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I guess I'm not a true pianist, since I can only play what's written on the sheet in front of me. How many people here can play by ear, and how did you do it? Did it take a long time?

Hi tulleh!

Some people learn playing by ear by themselves, but even if you arent so talented you can learn it.

Search archives in Adults Beginner Forums for Piano Magic or pianomagic.

Hope that helps!

PASSION, PATIENCE, PERSEVERANCE = Talent.....I think you can play by ear if you can hear the song in your brain and for me it is that ultimately I can sing it and find the matching notes. Personally I much prefer to learn the music from the score. Over time both of these methods will improve if you keep at it.
rada

Just as when you sing, you can subconsciously form the sounds from your vocal chords. You put your fingers on the notes that give the sound you have stored in the subconscious brain with the piano.

This is a factor of memory and co-ordination between brain (memory) and the sounds all the notes on the piano represent. Whether chords or single notes they all are part of a pattern that the brain remembers. Each octave is the same sound just a differing scale range.

Singers have to practice voice box sound abilities and surely that is difficult? Certainly for me as I cannot sing at all.

To sum up I find the subconscious brain does it all for you, if you're lucky. It takes time too, of course.

I'm sure this subject will never get properly explained it's a strange thing.


Alan (swingal)

It's not that mysterious. If working from a recording, do it from the bottom up.

1. Identify the bass line by listening and comparing to the keyboard with frequent use of the pause and play buttons.
2. Hunt and peck the melody.
3. Find the chords which are likely to mostly be in the key. Start with the assumption that the bass is playing mostly roots.

The process is slightly different and somewhat more advanced if playing it purely by ear without a recording.

I'll check out the Pianomagic, thanks everyone

I often have my students (adults and kids) figure out nursery rhymes and children's songs by ear, in order to learn to play by ear. Stuff that they know well: Twinkle Twinkle. Row your boat. Mary had a little lamb. Three Blind Mice.

I get them to harmonize the tunes using the I IV and V chords (in the key of C, that's C, F, and G)

Which brings me to another

That's how I taught myself to play piano. I listened to the song, sang them and then just played. But if I hear a solitary melody, I can play that without singing or even checking. I just play, and the melody comes based on what key is logical to press.

Tulleh, its strange but I've been playing without printed sheet music for a couple of months now and I've made some great advances. I've mastered the chord progression of the songs I really love. The sheet music I have for these same songs is complete rubbish. Where about in N.I. do you live?

One factor springs to mind here. Now we have Digital Pianos, how much more easy is it to play by ear. Or even by the music score? For,when I bought my Kawai es4 I was simply amazed how much easier they are to play. The fingering is so much easier because you do not have the need to use varying pressure (though I know they are pressure sensitive) but not to the extent the acoustic pianos need.

Alan (swingal)

You can think of playing by ear as using a language. Words and phrases come from your long term memory and can be reproduced in the subconcious act of improvisation. What you "input" you can also "output".

Keith Phillips
http://www.keithphillips.net
http://www.keithphillips.net/SleepyRiverStudio.htm

I would also say develop a sense of the scales in the style you enjoy. If it's mainstream music then get a sense of the pentatonic scale that is related to the major scale. Play them in all 12 keys. Train to long term memory "licks" in the style you enjoy. This will be your "bag of tricks" that you can pull from when you create music. Also in that style get a feel for the rhythmic patterns that make that style sound correct. Analyze what makes a style unique in any facet.

Keith
http://www.keithphillips.net
http://www.keithphillips.net/SleepyRiverStudio.htm
http://www.freepianoresources.com

Tulleh,

I had to learn that it was/is possible to learn by ear! Actually practicing scales is great as is picking out simple melodies as also suggested by someone above. Most important though is to get over that need to have the music in front of you. Practice your scales etc without any music. Take a simple tune/melody and transpose it through all 12 keys. Do this and after a while you will differentiate the keys better and also find yourself more quickly finding melodies you hear on the keyboard. It is not a far stretch to see that in time you can think of a line you want to play then play it (I believe that is possible though I have not achieved it yet). I have read interviews with improvisers that indicated they are only a fraction of a second ahead in their mind as to what their fingers will play.

When improvising, if I were to think of which path my fingers will take, the route from musical thought to realized sound would be short-circuited.

The goal of spontaneous creation, or instant composition (which is the ultimate realization of the highest form of improvisation), is to bring to the piano enough technical ability to transcend the fingers in translating the music within.

When playing in this state, my fingers don't exist; fingers as such that I'm aware of, the piano becomes part of me, and I have a sense that if I were to lift my hands from the keyboard, the piano would continue to speak my thoughts, the music continuing to fill the air on its own.

That is an interesting explanation of improvisation.

Serge

Serge, it's the truist explanation and exactly what happens when one plays in the moment. The intermediary link, your playing mechanism, between what your mind hears and the piano strings ceases to be and the piano sounds as though of its own accord.

You are in complete synergistic, cooperative feedback loop with the piano, a zen state, the sound of the piano directing your path and guiding the music in your mind. The sound produced by your fingers affecting your direction just as much as you are affecting the keys of the piano on a very sub-comscious level.

This takes letting go and acheiving a completely relaxed symbiotic state. A true spontaneous composer (instant composition) always hears and feels the music in the air. It's already there. Seated at the piano, the improvisor can join or redirect the flow sure as a Jedi can always sense the flow, join it at will, and bend it to reflect his own will.

I always hear music around me. When I'm seated at the piano, I can share with others what it is that I hear that's already there and put my own spin on it.

That's why with my students I stress deep relaxation, the ear, and listening first and foremost. Filling the mind with music. If the music isn't there to begin with, there will never be a flow to join, let alone influence.

This is the only thing that transforms the piano from a 1000 pound hunk of metal and wood into a living, breathing entity. What the musicians brings of himself to the instrument.

Disciple, I just want to say I love your description of improv. It really describes anyone being in the zone while engaged in any creative activity. And your youtube clip is awesome!

Yes, I agree completely with Disciple's explanation. One of the best I have read on this PW forum, on the subject of playing by ear.

This is the precise truth of what makes music, the artist has to be the boss of the instrument. Jazz music being almost always relying on improvisation and what a pleasure it is to be so creative.

Alan (swingal)

PS tulleh's question about "did it take long/" Well how about 60 years in my case. One never stops learning in most events. Of course many of the great pianists did reach perfection to general ears but perhaps they are never satisfied and keep looking for new challenges.

Thank you, Rosanna. That's correct. Actually joining the zone that already permeates your surrounding. You live within your own zone, this zone being a byproduct of all of your past experiences, everything you've ever heard and absorbed, conciously or subconsciouly. It's always there, and each one of us has their unique zone. First, the mechanics of neccisity must be learned to express oneself, then left on the ground if one is to leap into the zone and fly without the weight of the tools, our training, to weigh us down.

Most musicians let their expression be dictated by their training alone, automatic playing. This is why I always stress listening and developing listening skills along with complete relaxation, first and foremost.