Can/ does your child play their instrument by ear? What is your attitude towards this?

[goonIcantakeit]

Playing by ear here means working out a tune once they can hear it or hold it in their inner ear, probably with guidance from you or an online tutorial, and does not exclude having some written instructions as back-up.

I would greatly appreciate your responses. I now have an orchestra of 70 in my one day a week job and I need to teach them more independence.
I would also be fascinated to hear how children who can play by ear learnt to do so...

DD has been taught to play recorder and clarinet, she also can play tunes on them both by ear. No one has taught her how to do this she just can hear a tune and then pick up either instrument and play.
I am not really musical, but ExFIL who was a professional musician tells me it is a natural musicality and linked to the fact that she has perfect pitch.
So what I am trying to say is from what I have seen it is a natural skill and not a taught one.

I'm a classical and jazz musician so equally at home playing from notation or by ear, and teach my own students to do both.

I sometimes find that parents are resistant to the idea of their kids playing by ear, as if it's somehow "cheating" and not learning the "proper" way to do music. I find this incredibly frustrating because my own experience tells me there's often much greater musical thought and awareness involved in playing in a band, being able to pick up tunes or chord progressions by ear and vary them according to what you hear around you, than in sitting in front of a music stand slavishly sticking your fingers where the music tells you to stick them.

And then there's the fact that the really great classical musicians tend to have great ears as well as technical and reading skills anyway.

I teach children at to play by ear using Kodaly principles - learning to recognise little scale fragments from known songs, and gradually piecing these together. Like any skill, there are of course people who pick it up quicker in the early stages than others. But it can certainly be taught.

My DD and DS both learn violin and piano respectively like this-known as the Suzuki method-am sure you can google this and maybe talk to a Suzuki teacher in your area (look up British Suzuki Institute)

Both doing very well and seems not such a pedantic method of learning-as well as being heavy on parental involvement so none of that practicing scales for hours on your own!!!

"I sometimes find that parents are resistant to the idea of their kids playing by ear, as if it's somehow "cheating" and not learning the "proper" way to do music."

I have experienced this too. How do you overcome it (or do you?).

Lonecat,

Yes, I think if you have absolute pitch you tend to use that as a reference - like having your own inbuilt tuner.

I have no absolutely pitch whatsoever though and play by ear.

Wheremymillk,

thank you. Some parents seem to like Suzuki, others get down after hearing twinkle twinkle a few thousand times I think.

My two eldest also learn violin by Suzuki method. It is amazing what little children can do before they can read music. My eldest is 9 and grade 6 level, while my ds is 6 and will be taking grade 2 soon. He can hear music and memorise things quickly, even though he can't read music fluently yet. He is now in an orchestra and is gradually learning to read music and to play in time with others.

Hello OP.

My 9 year old dd plays by ear and reading music.
It wasn't something she learnt or was taught she just does it on any instrument she picks up. As soon as she knows what makes each note she's off.
I think you can become more skilled at aural awareness with practice but think its something there to begin with iyswim.

Wow Gampy, grade 6 at 9 years old is good.
Was the grade 5 theory difficult at a young age. My dd is hoping to do hers, and I was wondering if she was too young.

Grade 5 theory can be done young, DS4 was 7 when he took his and the most amazing part was that he actually wrote neatly enough to get any marks at all.
DS1 took Grade 5 violin aged 8 having done only Suzuki and then we moved him to JRNCM, having some worries about the technique he was being taught (or rather, not taught)

the achievements of these children are exceptional!

would love to hear from parents of "grade 1 by age 10" kids too as that is the skill level of the bulk of the children I work with.

Gampy, so Suzuki doesn't in itself teach the skill of playing in time with others? that is something he is learning now that he is in the ensemble?

Suzuki teaches them to play in time with others, regular group classes are part of the method.

My daughters are both folk musicians as well as 'classical' and jazz. They do a huge amount by ear. But they have been reading music from a young age too - not something they were taught (the playing by ear) it's just what you do in folk and jazz.

DS had a couple of terms of guitar lessons, learned the basics of how to play chords then taught himself from there using tab. He can't read actual music and mainly doesn't even use tab any more, just listens to a song he likes and works it out by ear.

He has retuned his guitar to an open chord and worked out the chords from there and can tune it perfectly without a pitch pipe, so I think he just has innate musical talent.

My DDad played guitar by ear and my DBro taught himself too. DM and I both learned piano and to read music, but not as naturally as the menfolk apparently.

DS can also play his dad's left-handed-tuned guitar by transposing chords upside down!

Children in the Highlands taught by the Feis are all taught by ear. My children are now very accomplished musicians who also read music but learned this incidentally. My daughter plays 4 instruments well and can swap between them, learning a tune on one and then playing it on the others so there is a huge benefit. She was, initially, taught the violin by the traditional, classical, method. It nearly killed her love of music - months and months of scratching away. With the Feis she had attune to play straight away, so loved practising and is now very good at piano, fiddle, guitar and Clarsach (harp). Pupils at school are all learning the ukulele by this method too.

Grade 8 piano, singing. Never sat it for violin, got to probably grade 7 standard?

I didn't have to work hard for these, but I have a certain ability. Is it musical ability? Not sure - I don't have perfect pitch at all, have small hands and my rhythm is frankly crap. I have got through much by having a nice voice (sorry if sounds arsey, I really do). I am however good at learning stuff.

I can play certain thing by ear because I have years of training. So on that basis I see no harm in it. If they are quite musical learning to read music will help. What harm in doing both? First time I learned something without music was well outwith my comfort zone, but it still worked.

Hamlet, I agree that the 'official' methods of learning music, reading music, practicing scales and arpeggios, learning set pieces for exams etc can kill a love of music.

I have suggested doing grades to my DS but he would rather choose which songs to learn and teach himself than have someone tell him what he should be playing and then have someone score him out of 100 for it.

He plays for the sheer joy of it, which I think is lovely.

My dd has a brilliant ear- always has done. She learned to read music, but because her ear was so good, didn't really work as hard on it as she should- even when doing grades. It came back to bite her when things got more difficult, and she spent one summer "catching up" so that she could audition for the more elite groups at school that demanded excellent, (rather than what I can get away with!) sight reading!

I think I want to move to the Highlands....

Is there any literature about this teaching method, do you know? I would be prepared to go and learn it in order to teach it....

I am not sure about literature, but all music here is passed down via the Feis system. You could try Feis nan Gael who run the organisation across Scotland or contacting one of the local Feisean to ask. I will find out if I can and let you know. Mostly, they play a tune and then teach it a bit at a time, much as you might teach a song to someone who can't read. Once they know the tunes, they then improvise and mix them up a bit. Hard to explain unless you know traditional music from here.

Will ask.

Dd (8) is doing well with piano but I have been concerned that she doesn't play by ear. I play be ear myself but she doesn't seem to have the same 'ear'. However, after 6 months of playing she seems to be developing more of a feel for this - she makes up tunes but hasn't yet put a known tune onto the keyboard. I'm hoping this will develop as it seems a really basic skill to me. I don't push for her to try this as I don't want her to feel bad it she can't do it.

However, I do feel she is going to be (potentially) more technically competent than me - reads music really well and her fingering is good.

thanks Hamlet's sister.
I googled it.
As you say, I think you have to be there to get it....

However, it is still really helpful to think about what you've told me, and good to know that there are established methods for ear learning. thank you!

DD1 learns piano and clarinet. Her piano teacher is definitely focussed on printed music and a traditional, classical approach, whereas her clarinet teacher often sets her tasks involving working out a tune for herself, without it being written down. She takes both in her stride. I wouldn't say she's brilliant at playing by ear, but she definitely isn't addicted having the music in front of her. (Unlike certain members of my choir who appear incapable even of singing a Christmas carol without looking at the music ... and I'm talking about "We Three Kings" ... in unison!!!)