We’ve presented tons of exercises on how to practice ear training, but many require that you have someone to train with. So what do you do when you don’t have a partner?
When you have no one to practice ear training with there’s just as many exercises you can do and better yet, you can really take the time to iron out your personal weak spots. Here’s a few of my go-to exercises that are super simple and super effective.
Exercise #1: Interval pre-hearing
I love this exercise, in fact, I think it’s even more valuable for learning your intervals than if you had a partner! With a partner, you get into such a guess-and-check mindset, feeling rushed and often forget that the point is to absorb the sounds you’re hearing on a deeper and deeper level.
By ourselves, we can take our time, relax, and let the sounds echo endlessly, which is why practicing your ear training all by yourself can be incredibly beneficial as a jazz musician.
To do the Interval Pre-Hearing Exercise:
- Choose any interval and direction to focus on, for example, let’s choose a major third, ascending.
- Next, play any note on a piano, or if you don’t have one, any tone will do, even if it’s hitting a spoon against a glass! (Yes, you can practice ear training anywhere even with very minimal equipment).
- Once you play the note, hear it in your mind as clearly as you possible ca. Let the sound resonate in your skull.
- Then, pre-hear in your mind a major third (our selected interval) above the note you’re playing on the piano
- Once you pre-hear the note a major third above the note you’re playing on the piano, sing it.
Got it? To recap, pick an interval, play any note, hear the note in your mind, pre-hear the note a major third (or any interval you’re working on) above the note you’re playing, and finally sing that note that lies a major third above the note you’re playing. That’s the core of this exercise.
But you’re not done. Oh no. You’re nowhere near done! That’s how most things go. They start simple, and very quickly bubble up to something complex. Once you get comfortable with the simple steps described, the next step is to play a different note on the piano and repeat steps 1-5. Aim to cover your entire range.
Go up and down the piano, play a note, hear it, pre-hear the note you’re going to sing which lies at the interval you’ve selected, and sing it. Continue this until you feel like you can play any note, immediately pre-hear the note you want to sing, and sing it accurately.
But wait, you’re still not done. That’s just one interval in one direction. You have all your intervals in both directions to practice. Now you needn’t practice all in one session. Pick a few that you feel weak on and spend a few minutes on each. If you do this exercise everyday for ten or fifteen minutes, you’ll see huge gains in hearing, singing, and understanding intervals.
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