Why Is Ear Training So Hard?

ear training relative pitch Jun 23, 2021

In this post, you're going to find the exact reasons why you're struggling with ear training so you can understand how to effectively improve your ear training skills.

Musicians find Ear Training hard for two main reasons:

They are doing exercises that are too difficult for them;
They are following an approach that doesn’t match how our perception of musical pitch works and develops.

Let me tell you that, even though you might think that these 2 issues might not apply to your situation, they are much more common than what you might expect and it's very likely that you're experiencing them without even being aware of it.

For this reason, in the following paragraphs, we're going to talk about the most frequent scenarios that we see are causing problems for a lot of students. One of these it's likely to be your case too.

Keep reading!

Practicing exercises that are too difficult for your current level of skills - practical examples.

Issues related to the interval method

As in any other discipline, in Ear Training we need to develop very basic skills before being able to develop more complex ones. We see this problem particularly in students that are using the interval method.

This is because the interval method unintentionally asks students to perform very difficult tasks from the beginning of their practice and the various steps in the method are not as gradual or simple as they seem.

Intervals are atonal exercises. This means that, when learning an interval you attempt to learn the distance between two notes without taking into account the function that these two notes assume inside the harmonic context of the musical piece. Basically, you pretend that the same interval will always sound the same, and always convey the same sensation in whatever musical context it's included in. Well, that's incredibly wrong and misleading since it's clear that the same interval can sound extremely different depending on the function it assumes inside the harmonic context.

For example, the same major third interval that goes from C to E will sound extremely different if we play it in the key of C major (where the 2 notes would respectively be the 1st and 3rd degree of the key, that will result in a pretty stable) compared to playing it in the key of F major (where the 2 notes would be the 5th and 7th degree of the key, that will result in a really unstable sound).

This is just a very simple example but this peculiar behavior of our perception is also shown by multiple scientific studies. In the last few decades, researchers have clearly proven that our perception of musical pitch is totally context-dependent.

Here is a video we made where we talk about the reasons why intervals are ineffective and the scientific research behind this.

Getting back to our explanation, practicing atonal exercises (such as intervals exercises) is a very advanced task that requires a highly developed set of skills in more simple and basic tonal contexts, and thus practicing them is not an effective way to start out in ear training (it's not even a very good way to develop really advanced relative pitch skills too).

Instead, an effective approach to developing our ear training skills is to start out by internalizing the sound of the notes inside the tonal context. Practicing in simple harmonic contexts allows you to acquire the basic musical vocabulary, which will become increasingly necessary as you need to recognize more complex harmonic contexts.

Issues related to short-term musical memory

Another situation where students do exercises that are too difficult for them is practicing Ear Training without taking into account the current limits of their short-term musical memory.

For example, while practicing melodic dictation they try to memorize too many notes at once. As a result, their musical memory will be overloaded and the pitches of the notes in their minds will get distorted. Then it will clearly be impossible for them to properly analyze the notes and come up with the correct answer.

Issues related to pitch matching

Another situation in which students practice in a way that's too difficult for them is for example when they try to recognize a chord progression by singing all the notes included in the chords and trying to find the root note. If their skills aren't ready yet, they are likely to match the third or the fifth of the chord without realizing that it's not the root note. Obviously, that mistake won't allow them to properly recognize the chords.

Following an approach that doesn’t match how our perception of musical pitch works and develops - practical examples.

We have seen that our perception of musical pitch works and develops in a very specific way.

You can find a more thorough explanation about that in this video.

There are several popular approaches that don't take those characteristics into account at all.

In particular, there are two very common ways of practicing Ear Training that don’t match how our perception of musical pitch works and develops: the interval method and the trial and error approach.

Why the interval method doesn't follow the way in which ear training skills develop?

As explained above, the interval method adopts an atonal approach to developing ear training skills, so it doesn’t follow the way that our relative pitch skills naturally develop, since our perception of musical pitch is totally tonal.

There is so much confusion that most ear training students still think that the right step-by-step process to follow is internalizing the sound of the minor second, after that the sound of the major second, after that the minor third, then the major third, etc.

That's an extremely wrong oversimplification of how our relative pitch skills work and it isn't a real, effective step-by-step process at all. Indeed this approach never works.

It simply doesn't match the way in which our perception of musical pitch works and develops.

Our skills initially develop by internalizing the basic tension and resolution sensations that are inherent to the tonality: We need to start by familiarizing ourselves with the feeling of the basic musical elements in a contextual way. For example, it will be an incredibly better idea to start out by internalizing the sensation of the tonic and dominant chords than practicing increasingly more distant intervals. We don't perceive music in terms of distances but in terms of sensations.

Recognizing the tonic or dominant chord is a very simple exercise that is for sure fundamental to practice in the beginning but that alone won't do miracles. If you want to have a clear step-by-step path that will allow you to develop advanced relative pitch skills, no matter your current level (you can start from totally zero skills) you can check out our course.

Another common approach that doesn't follow the way in which our perception of musical pitch works and develops is the trial and error approach.

Why the "trial and error approach" doesn't follow the way in which ear training skills develop?

The trial and error approach occurs when a musician tries to recognize a musical piece by playing random notes or chords on an instrument till he finds the notes or the chords that match the ones in the song. This only involves basic pitch matching skills.

Pitch matching is an important basic skill in Ear Training but that's not the type of skill that enables you to effortlessly recognize melodies and chords by ear.

There are many other skills to be developed after pitch matching, in order to develop a well-performing relative pitch system. So, in a few words, sticking with this approach won't allow you to recognize melodies and chords by ear, no matter how hard you try.

Lastly, it's important to mention that neither the interval method nor the trial and error approach allows students to develop a basic musical vocabulary and an intuitive connection with music. Consequently, students typically employ a lot of rational effort in order to recognize chords and melodies by ear and to play them on their instrument. This obviously results in a very slow process, that can't be applied as music plays in real-time.

For these reasons many students end up feeling disconnected from the music they play and that is usually very frustrating for them. But these problems aren't due to a lack of talent or whatsoever, they're specifically caused by the approaches that the students are applying.

The good thing is that this can easily be solved by adopting an effective approach. I know this might sound strange, but, after teaching ear training to hundreds and hundreds of students during the past few years, I've seen incredible transformations happening in almost zero time, you can see some of them here.

How to know if you are practicing ineffectively

If you are practicing effectively you should be able to see noticeable results on a weekly or biweekly basis. If you don't see any results in a month or two months, you’re probably practicing ineffectively and one of the two reasons mentioned above is very likely to be the cause.

You can also measure whether you’re practicing effectively or not by figuring out if what you’re learning can be applied to real music. For example, you want to develop the ability to recognize melodies by ear and you’re practicing intervals (which we don't suggest) in order to develop this skill.

Take four or five simple melodies and try to recognize them by ear without memorizing them.
Write down how many notes you've identified correctly and how many notes were wrong.
Practice for two weeks or a month.
Listen again to the melodies and try to recognize them again.

You can now measure whether or not you have improved your ability to recognize melodies by ear in those two weeks or one month of practice.

How to get better at Ear Training

It's important to understand that great musicians have developed an intuitive connection with music that allows them to recognize music intuitively, just by feeling how a note or a chord sounds inside the harmonic context of a musical piece.

To develop that kind of skill, students need to develop a tonal vocabulary by approaching Ear Training in a tonal way.

Our method will show you the step-by-step process that will allow you to develop the tonal vocabulary and the intuitive connection to music that I'm talking about, no matter your current level.

If you're interested in that, don't forget to check out the use your ear workshop. This is a free 3-hour workshop packed with actionable content and proven exercises that you won’t get anywhere else!

In this free 3-hour long workshop, you will:

Discover a science-based model that reveals the secrets great musicians use, without even knowing it, to recognize music on the fly ... secrets that anyone can harness to quickly develop a pro-caliber musical ear.

Preview our step-by-step method to develop relative pitch faster and easier than you ever imagined. See first-hand how our students get results quickly, experiencing music on a much deeper level in a matter of weeks — no more tedious mental math on intervals.

Practice multiple exercises during the workshop. You’ll discover the right way to recognize melodies and chords, so you walk away with practical direction based on your own skill level and sticking points. You will know how to improve, instead of just guessing.

Learn which exercises to avoid at all costs — ineffective exercises, prescribed by generations of well-meaning music teachers, that doom 99.9% of promising musicians to failure — so you can avoid years of frustration and lack of progress.

Get TWO GIFTS, available nowhere else, to help you build on the concepts and exercises you learn during the workshop.

Seats are limited, and this free offer won’t last forever.

In case you want to know more about the full video course, you can check out this page.

Conclusion

Developing ear training skills takes time and it must be done correctly. Otherwise, you could potentially waste months or years of your life.

You can develop ear training skills starting from any level, but you must be patient and it's absolutely necessary to follow an effective process, that allows you to work gradually starting from the basics as you would do in learning a new language.

Don't forget to check out the use your ear workshop. This is a free 3-hour workshop packed with actionable content and proven exercises that you won’t get anywhere else!

See the bulleted list above to understand more about what you get from this free workshop.

Mind that, seats are limited, and this free offer won’t last forever.

You can also watch our YouTube video on "Why Is Ear Training So Hard?"