I'm wondering why there are seemingly no teachers who incorporate playing by ear as part of a musical study program.

I'm only in the first year of lessons, but decided early on that I wanted to become a well rounded student, in terms of my musical training. I'm playing pop, classical, jazz, blues, in addition to studying theory and a variety of technical exercises. I'm also trying to develop my sight reading skills, but to date have not put any focus on memorization. I assume there will come a point where I'll want to do that too.

Do you think there anything missing in the list above that would help me?

No aspirations of being a performer or working in a music related field. Just want to learn how to play.

I see quite a few members have taken a play by ear approach, but I never see anyone talking about it in this forum (so I assume this is not the 'traditional' way to learn piano). My teacher has never mentioned it. Do you think its an important (or useful) skill to have or develop? Of course, I wouldn't discard any of my current program in favor of this, but was wondering if this would be good supplemental[/b] training. Is this a method reserved for people who have decided they do not wish to develop their sight reading or memorization skills? Is this a real or perceived 'shortcut' to avoid the unpleasantries of the 'traditional' route?

Not trying to create a war between the teachers and all the play by ear students, but am curious as to your perspective on this method and why you do or do not teach this method.

Thanks for your insights.

I haven't seen any teachers who say they teach, "playing by ear," but I have seen a number of teachers who teach "ear training," which, to my understanding, isn't that much different--it's like playing by ear, but with more theory? (Please correct me if I'm wrong--I'm still learning.)

What I've been trying to do with my own students is spend about 5 minutes of each lesson playing copy cat--I'll play a short tune and they try to play it back, and visa-versa (I love it when they make up tunes they can't remember.) Eventually, I'll have them start writing down what they think I played instead of playing it back to me.

I think playing by ear is an important and useful skill to develop, and I teach it to all my students. My students learn to play by ear, sight reading, and memorization. I believe that what you are calling the "traditional" route is only half of playing the piano, and without learning to play by ear you are not able to fully enjoy the piano. Playing by ear is not a shortcut to learning the piano. It is a form of playing the piano, which, in my opinion, is too often overlooked and forgotten.

It seems that most of the musicians I know are either proficient with sightreading or have a great ear, but not both. The same with piano teachers. I know many teachers who are conservatory-trained, classical pianists, but ask them to sit down and improvise or play any well-known children's folk tune (with a nice LH accompaniment), and they can't do it.

I think students should be well-balanced and be trained in both sightreading and how to play by ear. That's the goal I have for my students. In my opinion, most private piano teachers don't incorporate ear training in lessons (perhaps because they themselves are not really good at it? I'm not sure). I want my students to learn how to improvise, how to hear a song from the radio and figure out a RH melody, then add the correct chords in the LH. This skill is just as important as sightreading and playing classical music.

I'm wondering why there are seemingly no teachers who incorporate playing by ear as part of a musical study program.[/b]
seemingly being the operative word here. I incorporate playing by ear, like the previous three posters.

Do you think its an important (or useful) skill to have or develop?[/b]
Absolutely. It's all bound up with ear training, sight singing, audiation, harmony studies - and just general keyboard facility. Every pianist should be able to knock out a version of Happy Birthday - in at least one key!

Is this a method reserved for people who have decided they do not wish to develop their sight reading or memorization skills? Is this a real or perceived 'shortcut' to avoid the unpleasantries of the 'traditional' route?[/b]
No, and no. People who wish to avoid reading or the "traditional" route may well go this way, but in my view it should be incorporated into the traditional reading-based method.

Like Sal_, I do echo playing with my babiest beginners from the start, and sight-singing too. And as soon as we're playing chords, we are selecting them for use.
I learnt both, myself, and always found one skill helped the other.

Here's my opinion.
I know wonderful pianists who play for weddings, funerals, and everything in between, who can't read sheet music at all because they've never been taught. But ask them to play a song and it is pl ayed BEAUTIFLY. At their age they say they don't need sheet music... and maybe they really don't.

But I get skeptical when I hear a younger person saying it (teens maybe) because they usually can only bang out a tune with one hand, (nothing complicated) and usually just don't want to actually learn.

Thre's definetly playing by ear.. and playing by 'ear'

You should never memorize the 'tuneful' parts of a piece, they should be played by 'ear'. It's easier and more musical. Most sight reading should also be done by ear.

A colleague with grade 8 piano picked up the guitar and is learning since Christmas. He is having big problems 'hearing' when chord changes occur. He has been taught strictly how to read music and he cannot (h)ear anything.

I would say that someone who has been "taught how to read music" and cannot hear what he is reading (at least to some extent) hasn't really (by my definition) learnt how to read music at all.

He can't have passed grade 8 aural. For that you need to follow typical chord progressions.

I've taught people to play piano by ear for nearly 19 years. In addition, I've taught by note although it's not my strength. I can read sheet music, however, I struggle with rhythm.

But, if you let me hear the song first, then I can set down and use the sheet music and my "ear" to play the song.

Back to the subject of this message. I'm now teaching students all over the world to play by ear using a DVD series. It's a neat thing and I'm quite enjoying it. It's great to hear their success stories and great to meet so many new people. But most of all, I teach people to play by ear only.

Matt