If you understand intervals well enough that you can mimic a melody on the piano, then by default you’re training yourself to be able to do the same thing vocally. If even one or two intervals are botched (maybe your voice doesn’t jump high enough in a part), you’ll end up accidentally changing keys while you sing. Most people who haven’t really developed their singing or ear skills can’t maintain a melody all on their own. Having a really good sense of the distance between notes is what enables singers to carry a tune without any instruments. But aside from building the skill of playing melodies on the piano, learning intervals will help you sing better, too! So the main benefit of doing interval training is to be able to play melodies by ear. Main benefits of learning intervals by ear But with a knowledge of the song and a strong foundation in intervals, I can play the entire melody on my first try, with only a few slips. Then, with the tune firmly entrenched in my head, I could go ahead and play the entire melody if I wanted.Īre you starting to see how useful this is? I don’t have any sheet music in front of me. So listening through a bit of the melody, I can press a few keys to figure out my starting point. It’s not a big deal, but if you’re going to try to sing it or play it with others, that’ll cause some problems. Sometimes if you pull a tune right out of your head, you’ll end up playing it in a different key than it was written. The main reason I wanted to hear a bit of the tune is to make sure I’m starting on the right note. If interval training is instinctual to you, this is an easy process. Maybe you’d really like to figure out that tune on the piano. Learning intervals by ear to pick out a melodyĪnother example of picking out a melody might be if you hear a song on the radio that you like. The main reason we do this, as mentioned earlier, is so that we can easily pick out melodies. But the point is to develop your ability to discern intervals so that it’s second nature. When I first started ear training way back in the day, I would have put much more thought into it. When I do this, I’m not consciously thinking of each individual interval – anymore. I don’t have any music in front of me, so this is done entirely by ear. Then, I’m going to play back the melody by ear. I have Teoria open right now (a website I recommend for interval training, since it’s really easy to use and customize), and I’m going to get it to randomly generate a melody. So if my ear can tell what’s a second, what’s a third, and so on – instantly, with minimal conscious effort – then I should be able to mimic a melody easily. If I play a simple melody on the piano, the entire melody is comprised of a variety of intervals. Firstly, they are the main building blocks of melody. So why is learning intervals by ear important? Why learning intervals by ear is important Intervals can be played separately (melodic) or together (harmonic) – they mean the same thing either way. If you play a C-E, that distance is a 3 rd (3 notes). If you play a C-D, that distance is a 2 nd (2 notes). Learning intervals by ear: What are intervals?Īn interval is simply the distance between two notes. Today we’re going to talk about learning intervals by ear – how to do it, but especially why it’s such a useful skill.
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