Ear Training Fundamentals: How to Listen Like a Musician

Illuminating insights in How to Listen Like a Musician… (Heads up: There’s a lot more to it than most people think)…

Table of Contents

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Lesson Goal

To learn that musical comprehension is all about connecting what a musical something is (a noun) to what that musical something does (a verb).

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Prerequisites

LOVE of music and the discipline to study and practice the right things the right way.

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Keys to Listening like a Musician

1. Musical comprehension is about connecting what a musical something is (a noun) to what that musical something does (a verb).
2. Musical listening isn’t just about sounds, but about feelings and functions.
3. Particular musical patterns perform particular musical functions that we are naturally wired to hear and feel.
4. Musical patterns move us; we respond to them both physically and emotionally.
5. Successful listening isn’t achieved by “trying” to hear something. It’s about being receptive to the sound-feeling you are experiencing.
6. You can’t hear what you don’t listen to or listen for, just as you can’t see something if your eyes are closed, are looking in the wrong direction, or are focused on the wrong thing.
7. There are as many ways to listen as there are ways to direct your attention.
8. You can focus on many aspects of the music: the pulse, tempo, meter, pitches, pitch relationships, phrase length, form, tonality, melody, harmony, bass line, stylistic elements, dynamics, articulations, etc.
9. The sound, feeling, and function of a musical pattern always depends on the context.
10. The location of a note within the fabric of time (the form, meter, phrase, rhythm) has a huge impact on the way it sounds, feels, and functions.
11. Melody, harmony, scales, chords, chord progressions, meter, rhythm, phrasing, and form need each other in order to make musical sense.
12. Your capacity to understand music expands every time you internalize a meaningful musical pattern… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle.
13. Can you think of some others? (Please comment below)

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Common Practice Musical Patterns to Listen For

As a musician, you’re not just listening to the music; you’re also listening for musical patterns. Here, for your consideration, is a list of musical patterns that are used time and time again in every kind of music:

1. Key Center (Do)
2. Tonality (Major, Minor, Mixolydian, Dorian, Major Blues, Minor Blues, etc.)
3. Tempos.
4. Meters.
5. Form.
6. Rhythms (Straight, shuffle, swing, bossa nova, etc.).
7. Rhythmic Motives.
8. Phrase Lengths.
9. Articulations.
10. Dynamics.
11. Timbre.
12. Texture.
13. Repetition.
14. Consonance & Dissonance.
15. Melodic Contours.
16. Sequences.
17. Call and Response.
18. Syncopation.
19. Rubato.
20. Chord Progressions.
21. Cadences.
22. Turnarounds.
23. First and Seconde Endings.
24. Chord Voicings.
25. Chord Inversions.
26. Accompaniment Styles (Ostinato, Chord Roots & 5ths, Block Chords, Alberti Bass, Stride, Arpeggios, Walking Bass Lines, etc.).
27. Changes of Register.
28. Counterpoint.
29. Pedal Points.
30. Suspensions.
31. Appoggiaturas.
32. Chromaticisms.
33. Pickups.
34. Glissando.
35. Passing Tones.
36. Neighbor Tones.
37. Chord Tone Embellishments.
38. Secondary Dominants.
39. Passing Chords.
40. Key Changes.
41. Codas.
42. Can you think of some others? (Please comment below)

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Words of Encouragement

All the above sounds like a lot to learn and pay attention to, but it’s not as hard as you think. Because the ability to recognize each pattern is a learnable skill if you study and practice the right things the right way. That’s why Piano-ology always integrates theory and ear training, emphasizes learning by doing, and connects the way your experience the music with the way you think about the music. This will all make sense and start coming together as you study scales, chords, chord progressions, form, meter, rhythm, and more… all of which will enable you to listen with an educated ear.

The gift of musical intuition is the inevitable reward for internalizing lots of musically-useful patterns… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle. ~fjp

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