Ear Training for Composers
 Every artist has their own toolbox that they must develop if they are going to become a master of their craft. Painters know their brushes and colors. Chefs know their knives and spices. Writers know how to manipulate words to create vivid and memorable images. Composers have their notes and instruments.
As composers, we need to have a solid understanding of the instruments we are working with and the sounds that are available to us. Sound goes way beyond the major, minor, and 7th chords of popular music. There is a world of sound that has been experimented with and as composers we have to train our ears to be able to dissect those sounds. I believe that the role of the “serious” composer is to create new sounds, with viable instruments, to push our craft forward and not simply to continue recycling old sounds.
So how does a composer go about developing their ear? In this article I am going to address a few of the most popular entry level methods and talk about some issues.
Solfege
Solfege is a popular method taught by many colleges and universities around the United States and the World. The problem with solfege is that there is no consistency. If you use a moveable do system you may find yourself more concerned with just figuring out what syllable to sing than with the actual music. Moveable do can make even the simplest melody extremely difficult.
Another option available to students of solfege is fixed do. This is a much better option since the syllables stay the same for each note. This makes learning the syllabic musical language much easier. After all, if you are going to sing a melody it is nice to have something to sing other than La. Fixed do also makes it easier to advance to more complex, and less tonal music. The other advantage is that solfege syllables are designed to be unique and easy to sing. Try singing Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do and then try singing C D E F G A B C. Which one was easier to sing?
Number System
Some colleges make use of a number system. There are some great advantages to this system as well, but in the end is more flawed than the solfege system. With the solfege system, you have easy to sing syllables that won’t tie up your tongue. While a number system might be a good choice academically, it doesn’t make singing fast moving passages very easy. I rank this system between Fixed Do and Moveable Do.
Interval Training
This is the 3rd viable option for composers that want to develop their ear. This system in combination with fixed do for those that like having a system seems to be the best option. The trick to learning your intervals is gently getting used to the sound of each interval. Too often we are forced into learning all the intervals at once. The brain learns these intervals better when you isolate them and slowly add new intervals only when the previous interval has been mastered. Continuing in this way and comparing intervals as you go is the most profound way to develop your ear. It teaches you to listen inside of the sounds and has a permanent effect when each interval is mastered. Interval training in combination with a fixed do approach to melodies seems to be the best method for learning to hear and sing basic melodies.
Other Methods
There are many other methods for developing your ear. Most of these consist of tricks designed to help you learn a particular style of music. One such method involves memorizing tetrachords on the assumption that all music can be broken up into groups or sets of 4 notes. This method is just a trick for slapping together a shoddily developed ear as quickly as possible. In the long term, only the 3 methods above produce reliable results. Other methods are designed to increase your improv abilities, or to simply memorize chord progressions.
UreMusic.com offers a complete interval training course that presents you will all of the major intervals and a systematic approach to learning these intervals. If you would like to take advantage of this course, please visit Composition Technique on the course website. This course can be purchased online for a flat rate of $30.00. For more information on what the course contains visit: http://uremusic.com/services/courses/composition-technique-course.html.
http://www.uremusic.com
|
