The ability to hear a melody, reproduce it clearly with your voice, write your own compositions in which pleasant harmonies predominate - all this is possible only if you have good musical ear. Many are of the opinion that the presence of such abilities is a natural gift, and if you are not lucky to be born with absolute pitch, then nothing can be done about it. In fact, anyone can engage in the development of these skills, achieving impressive results.
Main varieties
Among musicians, it is customary to distinguish between several types of musical ear, among which:
- Absolute. The owner of such data can reproduce any sound or note included in his vocal range, without presetting with a tool. Considered a rarity.
- Relative. It is the most common among professional musicians. This type of hearing is very similar to absolute, but its owners will need to tune to a certain key or note before singing.
- Interior hearing can be defined by the eloquent phrase - "I hear, but I can not reproduce." With regular practice of solfeggio, it can be brought closer to relative and even absolute.
There are also subtypes of musical ear - melodic and harmonic. It is easier for the owners of melodic ear to select and reproduce a melody, to feel its movement, interval composition. With a harmonic musical ear, people perceive the texture of chords as a whole, without breaking them into separate sounds, and that is why it is easier for them to pick up a song on the guitar than to try to play a solo part.
Classes for the development of musical ear
Exercises can be as follows:
- Required to become eyes closed to a place where the speakers are not visible, but their voices are heard. Test yourself by voice and visual difference. Turning your face, compare your skills by determining who owns the voice. By doing this exercise, you can eventually fine-tune your hearing and learn to focus on sound effects.
- Intonation chant. The game for the development of musical ear is published on the piano according to the formula: do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do, which should be sung from beginning to end, then return from the last note to the first, but without accompaniment. If you hit - plus, if not - to be continued.
- Musical didactic games on the development of hearing - interval singing. Under the instrumental accompaniment, a chant is performed: do-re, do-mi, do-fa, after which independent singing continues with alternating sounds without an instrument.
- Music for the development of musical ear. If you decide to learn musical art at home, put on your favorite song and, after listening to part of it, repeat what you heard. The action is carried out during the day with pauses.
- Note teaching. Achieve subtle hearing will allow knowledge musical notation, according to which you need to create a different tonality of the work.
- Studying classical motifs. Due to the subtle presentation of the melody of the classical direction, sound perception becomes especially sensitive and has a positive effect on the development of the musical ear of preschoolers.
Singing Purity Factor
In order for the singing to be pure, the following nuances are taken into account:
- vocal position. In persons with a lowered palate in the mouth, the pronunciation is impure. To fix this, each time before chanting it is necessary to press on the palate with your tongue, as if pushing it up.
- Sound direction. Depending on the performance of the work, the timbre of the voice is selected. The repertoire must correspond to the individual baritone.
- Melody and its change. In order to better understand the tonality of sounds when performing songs, one should change its intonation in the process of learning and developing hearing. As a training, you can choose a light quatrain or a song, and adjust the tonality in the course of its performance.
IN music schools the development of auditory data occurs mainly in solfeggio lessons. Under the guidance of a teacher, students sing scales, intervals, monophonic and polyphonic intonation exercises. With every year of study vocal examples become more complex, melodies begin to appear, written in folk modes (Lydian, Phrygian, etc.), as well as containing complex rhythmic figures.
If you do not know how to develop an ear for music at home, then the easiest way is try to sing your favorite songs both on the record and on your own.
Note! Ear training should be regular and systematic - this is the only way you can improve your hearing, learn how to perform complex vocal parts. Each session should include the following steps:
- repetition of previously studied material;
- studying new topic(complex intervals, singing individual sounds of chords along with the instrument);
- consolidation of knowledge on the example of some popular melody or classical music.
Only with an integrated approach can proper development musical ear.
On our site will be laid out exercises for the development of musical ear.
Owners of Android smartphones will need a program called " Perfect Ear". More than a hundred varieties of chords, intervals, scales and motifs are “sewn into” the application, as well as the ability to write melodic and rhythmic dictations. For devices that support iOS, there is an analogue of this program - "Perfect Pitch!".
It has been proven that with desire, perseverance and availability musical environment excellent hearing can be developed. Often parents do not know how to do this, they think that they need to train long and hard. It turns out that this ability can be developed in the form of an interesting game.
The development of musical ear consists in the formation of a long-term memory for each of the heard signals. Training practically does not take much time, but requires daily practice. Many mothers think about how to develop an ear for music at home. You can start classes immediately after birth, because children tend to imitate their parents. Any activities and lessons should be carried out in a good mood.
You can start developing abilities from two months, ordinary rattles are suitable for this. A variety of sounds made by bells, squeaking and jingling toys will encourage the baby to play music. He himself will reach out and extract different sounds from each, comparing them with each other.
As the baby grows, mothers begin to understand how to develop hearing, because this simple method used by their mothers and especially grandmothers. We need to sing songs and tell fairy tales, changing the voice from quiet to loud, from lingering to abrupt, from chaotic to rhythmic.
The ear is trained faster and more efficiently than the other senses. Exist special exercises, aimed at better perception and definition of sounds with which it is possible to achieve good results in music.
Regular ear training is required for everyone involved in music and other active creative activities.
The ability to distinguish certain signals by the frequency of sound indicates the presence of abilities in a person. Musical qualities are usually weakly manifested in children, so special exercises must be performed with them to develop hearing. From the age of three, you can begin to acquaint children with sounds of different heights. At first, he will be able to distinguish only contrasting sounds in different octaves.
Often children are not too willing to agree to training, even those who have great abilities. In these cases, it is impossible to force a preschooler to study, but it is better to interest him in the most attractive or amusing aspects of such lessons.
Lessons are held in the form of a game. They should arouse interest and excitement, but not as a teaching lesson. Musical ability is important not only for preschoolers who are preparing to study vocals or learn to play an instrument. Good abilities are necessary for absolutely all children, since they have a good effect on the development of the mind and intellect.
Parents who work with children, develop their hearing, follow speech and other skills necessary in life, can subsequently rejoice at their wonderful achievements.
Music training, especially for adults, can be difficult if a person has an insufficiently developed ear for music. That is why most music teachers do not recommend ignoring solfeggio classes, the main task which - to develop an ear for music in all directions.
What does the term "musical ear" really mean? First, you need to decide what kind of hearing you need to develop. If you are learning to play, you need a harmonic ear, that is, the ability to hear harmony, harmony - major or minor, sound coloring. If you are a vocalist, your goal is to develop a melodic ear that will help you easily memorize a melody consisting of individual intervals.
True, these are local tasks, in life musicians have to be specialists of a wide profile - both sing and play several instruments, and teach others to do this (playing an instrument through singing and, conversely, singing through playing an instrument). Therefore, most methodologists who talk about how to develop an ear for music agree that both melodic and harmonic ear should be developed at the same time.
It also happens that a person hears and distinguishes, even notices mistakes in other singers, but he himself cannot sing cleanly and correctly. This is because the hearing (in this case melodic) is there, but there is no coordination between it and the voice. In this case, regular vocal exercises helping to establish a connection between voice and hearing.
What determines the purity of singing?
It happens that a person seems to sing cleanly and according to the notes, and when he starts singing into the microphone, out of nowhere, mistakes and incorrect notes are taken. What's the matter? It turns out that singing just from the notes is not everything. To sing cleanly, some other parameters must be taken into account. Here they are:
- vocal position(or vocal yawn, or singing yawn) is the position of the sky when singing. If it is not raised enough, a feeling is created that a person sings uncleanly or, more precisely, "underestimates". In order to eliminate this defect, it is useful to yawn for several minutes before practicing vocals. If you find it difficult to do this, lift your tongue vertically and push the sky up until you yawn.
- Sound direction. Each person has their own unique timbre of voice. About what types of voices are, read the article "". But the sound (or the color of your voice) can be changed depending on the content of the song. For example, no one will sing a lullaby with a dark and strict sound. In order for such a song to sound better, it must be sung with a light, gentle sound.
- Downward movement of the melody. There is another peculiarity in music: when a melody moves down, it must be sung as if its direction is completely opposite. For example, let's take famous song"Little Christmas Tree" Sing a line from this song, "...it's cold in winter...". The melody is moving down. The intonation falls, falseness is possible in this place. And now try to sing the same line, while performing a smooth movement of your hand from the bottom up. Has the color of the sound changed? It became lighter, and intonation cleaner.
- Emotional attunement is another important factor. Therefore, it is necessary to sing periodically for the audience. At least for your family. Stage fright will gradually go away.
What hinders the development of hearing and pure singing?
There are some things that can negatively affect hearing development. It is impossible to play an untuned instrument, to simultaneously study together in the same room. Music like this hard Rock and rap is unlikely to help you develop an ear, since it does not contain an expressive melody, the harmony is most often primitive.
Ways and exercises for the development of hearing
There are many effective exercises for hearing development. Here are just a few of them:
- Singing scales. We play the instrument do - re - mi - fa - salt - la - si - do and sing. Then without tools. Then top to bottom. Again without tools. We check the last sound. If you hit - very good, if not - we train further.
- Singing intervals. The simplest option is intervals based on the same C major scale (see the previous exercise). We play and sing: do-re, do-mi, do-fa, etc. Then without tools. Then the same from top to bottom.
- "Echo". If you do not know how to play, you can develop your ear, as in kindergarten. Play your favorite song on your phone. We listen to one line. Press pause, repeat. And so the whole song. The phone, by the way, can be a great helper: you can record intervals, scales on it (or ask to be played if you don’t know how), and then listen during the day.
- Learning musical notation. Musical ear is thoughts intellectual process therefore, obtaining even the most elementary knowledge of music in itself automatically contributes to the development of hearing. To help you -!
- The study of classical music. If you are thinking about how to develop your ear for music, then do not forget that the most conducive to the development of hearing classical music thanks to the expressive melody, rich harmony and the sound of the orchestra. So, actively begin to study this particular art!
THAT'S NOT ALL!
Do you really want to sing, but do not sleep at night because you do not know how to develop an ear for music? Now you know how to get what you've been thinking about these nights! In addition, you will receive good video tutorial on vocals from Elizaveta Bokova - she talks about “ three whales” vocals, the basics of the basics!
Most people love to sing or play musical instruments. However, not everyone is good at it. Very often, the lack of an ear for music interferes with the correct performance. Many believe that this ability is innate and cannot be perfected.
Actually there are practical ways how you can develop your ear for music on your own, even at home. In this article we will tell you how you can easily develop an absolute ear for music, and what you need to do for this.
Types of musical ear
Musical ear is a rather complex and multifaceted concept.
Among his various types the main ones can be identified:
- absolute pitch - the ability to accurately identify any note without comparing it with known sounds. It is believed that this skill can only be innate, although some scholars have a different opinion on this issue;
- interval or relative hearing - the ability to recognize the pitch of sounds by comparing them with the reference ones. It is the relative view that can be developed independently. And to do it so well that it will be impossible to distinguish it from the absolute;
- modal hearing - the ability to feel and hear the differences and relationships between sounds in a certain musical composition. The development of this species is especially important for those who are learning to play musical instruments;
- the pitch view helps determine if sounds differ in pitch, even if the difference is minimal;
- melodic ear allows you to hear and understand how the pitch of sounds changes as the melody is played. For those involved in vocals, it is this type that is most important;
- the harmonic view allows you to hear consonances, determine how many and what specific sounds a chord consists of;
- finally, rhythmic hearing determines the ability to feel the rhythm, that is, to distinguish the duration of the sound of notes in their sequence.
How to develop an ear for music at home?
For development relative hearing it is enough for a person to do the following exercises only 30-40 minutes a day:
- Singing scales. On any musical instrument you need to play the scale do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do and sing it with your voice at the same time. Then repeat the same without the tool. After a while, you can play the scale in the opposite direction and sing it with and without the instrument;
- Loss of intervals. An exercise similar to the previous one. Here you must first play any musical instrument interval in the forward and backward directions, and then sing it with your voice;
- Echo. This exercise is great even for a child, because it does not require any special skills. For adults, it is also extremely useful. Turn on your favorite song on the tape recorder or computer and listen to only the first line. Turn off the recording and sing it with your voice. Repeat this with each line at least 3-5 times until the song ends;
- At the beginning of the lessons, work in the middle range, without trying to hit very high or low notes. When you learn to identify sounds well, repeat all the above exercises, first as high as possible, and then in a low voice;
- Finally, the easiest way to develop this quality is simply by constantly making music. Listen to your favorite songs, sing along famous performers, try to play different musical instruments, dance. Try to compose at least a simple song. It is also very useful entertainment popular today - karaoke.
How can you quickly develop an ear for music in a child?
In addition to the Echo exercise described in the previous section, the following techniques can be used for children:
- Read to your child an excerpt from his favorite fairy tale. He must remember as much as
will be able. After a while, ask your child to repeat everything you read to him. The exercise must be done until the baby can accurately reproduce the passage; - Complicate the previous exercise - ask the child not only to repeat the text, but also try to pronounce it with your intonation. Read the story differently each time;
- The next activity is suitable for a group of children. Sit all the guys in a circle, and blindfold one of them. Let the kids take turns saying certain words, and the one who is blindfolded tries to guess who said what;
- In the future, you can do the same exercises with children's songs. Sing an excerpt from your son's or daughter's favorite song and have your child repeat after you.
by the most effective method development of musical ear for adults and children are all kinds of music lessons. Give your favorite pieces of music as much attention as possible and don't be afraid to experiment.
One is not born with an ear for music, it must be trained and nurtured for a long time and correctly.
All children are born with musical ear prerequisites and the possibilities for its development are almost limitless. Lack of hearing is as rare as, for example, congenital blindness. Without it, for example, we would not recognize people by their voice. Non-verbal characteristics of speech sometimes give us much more information than spoken words.
The vast majority of people hearing is developed quite enough to make music and achieve excellent results without special enhanced training to develop their abilities.
Classes on the instrument require self-giving from the child and his parents. Are you ready for this?
2 If the child, as they say, "a bear stepped on the ear", then there's nothing to be done!
The problem is that very often musical abilities are judged by a person's ability to sing. Can't you sing? It means that “a bear stepped on your ear”, you “have no hearing”.
It is important to consider that problems such as "impure" intonation of individual sounds and musical phrases do not always indicate the absence musical ability. Often, children, especially small ones, do not know how to control their voice, vocal cords, as a result of which they cannot accurately convey the sound of a note or melody that exists in their minds in an absolutely correct version. Hence the widespread misconception is born that a child who sings out of tune is deprived of an ear for music in principle.
How to develop a child's musical abilities?
Listen to music together while your baby is still in your tummy
Sing songs to your baby - from lullabies to peppy marches
Learn children's and melodic adult songs with your baby
Show your child musical cartoons
Buy children's tools and show them how to use them
Play music games on your gadgets.
3 The baby will listen to classical music only if he is used to it from the cradle.
If classical music is often heard in the house, the child will perceive it well. But it should not be imposed on the child, otherwise it will cause rejection. Put on the classics, but little by little, for 5-10 minutes. Do not turn on the music loudly, watch the reaction of the baby. He does not like? Turn it off: either your baby has not yet grown up to such music, or it does not suit him on a psycho-emotional level.
4 Music lessons are a waste of time and should only be practiced by those who have decided to make a career in this field.
There is an opinion that if we “deprive a child of childhood”, it’s only for the sake of professional occupations. But music lessons are extremely useful at the level of general development!
Music education is very necessary for all children for their development. Musical children are better developed memory, visual perception, speech, coordination of hearing and movements, fantasy. In addition to mastering the skill of playing an instrument, the child trains memory and perseverance. becomes more disciplined. Music education provides positive influence on general development. But before taking your kid to a specialized school, think about the burden that you add to both the child and yourself. After all, not all children (and parents) are ready to accept and endure this.
5 There are “complex” and “easy” musical instruments, and it is better to take the first steps on “easy” ones, such as, for example, drums.
All instruments are complex; playing them requires the development of hearing, memory, and rhythm. For example, to play on percussion instruments need well developed sense rhythm. For many children who come to enter a music school, it is not perfect enough. Brilliant coordination is also needed. By the way, without it, on any instrument, nowhere ...
Classics that every kid should hear:
P.I. Tchaikovsky, music for the ballet The Nutcracker
P.I. Tchaikovsky, plays from " children's album»
P.I. Tchaikovsky, pieces from the cycle "The Seasons"
V.A. Mozart, "Little Night Serenade"
E. Grieg, suite "Per-Gucht"
F. Chopin, works at the choice of parents
ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade
V.A. Mozart, Symphony No. 40, 1 movement
L. Beethoven "To Elise"
It is safe to say that a good ear is the only ability that allows you to become a musician.
Without this, there can be nothing.
Of course, it is possible to teach a person without a musical ear to play a musical instrument, but his playing, most likely, will resemble the actions of a robot executing a programmed program and unable to deviate from it.
When talking about musicality, they always mean a well-developed musical ear, even if this idea is not voiced.
I think there are many questions related to musical ear, but the most important are the following:
- What is meant by good musical ear?
- What are the criteria for its determination?
- How to develop an ear for music?
Let's start by defining how musical hearing differs from ordinary hearing.
Ear for music- a set of abilities necessary for composing, performing and actively perceiving music. The musical ear, first of all, relies on knowledge and on the assimilated system of symbols. For example, everyone can sing the melody of the song “A Christmas tree was born in the forest”, but not everyone can name the intervals and notes of which it consists.
On the other hand, if your head has stable connection between the first intonation of this song and the fact that this is the interval of a major sixth, then when you hear this in any piece of music. You know that this is a major sixth interval and you can play it on the instrument.
The work of hearing in this case is to memorize certain musical structures and endowing them with semantic load.
As you can see, the development of hearing is the application of certain knowledge in practice, combined with the development of auditory memory.
Lack of understanding of how to relate auditory experiences to hearing development can lead people to believe that they are deaf.
However, there are practically no people without hearing. Most of the problems are related to poor quality teaching of the basics in music schools and other educational institutions.
There are many categories of musical ear. The most important are:
Perfect Pitch- the ability to determine the absolute height musical sounds without comparing them with a standard. This implies that when you hear any note, you can name it.
It is divided into passive (a small percentage of note definition, limited use) and active.
Relative hearing- the most important for any musician - is defined as the ability to determine and reproduce pitch relationships in melody, chords, intervals, etc.;
inner ear- the ability to have a clear mental representation (for example, according to music notation or from memory) of individual sounds, melodic and harmonious constructions, whole musical plays; very important in learning.
Harmonic hearing- the ability to hear harmonic consonances - chord combinations of sounds and their sequences and reproduce them with a voice in an unfolded form or on a musical instrument. In practice, this can be expressed, for example, in the selection of an accompaniment to a melody by ear, even without knowing the notes, or singing in a polyphonic choir.
polyphonic hearing- the ability to listen to all the voices in a polyphonic work.
polyrhythmic hearing- the ability to hear rhythmic figures sounding in different sizes and the ability to reproduce these rhythms.
There are several main ways to develop hearing:
Solfegging
Solfegging (that is, practice) involves singing intervals, chords, scales, modes, melodies. This practice strengthens the connection between the ear and the written note, and solfegging also forms a certain auditory system.
For example, singing major scale You assimilate its structure, sound, and gradually it becomes natural and familiar to you, and you will perceive any deviation as an inconvenience. Thus, on the one hand, your hearing develops, on the other hand, until you master something else, it will be inaccessible to your perception. Such a problem may, for example, arise when listening to atonal music.
2. Musical dictation
The process is somewhat opposite to solfegging. Here you, relying on the knowledge already acquired, write down the melody played by the teacher on notes. For this, various techniques are used (finding stable tonality levels in the melody, recognizing intervals, determining cadences, etc.).
Also musical dictation contributes to the development of musical memory.
3. Transcription (from English transcribing rewriting) or eat- selection by ear or on an instrument and recording on 
notes of a piece.
This can be as much as removing your instrument, as well as other instruments, and even writing an entire score.
There are various tricks used by transcribers to speed up the transfer process. sounding music on paper (slow down recording, tables, analysis, etc.).
4. Auditory analysis- identifying intervals, chords, chord sequences, rhythmic figures, etc. by ear.
Also, for the development of hearing, you can use various specialized programs (for example, Ear Trainer).
Thus, the criterion of good hearing is the ability to hear and reproduce various elementary structural elements, the ability to record the heard melody with notes, the ability to anticipate a certain sound, the ability to hear music with the eyes, etc.
