If we only go with what feels right to our ears then we'll never get beyond Twinkle Twinkle and shit like that. Just go with what feels right to your ear. So unlike most of the others here, I don't think ear training needs to be learned alongside theory but since that's the way it's done I guess I'm fine with it. The listening helped confirm what we were reading or, in some cases, did hint that maybe something more or something more ambiguous was going on.
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We would analyze from scores while listening. When I got into advanced theory, the theory was so advanced that I don't think anyone was able to hear what was going on (if the professors could, they never said so). That said, I don't ever recall needing my ear training skills in any music class I ever took (nor have I ever needed it since then as a composer). I don't see why it has to be this way other than that these are considered fundamental skills that you need to master before going on to the more interesting things. In the schools I went to, and all the schools I've heard of, theory and ear training (and sight singing - ugh) are taught at the same time. You can learn the terminology later and that understanding of theory will help in the long run, but for now, you need your ears.įor classical folk, I'd give the edge to theory. You must have deeply ingrained in your soul the skills necessary to hear changes and be able to communicate musically with other musicians. I don't play jazz, but given what I know about it, it would seem that developing your ear NOW before you do anything else is of paramount importance. Not all of the above are taught as "ear training."Īre you in a jazz program? It sounds like it given your use of the word "improvise", which never came up in my classical music-based studies. There isn't a single thing called "ear training." It breaks down into interval recognition, chord recognition, basic rhythm recognition, rhythm feel recognition, chord progression recognition, scale and mode recognition, melody and line recognition and transcription, recognition of dynamics and timbre variation in arrangements, and eventually complete arrangement/mix transcription, with full awareness of all of the above. Mostly it means you'll know some simple cliches and can reproduce them.Įdit: to add - there are a number of different skills here. "What feels right by ear" is not the same as having a trained ear. That's an incredibly handy skill to have, because you can deconstruct progressions just by listening to them.
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If you have really good ears - rare, but useful - you can spell any chord by ear. Orchestral pastiche is a different game, and if you're aiming in that direction you probably can't do enough ear training, because you may want to transcribe entire orchestral pieces by ear. Your ears should not be fooling you if you do this properly.īeyond that, the more chords you can recognise and use, and the more progressions you're familiar with, the easier it is to write pop/jazz.
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You should also be able to remember and reproduce melodic lines that are at least four or eight bars long - the longer the better, but that's a good basic aim. Obviously this means knowing what intervals and chords are. You should be able to recognise intervals and the most common chords and progressions. Train your ears and learn basic theory at the same time. If you have no way to organize sound structures, you're reduced to hunting and pecking for something that sounds good, every time you compose. That's the composer's job.Īs to the theory vs ear debate, if you're not listening to what things sound like, no amount of theory is going to help you. A composer may decide to operate within certain limits but that has nothing to do with theory. Theory doesn't teach you how to find chords, rather it limits you within scales Theory is merely a set of tools that can be used to analyze and categorize what's happening in actual music. Actual music teaches a person how music works. Theory doesn't teach a person how music works.
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I'd say that both of you are operating under mistaken assumptions about the role of music theory.Ī person must know how music actually works Would you rather eat a meal prepared by a good cook or a person who knows how to read a cookbook?