Why is implicit harmony the most important concept to understand in ear training?
As you’ve probably heard from the presentation video (you can see it on the homepage) “implicit harmony” is one of the basic concepts behind this new approach. Let us take a more in-depth look at what implicit harmony really is.
There are two main elements to take into consideration:
1) Every melody, or group of notes, also carry with them harmonic information, so harmony is always there. Also if we listen or think of a melody that doesn’t have any sort of accompaniment or chord in the background.
2) Our perception of music is relative…what do I mean?
I mean that what really carries the feelings and sensations in music (tension, release, sadness, happiness and so on) is the particular relation in which notes are presented, and not the notes themselves or the width of the interval between a note and the next one.
In fact, not many musicians take into consideration that all feelings, emotions, and sensations I’m speaking of can be perceived due to a specific instinctive feature of our mind. I’m referring to its ability to relate every note we hear to the previous ones and the following ones. In fact, it’s as if our mind creates a context from the notes we hear, and this context determines the particular sensation that each note carries in that piece of music.
When we hear a group of notes, each note influences and changes our perception and feelings of the other ones. If for example we listen to a 3 note melody, and we change only one note, the feeling of the other two notes will be different.
So how can you develop relative pitch if the harmonic context can totally change the feeling of the notes? It sounds like the possibilities are endless, therefore it might be a tremendously hard task to accomplish.
I know that you are probably thinking that approaching the development of relative pitch while taking into consideration this implicit harmony concept could make the learning process too complex and overwhelming.
Well, I thought so too…but in practice, it is absolutely not complex. We have to take into account the fact that our mind doesn’t learn in a linear way, and its abilities to understand complex systems (like verbal language for example) it’s something that is far beyond what we can rationally understand.
It’s extremely difficult to understand this point if faced from a rational, logical point of view but just think about how it’s almost impossible to make a computer speak English as a human can do. I mean, you can have a computer to reproduce some English words, but it’s impossible to make the result being similar to a real human voice; the inflections, expressiveness, and emotions are somewhat impossible to reproduce accurately from a logical, binary machine, like a computer. This demonstrates how our brain can work in such complex ways that are almost impossible to understand.
For this reason, if you approach the development of relative pitch with the right exercises and they are done in a real step by step order, the process is much easier and faster than you can possibly imagine.
But not only it’s easy, it’s important to know that there is also a crazy good aspect to this approach.
If we start taking into consideration this characteristic of our minds we would find that through the “unconventional” use of this innate activity of our brain (I’m referring to the ability to perceive implicit harmony), we can develop much more complex skills. We can boost our relative pitch skills to an extreme level.
For example, we can mix melody and harmony together in one single thought, so when we hear or when we think of a melody we know what chord progression is under it, or vice-versa. When we hear a chord progression we instinctively think of notes which are contained on those chords so they are adequate to be played on top of that progression.
In other words, our minds will start to learn music as a language and instinctively we will understand how to “speak” in musical terms.
Ok, hopefully now you are beginning to understand this new approach and getting a basic idea on how you should practice in order to develop relative pitch.
If you're serious about developing a very intuitive musical ear, 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.
