Student’s question:
I’m putting a heavy focus on really observing the notes now—really, really observing the notes. I’m going to nail this, and I’m starting at a really basic level. I have to get a feel for 1, 2, 3 before I add extra notes that might confuse me.
So here’s my question: I’m sitting here listening to these 3 notes, and I’d like some help understanding the difference between feeling and hearing.
For example, with note 2, when I’m listening I’m starting to hear the dissonance in the same way that I tune with harmonics. So when the wavelength is off, that’s what I’m hearing when note 2 is played against the backing track. I think there’s some feeling in that. I feel like that’s a step closer to “feeling” the music.
I’m really enjoying just going back to the beginning and not being in a hurry. I’m also putting some effort into developing an internal description for notes 1, 2, 3. Earlier it was mentioned that one person felt note 1 was sitting, note 3 was standing, and note 2 was in between. I’m trying to find my own version of that.
And I love that I have to spend more time just focusing on those three notes to do this.
*This question was asked in the context of the course “Ear Training for Musical Creativity 1”, but it applies to all the IFR ear training practices.
Mireia’s answer:
I love your process and I admire your determination to get clear about the most essential sounds. Really, you’re already demonstrating an understanding of the most important learning from this course. You’re thinking in tonal numbers. You’re listening to the sounds relative to the overall key of the music. You’re paying attention to how each note sounds and feels. And you know that mastering notes 1, 2 and 3 is the first step. Just this clarity alone is already half the battle with ear training, because now you know exactly where to focus. And as you said, now that you’re clear about the path to victory you can relax and take your time, and just enjoy the journey.
I also think you’re on the right track in your observation that you need to pay more attention to the sounds when you play. (You didn’t mention playing in your latest comment but I’m mixing in things you’ve told me separately.) With the guitar, it’s very easy to play notes and phrases without really listening to them. So one of the best ear training practices you could adopt in your life is to simply make the personal decision to be fully present whenever you play the guitar, and really listen to each note that you play. Ideally this will open the door to a new kind of playing in which these roles get reversed, and you’ll find yourself hearing the sounds in your mind BEFORE you play them, because now you’re playing the sounds you imagine vs. just executing physical patterns.
This leads me to the one word of caution that I want to give you about your question regarding “feeling vs. hearing” and your search for labels to describe the sensations of notes 1, 2 and 3. This search is necessary and beneficial at first, because it forces us to really listen to each note and to notice what makes each one special. But this is the ONLY purpose of these labels. It’s not truly our goal to put an emotional label on every note of the major scale, because none of these labels will ever be sufficient to capture all of the beauty and richness contained in a single sound. Ultimately the only label that captures the full story of note 3 is the words “note 3”. So I just want to warn you about this, because it would be a mistake to focus TOO much on these labels.
Here’s what I mean. We absolutely use labels in the beginning, and for certain sounds these labels will continue to serve us. For example, when I ask you which note feels like “home”, this is something that you’ll continue to feel in every song for the rest of your life. We can always ask ourselves the question of which note feels like “home”, and this will always be a quick way for us to clarify which note we are feeling as the tonal center.
But this isn’t quite as true for the other labels you’re mentioning. For example, part of your process of getting to know the notes 1, 2 and 3 is to imagine metaphors like note 1 is sitting down, note 3 is standing up, etc. If these observations help you connect more deeply to the sounds and appreciate their beauty, then this is great. But what really matters is just this personal experience of the sounds. It would be a mistake to go through life searching for these labels and then trying to deduce rationally what the notes must be. (For example, saying “I just heard a note that sounds like it’s standing up so that must be note 3”.) It’s not that these metaphors and images are wrong, exactly. It’s just that you can’t understand music if you’re trapped in this world of words and images. The words and images are only our clumsy attempts to describe what we feel in the sounds, but our attention always needs to be focused back on that world of sounds.
In short, my word of caution is just to avoid overthinking all of this. The only thing we need for ear training is the right mental framework (the tonal numbers) combined with a loving music practice in which we are fully present and listening deeply to every note we play. It’s good that you’re searching for the words to describe what you feel in notes 1, 2 and 3. This search is giving your mind the boost it needs to organize all of this material into a proper mental framework. Just don’t let this search for words become an obsession in itself. You already have all the mental framework you need. Now that you’ve been exposed to both the tonal map concept and the importance of fully present practicing, the truth is that you could actually forget about ear training and not even worry about it anymore. Just playing your guitar, seeing the tonal numbers on the fretboard and truly listening to each sound you play will eventually give you the deep familiarity that you desire with all of these sounds.
So just don’t underestimate the power of time, and the power of this fully present practicing. Definitely keep doing all of the other things that you’ve learned in this course. But realize that your mind also needs time to develop a personal relationship with all of these sounds, and sometimes that can’t happen until we relax and let go of our conscious struggle. So you just have to find the right balance between conscious struggle (the stimulation) and relaxed enjoyment (the relationship).
