Musicality Definition – What is Musicality in Music?
To understand what musicality is, it helps to be able to recognize it in action. Everybody has that one friend who can come up with amazing melodies out of thin air, while simultaneously accompanying themselves on their instrument. They make it look so effortless, but you might not find it quite that simple.
But guess what? Anyone can develop their musicality, no matter their age or current skill level! Once you’ve developed this skill, it’ll stay with you for life. Developing your musicality can help you improvise more easily, learn music by ear (without the need of any musical instruments), and connect more deeply with any type of music.
What does musicality mean?
Let’s quickly explore the technical side of this term, then follow up with some real-life examples.
Musicality definition: a combination of musical skills (such as instrumental technique and ear training skills) and artistic sensitivity that enables someone to “speak” the language of music.
One example of musicality in action would be the ability to recognize chords and melodies. In order to freely reproduce these musical elements on your instrument, you first have to be able to identify them by ear; that’s why this ability is an essential part of musicality.
Here’s another practical example of musicality in action: say you were in the process of writing a song, and you just came up with a great melody line - this is musicality in action, but it’s not all; let’s say the melody is all there in your head, so the next step would be to express it in a more tangible way. Musicality would also enable you to effortlessly play the newly created melody on your instrument or program it in your DAW (music production software), with hardly a second thought.
What type of skill is musicality?
While some people get caught up in the technical skills that accompany musicality, it’s important to understand that true musicality is mostly a set of mental skills. For example, in order to transcribe music by ear, you’d need the ability to automatically identify what you were hearing without the help of musical instruments.
Musicality, or “being musical”, means that you have a good perception or internalization of both pitch and rhythm. You know the people who love music, but who can’t carry a tune in a bucket? Even though they may connect deeply with music on an emotional level, their musicality isn’t very developed if they can’t reproduce what they’re hearing. The same goes for rhythm – keeping a beat is another foundational part of musicality.
When you do have those skills, though, your musicality lets you interact with music. You aren’t just passively enjoying it; you also don’t have to work as long or hard to see progress, such as when you painstakingly play a song that you had to learn by rote memorization. Musicality allows you to spontaneously create a musical dialogue by adding your own melodies, harmonies, or improvisations that are both coherent and musically pleasing to you or your listeners.
How do I know if I have musical talent?
A quick Google search for “musicality definition” will turn up all kinds of results, including some claiming that musicality is partly based on innate musical talent. It’s time to clear up a misconception: there’s no such thing as “musical talent”. While talent (of any kind) can’t be taught, musicality absolutely can be taught. This is great news, of course, since it means that musicality is a skill that can be developed by anyone, regardless of their age or current level of ability. A better question might be, “can you teach musicality in music?”. And of course, the answer would be “yes”!
The most important thing is to make sure that you choose the right method for developing your musicality. Finding out how to improve musicality takes more than just adopting the first method you encounter, and hoping that it works. Most of these methods are too simplistic to be effective, so even if you see a few small improvements at first, it’s very unlikely that those improvements will allow you to develop an intuitive sense of musicality. Musicality is a very complex skill, and in order to develop it properly you need a well-rounded teaching method with a proven track record of success.
The importance of musicality in music
Why is musicality important in music? Because without it, you can’t really consider yourself to be a musician. Think of it this way – would you be considered a cyclist, if all you’d ever ridden was an exercise bike? Even though you might be good at going through the motions, you’d still have no idea what it was like to feel the combination of pedaling, balance, and momentum taking you forward along the path you’ve chosen.
By the same token, musicality is what allows you to create a dialogue with music. It includes a set of mental skills that let you confidently express emotions through chords, melodies and rhythm. Whether you’re singing along, improvising a new harmony, or coming up with your own melodies off the top of your head, musicality is the essential skill at play when you perform these tasks.
Components of musicality
Although many definitions of musicality make it sound like an almost mystical ability, the truth is that it’s based on practical musical skills that anyone can learn. These are the two main components of musicality:
Perception and internalization of pitch
It’s easy to see why this is essential to musicality – without it, you wouldn’t be able to sing or play on key, let alone recognize whether the notes you were hearing were sharp, flat, or perfectly in tune. A major component of musicality is the ability to produce music that’s interesting, pleasing and entertaining, but that’s impossible if you can’t sing or play in tune.
Of the two components of musicality, “perception of musical pitch” is the more difficult one to master. One of the main reasons why this is more difficult is that, according to multiple scientific studies, our brains perceive the same musical pitch (the same note or chord) has having a different sonic sensation depending on the surrounding harmonic context (they musical key its included in); unfortunately, traditional ear training methods use exercises that don’t take this into account.
To put it more simply, imagine that you’re playing in the key of C. If you play a B, you’ll feel tension – you’ll want to find resolution by playing the tonic note of C. If you’re playing in the key of B, though, hitting that same note (B) now brings a sense of resolution and finality. What makes the difference? The harmonic context, or the key in which the note is being played. This is how our brains naturally perceive musical pitch, but hardly any ear training methods are designed with this in mind. Most of them follow atonal approaches instead (such as the interval method), which are largely ineffective, and consistently fail to produce real results.
Perception and internalization of rhythm
Just like with pitch, perceiving and internalizing rhythm is crucial for accuracy in your musical efforts. If you can’t keep a beat, you won’t be able to follow along with the music you’re hearing, let alone produce music yourself that sounds coherent. Fortunately, rhythm is much easier to master than pitch perception, and most traditional training methods are effective in helping musicians develop their perception of rhythm.
How to improve musicality in music
If you want to know how to improve musicality, the answer may be simpler than you think. The most effective way to develop your musicality is through structured ear training, but this only works if you choose the right ear training method. Methods that follow a tonal approach, such as the Use Your Ear method, have been proven to work time and again. Other methods, such as the interval method or the trial-and-error approach, will only lead to frustration and disappointment.
Interval exercises follow an atonal approach, which forces students to practice exercises without the presence of a tonality. These exercises are often far too difficult for beginner-level musicians, and don’t actually teach musical skills that can be applied to real music - nor do they actually improve a person's musicality. Quite the opposite: they make people over-rationalize, and detach them from focusing on musical sensations and emotions, which are the key to developing a great sense of musicality.
The trial-and-error approach is just as ineffective, since it essentially consists of the student randomly trying to hit the correct note or chord on their instrument, until they stumble upon the right one. This approach lacks structure, and is simply too haphazard to produce meaningful results. Moreover, searching for notes and chords by trial and error doesn’t foster development of the cognitive processes that make up a great sense of musicality to begin with.
Can you teach musicality?
Musicality can be taught to anyone, no matter how old they are, or how much musical knowledge they already have. Just think of it like learning a new language – even though some people may find it easier than others, it’s a skill that’s accessible to everyone.
How to train your ear musically
If you want to know how to train your ear musically, the most important thing you could do is to choose the right ear training method or teacher. You should follow a step-by-step approach that’s been proven to work, not simply the first budget course or ear trainer app you find.
In addition to what you do, your chances of success will also rely on what you don’t do. Avoid making the mistakes mentioned above – using interval-based exercises or a trial-and-error approach – and don’t rely on DIY ear training either.
It’s tempting to put together your own ear training method using free online resources or ear training apps, but these are pretty much useless. Many of them use interval-based exercises, moreover they will lack the step-by-step structure you need in order to progress. This being the case, you’re unlikely to be assigned exercises that are appropriate for your current skill level. This is a serious problem, because if you practice the right thing at the wrong time, that could be even worse than not practicing at all. Either you’ll be stuck completing pointlessly simple exercises, or you’ll be frustrated by overly complex exercises that are way beyond your skill level.
At the end of the day, even though these options can seem like they’re better than nothing, this isn’t necessarily the case. Developing your musicality is a complicated task, and it requires expert guidance if you want your efforts to be successful. Whatever ear training course you choose, the lessons should be assigned based on where you’re at right now, and structured to help you move forward efficiently and quickly.
If you’re looking for an ear training method that’ll help you develop your inner sense of musicality, you might want to check out our main services: the Use Your Ear relative pitch course, the free Use Your Ear Workshop, and our customized one-on-one lessons. No matter which option you choose, you’ll be able to learn skills that can be immediately applied to real-world situations – including music lessons, choir practice, songwriting, jam sessions, and more.
Why is the Use Your Ear method so effective? Because it’s the only step-by-step, science-based ear training method available. Thousands of students have already benefited from using this method, regardless of how proficient they were when they started. Even students who’ve used other methods say that Use Your Ear has been the most effective one – you can learn more about their stories, and see just how much they’ve improved on our testimonial page. And these aren’t just beginner-level students; even college music teachers and expert musicians with previous ear training experience have said that the Use Your Ear method has opened them up to a whole new way of relating to music.
Conclusion
So what does musicality mean? It’s something that isn’t always defined consistently, but it’s instantly recognizable whenever you see it. Musicality represents a fairly wide range of skills, but at its core, it isn’t that complicated. It means being able to interact with music, and to shape its elements into whatever form takes your fancy. At Use Your Ear, our mission is to guide musicians of all levels and backgrounds to develop an intuitive sense of musicality. Our students learn to play by ear, improvise freely, sing in tune, recognize melodies and chords on the fly, and much more. No matter where you’re at in your journey with music, the process of developing your musicality is worth every bit of effort you put into it.
