simple or you can dive right in with a massive orchestral piece.

Have you transcribed your phone's ringtone yet? If not that's a good place to start. Then try transcribing all of the Windows (or MacOS) sounds.

Mike Verta has a lot of good stuff on his YouTube channel about transcribing.


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## daychase (Jul 18, 2022)

Your mileage may vary, but I think the adage of "if you love what you do, you'll never work a day" rings pretty fairly true regarding ear training.

Until music school, I'd never consciously practiced ear training for the sake of ear training. I'd learned to play music by ear by listening to pieces over and over, gradually getting more detail out of them; I'd pick out pieces of music I thought I had something to learn from and practiced listening to the details I was interested in in order to write them down and analyze them; I'd transcribe songs I wanted to arrange onto a DAW before actually getting around to the arrangement process.

I've done a fairly extensive amount of transcribing (or at least I'd like to think so), in other words, but despite never really worked on transcribing for its own sake, training my ear ended up being a very integral part of so much I've done in the sake of learning music. I'd suggest you to think about how you can make transcribing a part of what you already do instead of forcing it into it!

With that said, I also think part of training your ear is also training your brain on musical and harmonic contexts, so that you can fill in the blanks where things are sometimes genuinely hard to hear because of mixing, or when your ears are second-guessing themselves and it really would serve you better to go for the most sensible estimate.


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## pinki (Jul 18, 2022)

Earmaster software is great. Also think about Kodaly training.

Training the inner ear…the imagined sound, is a sine qua non. Imagine a tone as you read this. Then imagine another. Imagine an interval. A chord in all its glory. Imagine a melody. And so on…


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## BreakBeatDJ (Jul 18, 2022)

In college, I had to pass all the ear training courses, like everyone. All the traditional training you're doing helped with identifying intervals, chord inversions, etc. All of those things were/are very valuable.

But, the real magic, for me at least, happened when I started taking jazz and improvising. I gained a completely surprising "side skill" from improvisation I never expected. I started to be able to hear a note before I played it and not after I heard it, like I was trained to do in school. 

So, I experimented a bit. For a week, I picked one key, say G major, created some sort of backing track, bass and drums, and improvised in that key only. No modes, no pentatonic, nothing, just G major. I was surprised how I had trained myself to hear pitches before I played them. George Benson sings along with his improvising, and others as well, because he knows what the string is going to sound like before he plays it. Then I moved on to other note series. I didn't do it any any real controlled way, and I didn't "try" to hear it, it just happened from jamming in the same keys over and over.

In fact, it is now to the point that I can think what the next note is and my hand goes there, or some organic process like that. Now, I'm no Bill Evans of course, I'm sure his brain was operating on a completely different level. But I have some confidence that what I hear in my head is going to come out of the piano. Not always, sometimes technique, the scales, arps, etc. come in to play.

I don't know if it will work for you or be helpful at all. But, for me, it was an unexpected result of simply enjoying playing jazz (and blues) and improvising. And, it helps composing a lot. Humming in my head can generate melodies and parts much easier.


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## ChrisHarrison (Jul 18, 2022)

My experience:

I could play bass well from school, but ear was hard. I even went to college and studied jazz, but something was missing. 

I played a gig with a gospel keyboard player at a black arts event, visiting artists, live painter etc. the organist accompanied everyone. I asked what song that was, he would say “I don’t know”. He was just improvising to what he was hearing. I asked him, how is this possible?! He had me join his little all black church. I played gospel music every day since then. Had to learn 3 songs a week by ear for years. Eventually, I got into writing them down, including the harmony and all the lines. Eventually, I have several hundred transcriptions and I was noticing all aspects of music were stronger. One big thing is I had to learn songs in all 12 keys, so F# major and Db major and Ab started to feel just like C. 

Also, looooots of learning about harmony on piano. Learning songs, learning “movements” etc. so much is there, just endless. 

Eventually, my ear was no longer my weakest suit. Now I just need to keep pushing and pushing my reading as well. It just goes on forever. 

Also, last year I had to teach choir for a year. Singing and solfège is pretty helpful. Join a choir asap and learn solfège.


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## Henrik B. Jensen (Jul 18, 2022)

I’m just a hobbyist so keep this in mind, but I would search for recordings of live orchestras playing and start watching / listening to those videos.

Edit: You can find both free and paid ones. I watched a recording of some orchestra from Norway playing which was freely available on their website. “Known” orchestras often charge money for letting you watch recordings of their concerts though.


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## Henrik B. Jensen (Jul 18, 2022)

This was the site:









Live-stream concerts from Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra







bergenphilive.no


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## DANIELE (Jul 19, 2022)

d.healey said:


> Get the sheet music for a piece that you like. Don't look at it. Transcribe the piece (or a few bars of it) by ear as best you can. Look at the sheet music for just the part you transcribed and see how well you did. Learn from your mistakes. You can start with something simple or you can dive right in with a massive orchestral piece.
> 
> Have you transcribed your phone's ringtone yet? If not that's a good place to start. Then try transcribing all of the Windows (or MacOS) sounds.
> 
> Mike Verta has a lot of good stuff on his YouTube channel about transcribing.


This is a very good advice but...

...this is my ring tone:


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## bryla (Jul 19, 2022)

I would say in the beginning don't bother with orchestral and just try to play every pop song that is on the radio today. First melody. Then any instrumental melody. Then chords or bass. 

After that just try to write one song down as a simple lead sheet.


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## John Judd (Jul 19, 2022)

There is an app called ‘Perfect Ear’. It’s worth checking out and it’s mobile. 

That having been said: I’ve been a big transcriber since middle school and would argue that it has been a huge part of developing an ear. Simple stuff at first like single note Melodies, then your favorite solos (regardless of instrument), and pop/rock tunes. Eventually down the road: transcribing and figuring out what makes film scores tick. 

I would recommend that getting really proficient at your instrument is a huge part of this, since it’s the connection between your hands + brain + ears.


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## handel_afficionado (Jul 20, 2022)

d.healey said:


> Get the sheet music for a piece that you like. Don't look at it. Transcribe the piece (or a few bars of it) by ear as best you can. Look at the sheet music for just the part you transcribed and see how well you did.


Am I allowed to use the piano to play the notes or is it considering cheating? Also, can I use the piano for the first note since I don't have perfect pitch?


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## handel_afficionado (Jul 20, 2022)

pinki said:


> Earmaster software is great. Also think about Kodaly training.
> 
> Training the inner ear…the imagined sound, is a sine qua non. Imagine a tone as you read this. Then imagine another. Imagine an interval. A chord in all its glory. Imagine a melody. And so on…


I didn't mention in the post but I have the Earmaster software. I did some modules. Maybe finish it would not be a bad idea. 

I've never heard of Kodaly training. Seems interesting.


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## handel_afficionado (Jul 20, 2022)

daychase said:


> I'd suggest you to think about how you can make transcribing a part of what you already do instead of forcing it into it!


This sounds great because I have so much stuff to work and improve already. So tackling some areas at the same time would be great. 


daychase said:


> With that said, I also think part of training your ear is also training your brain on musical and harmonic contexts, so that you can fill in the blanks where things are sometimes genuinely hard to hear because of mixing, or when your ears are second-guessing themselves and it really would serve you better to go for the most sensible estimate.


What do you mean by training my brain on musical and harmonic contexts? Like doing a lot of classical harmony or jazz harmony exercises and sing them or play on the piano?


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## Double Helix (Jul 20, 2022)

BreakBeatDJ said:


> But, the real magic, for me at least, happened when I started taking jazz and improvising. I gained a completely surprising "side skill" from improvisation I never expected.  *I started to be able to hear a note before I played it and not after I heard it, like I was trained to do in school.*
> 
> So, I experimented a bit. For a week, I picked one key, say G major, created some sort of backing track, bass and drums, and improvised in that key only. No modes, no pentatonic, nothing, just G major.* I was surprised how I had trained myself to hear pitches before I played them. *


^^^ this^^^
My piano teacher called the skill "*interval sense*"; and as per @d.healey's post, viewing sheet music and being able to know what it will sound like is key (follows from acquiring transcription acuity)


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## handel_afficionado (Jul 20, 2022)

BreakBeatDJ said:


> But, the real magic, for me at least, happened when I started taking jazz and improvising. I gained a completely surprising "side skill" from improvisation I never expected. I started to be able to hear a note before I played it and not after I heard it, like I was trained to do in school.


Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I have a book by Mark Levine about learning jazz on the piano and a classical book for improvisation. Maybe it's time to implement some of the tactics you've mentioned!


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## vincewebb (Jul 20, 2022)

I'd also echo @BreakBeatDJ on the point about improvisation. To me learning how to improvise and learning how to compose are basically the same! And there's a BIG difference between playing what you hear and just letting your fingers run around the keyboard. Just as there's a big difference between a composer running through the same old bag of 'tricks' V.S. engaging his or her 'inner ear' (in the way that you described)

For me personally I think the combination of improvisation practice (including transcription, learning patterns, voicings, concepts etc) and jamming/gigging (i.e. putting it into practice) have been for me the biggest and most important way I've improved my ear over the years. That and writing and playing lots of music. 

So yeah if you're already into jazz I think you could do a lot worse than getting serious about jazz piano  The two skillsets of composing and jazzing compliment each other really well and you might find it makes the whole 'theory' thing a lot more enjoyable.

If you don't already know, the iReal book is an amazing tool that gives you transposable lead sheets and custom backing tracks for tons of songs you can download through the app. I'd also highly recommend getting a teacher if you're serious.


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## d.healey (Jul 20, 2022)

handel_afficionado said:


> Am I allowed to use the piano to play the notes or is it considering cheating? Also, can I use the piano for the first note since I don't have perfect pitch?


Oh yeah of course use the piano. I have my keyboard in front of me all day and I'm always tinkering away on it while I'm working on other things. If something pops into my head or I hear a little tune I'll take a few minutes to work it out on the piano.

Very few people have perfect pitch. Develop your relative pitch and you'll be fine.


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