What is Ear Training – Why is it Important, and Why Should You Do It?

Ear training is a key skill for musicians of any level, but many music students don’t take full advantage of everything that ear training has to offer. They may focus on other aspects of music learning, or they could simply be using inadequate training programs. Whatever the case, there’s a lot to be said about the value of ear training for beginners, experts, and everyone in between.

What is ear training?

Ear training is a field of study that’s integral for anyone who wants to be able to sing, play an instrument, produce music, and more. In addition to familiarizing learners with the building blocks of music (such as rhythm, pitch, melody and harmony, chords, and more), ear training also teaches them how to identify and use these musical elements purely by ear. In other words, ear training is the field of study that trains musicians to “play by ear” instead of exclusively depending on written music.

Why is ear training important?

Assuming you want to achieve some level of expertise in your musical studies, ear training is one of the fundamental skills that will bring you closer to your goals. For example, the ability to improvise is one of the hallmarks of an expert musician – but without the benefits of ear training, you would either have to rely on your natural abilities, or stick to playing music that was already written.

Who needs ear training?

Anyone who’s interested in learning how to sing, play an instrument, or write music should invest in ear training. Contrary to the popular myth of “innate musical talent”, ear training skills can be developed by everyone. No matter their current level or age, even those with limited abilities can become just as musically advanced by following a proper ear training method. As we are going to see, though, perfect pitch skills are an exception to this rule.

Perfect pitch vs. Relative pitch

Knowing someone with perfect pitch can be like knowing someone with a photographic memory – maybe they don’t have an actual superpower, but sometimes it can feel that way. Unfortunately, according to scientific findings, perfect pitch skills can only be developed in early childhood. On the contrary, relative pitch is a bit less mysterious, but just as valuable to musicians and it can be developed at any age.

What is perfect pitch?

People with perfect pitch can identify the pitch of any note, without any other point of reference. For example, if they heard someone playing an E-flat, they would be able to correctly identify that the note was an E-flat.

What is relative pitch?

Relative pitch enables you to recognize notes and chords quickly and seamlessly. The only difference from perfect pitch is that, in this case, the musician will understand the note or chord in relation to its key. This may sound like a pretty boring skill, but the implications are huge. When someone has a complete grasp of relative pitch, they can identify chords, melodies, track chord progressions, harmonize by ear, improvise, and more.

What are the differences between perfect and relative pitch?

One of the main differences is that while perfect pitch can only be developed by very young students (less than 6 years old), relative pitch can be mastered by people of any age.

Another difference is that perfect pitch can be lost; relative pitch, however, is like riding a bike. Once you’ve learned it, you’ll have that skill for the rest of your life.

Different ear training practices

Ear training in music can take many different forms; here are some of the most common ones.

• Pitch ear training teaches you to match the pitch of any note you hear; this is one of the most basic forms of ear training.

• Scale ear training helps you to identify not only scales, but also scale degrees.

• Chord ear training (also known as Harmonic ear training) lets you identify chords and chord progressions.

• Melody ear training (also known as Note ear training) allows you to identify individual notes and melodies. In turn, this develops your sense of pitch, which is essential for playing by ear or improvisation.

• Rhythm ear training teaches you how to keep a beat, plus how to identify various styles of rhythms.

• Triad ear training is a type of chord ear training, in which you learn to identify the four types of triad chords: major, minor, augmented, and diminished.

What are the benefits of ear training?

In a nutshell, a top-notch ear training course will help you become a better musician. If you want to know more details, here’s a brief overview:

• Ear training makes it easier for you to play by ear.

• You’ll learn to seamlessly recognize melodies and chords by ear (without the need for any musical instruments).

• You’ll learn how to improvise music like a professional, and to express the musical ideas that come from within yourself.

• Learning music (whether it’s from sheet music or a recording) will happen more quickly.

• When you practice ear training on a regular basis, you’ll be able to approach every musical endeavor with greater freedom and confidence.

How to practice ear training

There are different types of ear training methods, and it’s important to choose the best one since a lot of commonly used approaches to ear training include many dangerous and unintentional pitfalls. If you aren’t sure where to start, the following considerations might help you in your search.

How should you begin your ear training?

If you’re really intentional about ear training, you’ll find a structured course that’ll teach you how to practice ear training properly. Some people opt for a “trial and error” approach, but this is counterproductive if you want to learn music by ear. With this method, you’re essentially just playing random notes until you stumble upon the right one by chance. As you can imagine, this method is very limited. In fact, it only provides the very basic skills of recognizing whether the note/chord you are playing matches the one you’re hearing in the song; this approach doesn’t allow you to develop your musicality and ear training skills in general. As we are going to see in the next paragraph, another common mistake is to start practicing interval-based exercises, without knowing that the interval approach is seriously ineffective (especially for beginners). Instead, it’s recommended to research the best ear training courses, and choose one that provides consistent results.

Free online ear training exercises – do they work?

You may be able to glean a few tips and tricks with free online ear training exercises, but you’ll need a lot more guidance than that if you want to really advance your ear training. More importantly, the majority of these exercises use the interval method, which is a fundamentally unsound approach that ignores the way our brain naturally experiences music.

Another drawback of these online exercises is that they may not be appropriate for your skill level. Think of it this way: instead of being taught how to ride a beginner’s bike with training wheels on a paved road, it could feel like you’re being asked to ride a mountain bike along a cross-country track. This is exactly the case for interval based exercises.

On top of all that, ear training is most effective with a tailored, structured approach. If you’re haphazardly choosing random online ear training lessons, you’ll have a much harder time seeing concrete advancements, and you won’t have a teacher to help you identify and correct potential weaknesses.

Ear training apps and software – can they help you?

Similar to online ear training lessons, ear training apps and software rarely offer personalization. Even though they may feel more structured compared to online ear training lessons, they still don’t provide the possibility of meaningful feedback or guidance. Moreover, most of the ear training apps and software out there are based on the interval method which, as mentioned above, is seriously flawed - you can find a more thorough explanation in this video.

Why is it so important to follow the best ear training approach? Because if you spend a ton of time spinning your wheels with unhelpful exercises or programs, you’re likely to blame yourself for the apparent failure, lose your motivation, and then give up.

The best option is to take ear training courses with an experienced professional

If you want the best results, you have to follow the best ear training method. This means enlisting the guidance of someone with real-life experience who can guide you in developing your skills, identify weak spots, give balanced feedback, and most importantly, teach you how to get better at ear training.

How long does it take to develop great ear training skills?

This depends on many different factors; you have to take into account not only your current skill level, but also your commitment to practicing, the quality of your practice sessions, the effectiveness of the ear training method you are following, and so on. That being said, students of the Use Your Ear program take about two years on average to reach advanced skill levels.

This won’t be the case for every ear training method, though. The truth is that many of them, such as interval-based ear training methods or courses, simply aren’t as effective. With less well-designed ear training methods, it could take several years to attain advanced levels, if at all - and you’ll struggle a lot more in the process.

Do you want to become more musical?

Wanting to know how to train your ear for music is all that’s needed to get started. Developing a good ear is a process; nobody is born with it. What you really need is science-based ear training lessons, like the ones available from Use Your Ear. The Use Your Ear relative pitch video course is actually the only ear training course that’s based on both solid scientific foundations, and years of practical experience working with hundreds of students of all levels and backgrounds. The Use Your Ear method has already helped thousands of people like you to develop advanced ear training skills, no matter their age, current level, natural ear for music, and so on. And best of all, your instruction will be more customized, accurate and effective than any other source you will find online.

Check out our free online ear training workshop. This workshop is a free introductory lesson to our innovative ear training method, in this workshop you will also receive tailored made practical direction on how to practice ear training properly and understand what exercises and approaches you should avoid and why.

Conclusion

Ear training is a complex skill that requires not only time and effort, but also dedication, drive and expert guidance. What it doesn’t require, though, is innate skill or previous experience. Regardless of how much you know about music or music theory, ear training is a skill that can enrich your life as soon as you start to learn it.