"Ear Training Sessions Put
Your Ears On Steroids!"

At least effective ear training will make it seem that way. This is a topic I love to focus on. If you stick around here, you'll learn quickly that you made the right decision. Developing a good musical ear takes your playing potential to a higher level. This applies to you whether you play piano or you play any other musical instrument.

Ear training should actually be something that is integrated with your other musical endeavors, rather than being thought of as an activity that you need to put aside a whole lot of time for, thus making it something you'll potentially get tired of.

Actually, I feel that all the aspects of music should be integrated with each other during the learning process, whenever possible. I think this will become evident as you become acquainted with my approach on this site.

So please remember: Ear training is the aim. Ear straining is not.

If you try to force ear training on yourself against your will, your brain will say, "Go bother someone else, I'm overwhelmed." Ear training needs to be done in a playful, relaxed manner with a positive attitude, and the process should be a slow and gradual one. Ironically, your progress will be faster this way.

As we mentioned here, when we speak of ear training, what we are really referring to is getting the brain to improve its capacity to make sound distinctions. Our ears are simply the passageway. Nevertheless, the concept of a musical ear has been so widely used and accepted, we'll continue using it, too.

There are basically two areas (or levels) of listening that musicians aspire to:

1) perfect pitch

2) relative pitch

Perfect pitch involves the ability to be able to recognize a note when it is being played. In other words, if I was to play a "C" on the piano and you weren't looking, after hearing it, you would instantly be able to tell me I was playing a "C." In addition, you would likely be able to sing or hum a "C" without hearing it.

Time and time again, when you encounter someone with this ability, you're likely to find that they invite the "ooooos" and "ahhhhhs" from others as this can make quite an impression.

The development of perfect pitch has been a pretty controversial issue, since many people maintain the belief that "you either have it or you don't," and others believe that this is a hearing ability that can indeed be acquired. There actually has been sufficient evidence that perfect pitch can be developed...

Perfect pitch involves a certain sensitivity to pitch. I believe everyone has this sensitivity to a point - what needs developing is their awareness of this sensitivity. If you'd like to explore this at a deeper level by tapping into this "musical gold within" - and I hope you do - check this program out

However, if your aim is to learn "how to play by ear" in the manner that most people refer to, keep reading...

Relative pitch is where it's at for most musicians. It involves the ability to be able to instantly recognize musical relationships, such as distances between notes, or music intervals, and between chords being played. It is a proven fact that relative pitch can be taught and learned as long as one has the desire.

Although both have their obvious benefits, most musicians would agree that, if they are to have one and not the other, relative pitch is the more rewarding - and for good reason. The musician with a good ear for relative pitch has a keen ability to reproduce melodies, chords progressions and even entire arrangements. This is why it will be our main focus.

By the way, when it comes to ear training, nothing beats using a piano or keyboard. The symmetry of the piano keyboard presents things clearly, and training your ear to identify various aspects of harmony is practical, since you can easily play two or more notes at the same time to hear them.

We're going to have a lot of fun with your development of relative pitch. If this all seems new to you, that's just fine. We'll make a game of it, so this will be an enjoyable experience for you!

Remember your ears want you to be nice to them. Easy does it. Make fun the priority and your ears will say "thank you" by being at your beck and all whenever you need them! You will develop a sensitive musical awareness that will knock your socks off (and others, too). Music will be magic to your ears.

Happy New Ears!

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