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Transcribing What You Hear

In This Chapter

◆Understanding why ear training is important

◆Discovering how to actively listen

◆Developing your tonal memory

◆Learning how to transcribe songs from CDs and tapes

Introduction, Track 1

In an ideal world, everything you need is served up to you on a silver platter. As
a musician, that means you’ll always get perfectly noted pieces of sheet music
from which to read, with all the chords and melodies and rhythms clearly writ-
ten out.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world: You won’t always get sheet music
for the songs you have to play; sometimes you’ll be expected to “play by ear”
and figure out the music on your own.

How do you write down a piece of music, note for note, based on a few listens
to a CD? It’s a particular skill, that’s for sure; one that involves a technique called
ear training.That means you have to train your ears to recognize certain rhythms
and intervals, and be able to transfer what you hear to the written page.

Training Your Ear

Consider the following: You’re in a band that plays the latest hit songs, and the
band leader gives you a CD and asks you to learn a new tune—by tomorrow
night. No sheet music, no one to answer your questions, no one to practice
with you and help you figure it out—you’re completely on your own, just you
and your CD player.

Or you’re working with a songwriter who doesn’t read music. Your friend sings
a melody, and asks you to write it down so he can send it to a music publicist.
He doesn’t know what key the song is in, or what notes he’s singing; he leaves
those details up to you to figure out.

Chapter