PLAYING BY EAR- Part I

Through out my college life I've been asked this question, "How do you play a song when you hear it?". People who have an affection for music have been found to react with surprise on their faces when I play a song that  is familiar to them. this happened even today at a friend of mine's home who plays the piano.This is an attempt to create some enlightenment for those who dream of playing your favorite songs by ear.

Before I get on with this 4 part Essay, Let me tell you a few important points before hand.

1. Some people have better ears, and so they may get on faster.
2. You can become an expert with practice.
3. Enrolling at a Piano School cannot ensure that you will be able to songs you want to play.

PART-I PITCH TRAINING

• Being able to understand a higher pitch from a lower one is the first step involved in ear training.Ask one of your friends to play the piano while you are looking away. ask her/him to play 2 notes in succession, and try to recognize the higher and lower pitches.4 out of the 6 people with whom I have tried this experiment  have successfully cleared this exercise every time they have tested it. Try it yourself.Once you clear this test, you can move onto the next step.
• Listen to songs and try to figure out the key of the song. A key of the song is the pitch in which it is being played.Take a few trials, try as much songs as you can.(Figuring out the key of the song without a tuned reference musical instrument  is a skill called Absolute Pitch.
  Researchers estimate the occurrence of AP to be 1 in 10,000 people.
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_pitch).You don't need to be an AP to play music by ear.Try  to find the key of  5 songs per day.You can cross verify by asking any of your friends with that skill or use the internet.
• figure out the difference between a minor chord and a major chord.Learn to identify these two kids of chords.Once you have completed these three, you are ready for the next part.

Next week I will guide you through Scales and Modes.