Developing Your Musical Ear

Developing our musical ear and our vocal ability is enhanced when we take the time to listen a song to isolate all the different elements that make that particular song a song we enjoy. Sometimes we think we really know a song well. And we do...until! Until we're left on our own to sing it without the backing support of the original recording artist. As soon as you tap play on the karaoke version, all of a sudden you're not sure when to come in (timing), what the pitch of the first word is, what the cadence of a lyric line is...and so much more. Developing our musical ear is crucial (generally to develop as a singer) and specifically (to learn any one particular song). In this blog, I'll be focussing primarily on how to develop our musical ear's acuity to recognise and analyse the various aspects that are included in a song or music piece.

Here we go!

Listen to a song multiple times. Each time you listen to it through, focus on one particular key element, instrument or voice.

Here are some examples:

First: what instruments can you hear?

Differentiate which melody and rhythm each instrument is playing.

Sing along to one particular instrument, eg singing along to the bass line, or sing the violin part.

Listen to the main melody.

Examine how the pitch changes or dynamics change from one section of the song to another.

Note when the singer uses a particular vocal technique or embellishment.

Now listen to the backing vocals. Find one of the harmonies they're singing and trying to hum that line with them.

Note these differences:

MUSICALLY

Examine/analyse the Instruments, arrangements, dynamics - soft vs loud; all instruments vs one or two playing in certain sections, differences between verses and chorus

VOCALLY

Examine/analyse the lead singer/s tone, emotional dynamics, story-telling etc. Do they use breathy tone in parts, or vocal fry, staccato or legato singing in sections, etc?

MELODICALLY & HARMONICALLY

Listen to just the lead singer, then concentrate only on the backing singers and/or choir. How many parts are there? Are there counter melodies and ostinatos etc?

RHYTHMICALLY

Pay attention to the different rhythms each part of the band are playing/singing; think about the difference in rhythms between verses and chorus and bridge.

What did you discover about your song of choice that didn't completely register to your ear before?

Let me know in the comments.