Learn Piano Online Play Piano By Ear - It Starts With Goo-Goo Gaa-Gaa!
Learn Piano Online Play Piano by Ear Now - Not Later
Playing piano by ear is not necessarily a concept for "the more advanced"... or for the "specially gifted." I would like to really emphasize this point with beginning piano students. Look at it this way: your ears don't go "on hold" until you understand everything there is to know about the language you speak. As a matter of fact, your ears are working for you 24/7 from the moment you are born. During infancy, is there a part of you that says to yourself, "Talking? I'm not ready for that big step yet... I'll wait until I have a better handle on the idea." Or there a part of you that says, "Hmmm, I'll never be able to do this... these folks have something special going for themselves."
Well, is there???
Not a chance!
As a matter of fact, no thought at all is given to the matter. Instead, what happens? You just DO IT. Right?
In other words, at that point in life, you haven't learned the concept of having an identity... therefore, you don't identify with not being able to do something (in this case, talk). You don't learn that until you're old enough to listen to authoritative figures who feed your brain with false information, whether it's told to you directly or you interpret that information from listening to others and forming your own wrong conclusions about yourself and your abilities.
It's still true that your ears work 24/7, even if you're at a point where you're only playing your first few notes on that piano or keyboard of yours. But your ears are functioning. Also, your brain is interpreting the sounds that you are hearing and recognizing distinctions in sound. It might not be labeling them or categorizing them, but it is doing its job! By the way, if you'd like to engage in an interesting study of these sound distincitions, consider Pure Pitch (it covers both perfect pitch and relative pitch).
When it comes to a beginner encountering the idea of playing piano by ear, what usually comes to mind is an image of some sort of someone who is highly skilled, whether real or imagined. Then that person falls into a "comparison trap" and sabotages his efforts by wrongly thinking "I can't do that." Remember this: when you were 3 days old, you were not at a point where you could actually utter the words "I can do anything I set my mind on," but that didn't mean you didn't have the capacity to learn how to say them. (Go ahead say them out loud right now... see? You can do it now!) What's even more interesting is that you didn't need to hear those words to pursue your heart's desire!
Simply adopt the belief that you can nurture that musical sensitivity of yours. That's really what having good musical ears is all about - being sensitive to those "sound distinctions" I was referring to. This is what playing piano by ear involves. You can do this. You may want to get in touch with some tools that can guide you along to make the journey a smoother one, like the one mentioned above. Also, there is a free 5-day email course available here that can provide you with some guidance as well.
Stay tuned to articles in this section of our site, too, since you'll be in touch with some helpful information on this subject, some of which is already available.
Remember...
Always...
ALWAYS...
PLAY WITH PASSION!
Musically,
Dave
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Dave Longo is the creator and owner of PianoAmore.net, a site devoted to showing the
adult piano student how to unleash "The Creative Genius Within." Reach your musical
potential by taking advantage of the many piano learning tools at the site.
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Comments? info @ pianoamore.com
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