Par t 4:Accompanying
This is how you actively listen to a song. You’re not listening for enjoyment
(you can do that separately); you’re listening to learn—and to remember. Once
you can recall a part exactly, from memory, you’re one step closer to figuring
out the notes behind the part, and transcribing it to paper.Developing Superhearing
As part of your active listening, you have to be able to discern the component
parts of the music. You have to be able to hear discrete pitches and intervals,
hear different rhythms, and even hear the individual pitches within each chord.
Sound difficult? It is—which is why you need to practice.Hearing Pitch
Lesson 1, Track 2The first part of the music you need to hear is the pitch. You need to be able to
listen to a pitch, isolate it, and then replicate it. In plain English, that means you
need to be able to sing back any specific pitch you hear in a song. To do this,
you have to develop what is called tonal memory, or pitch memory.This is simply
the ability to recall a specific pitch, outside the context of the song or melody.
You can develop your tonal memory with this simple exercise. Take a half-full
glass of water and hit it (gently!) with the edge of a spoon. The glass will produce a
distinct pitch. Listen to the pitch, and fix it in your head. Wait until the glass
stops ringing, then wait a few seconds more, then sing or hum the note that you
heard. While you’re singing (or humming), hit the glass again; if your tonal
memory was on target, the second tone generated by the glass will be the same as
the tone you’re singing. If not, try it again—and pay more attention this time.
Repeat this exercise, adding more time between hitting the glass and singing the
note. The longer you can hold the note in your head, the better developed your
sense of tonal memory will be.
Next, try to find that pitch on your instrument. (Use whatever instrument you
like—piano, guitar, trumpet, whatever—it doesn’t matter.) Hit the glass, wait a
minute, sing the pitch, and then try to play that pitch on your instrument. Don’t
worry if you can’t find the pitch right off. You might need to poke around a few
related notes until you find the one that matches what you’re singing. That’s
natural. With practice, you’ll be able to more quickly identify individual tones.
Obviously, you want to verify the note you’re playing with the source—the
ringing glass. Play the note on your instrument while you hit the glass; if you
have the right note, they’ll be in unison.
You can extend this exercise by generating different notes with different objects.
(You can also fill the glass to different levels to produce different pitches.)
When you’re comfortable with your progress, put on a CD and pick a single
note from the melody. Repeat the exercise, this time trying to reproduce that
melody note. Restart the CD to replay the melody and check your accuracy.158
When you hear notes or
melodies inside your head
(in your inner voice),
you’reinternalizingthe
music.Note