Q. I have a pretty good musical ear. I can hear individual tones but I'm not to the point that I can easily hear intervals or chords. When trying to find them on an instrument, it's trial and error until I finaly find it.
One cannot be a performer if they can't recognise these things on demand.
A. It won't happen overnight, but practicing daily will improve your aural skills immensely. The most important part of ear training is audiation, which is a fancy word for your musical imagination, the tape recorder in your mind that holds the melodies that you hear. I'm sure you've had a song stuck in your head before. The trick to ear training is getting all of the musical rudiments (intervals, chords (arpeggiated, of course), scale degrees (using numbers or solfege syllables), and rhythms) stuck in your head one by one, over and over until you never forget what each one sounds like.
I don't recommend using well-known songs for identifying intervals. Here's why: Let's say you use "Here Comes the Bride" for an ascending perfect fourth. This is scale degree 5 ascending to 8 (or 1 an octave higher), or "sol do". Now that you've learned it, you can recognize that pattern whenever it happens. What will happen if you hear scale degree 3 jumping up to scale degree 6, though ("mi la")? (Listen to the beginning of Brahms's Intermezzo for piano in A minor, Op. 76/7 (http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&PWB=1&EAN=90266388622 click on track 6). This too is a perfect fourth, and sounds VERY different from "sol do"! Would you recognize that as a fourth? Only if you had also learned to hear that one too! Another different-sounding P4 is 7 to 3 ("ti mi")! When I teach ear training, I teach all of my students (and make them memorize) an interval drill that groups together all of the scale-degree combinations that form a single type of interval. My students sing this etude at the beginning of every class.
A far better approach to ear training than using intervals is using scale degrees. When you practice ear training, do identification drills, always singing what you hear (in a comfortable octave) after listening and then after you've learned the correct ID for the rudiment. Also do dictation. Try to write down melodies that you hear (and have the music for so that you can check your work when you are done). Finally, do a lot of sight-singing. Find melodies that you've never heard before and find out how they sound by singing them from the music. Try to avoid using the piano to help you sing, until you get lost. Then back up and find where you went astray using the piano. There's a difference between producing the right pitches for yourself and matching the pitches you hear. (You must be able to do one before you can do the other, of course.)
There are lots of great online ear training resources. One is http://www.good-ear.com/, and another is http://www.musictheory.net/. I'm sure you can find others on your own. Good luck, and let me know if I can help you in any other way!
What is the first step in learning to play the piano?
Q. I already have an electric piano. Very nice. I want to learn a song by The Fray, but I feel starting off with that is jumping into the process a bit fast.
What should I be focusing on first?
It seems like a great instrument to learn how to play...
A. Learn Chords. Find a song by The Fray and get the chords. Play the chords and sing at the same time.
Piano Chords and scales:
http://www.pianoworld.com/fun/vpc/piano_chords.htm
The Fray's chords:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/t/the_fray/over_my_head_ver2_crd.htm
When you see "C" play it on the piano. Sing with it "I never knew" at "never" play "C" chords. Learn EM, G, C, D, AM for this song. It's simple. Later you can learn how to be more expressive by playing the bass of the chord with your left hand. The root. Say, you're playing a C chord then play C note with left hand and with right hand play the chord in an arpeggio. Kinda like you would be when you tap your fingers on wood. There's a lot of methods that are more complete. Scales. Sight reading but this will get you into it instantly. At first just start with right hand chords in a 4/4 pattern. Be sure to use your metronome. Good luck!
How would I go about becoming a music composer??
Q. The piano would be my instrument of choice. I can also play guitar and violin. Is it possible to be successful in the music industry without pursuing post secondary for it? I am really interested in writing music for movies and videogames. How would I go about doing that?
If college is the best option, what should I expect? I alsolutely hate sight reading and have a hard time doing it. I learn all of my pieces by ear. I can read music too, though, but I never do that anymore.
A. You are definitely going to have to learn western music notation. It will help you out a TON. I trust you to have good ears, and I think it is great that you learn your pieces by ear! In fact, I think that people should start out learning by ear and then move to theory. But, having a solid theory education will be unbelievably helpful in many ways. For example - lets say you sit down at the piano and pump out a really awesome melody. Where do you go from there? Well, harmonically, you could try a half step modulation. If that doesn't sound good to you, try out a common chord modulation into a relative key. Bingo! Say that works for you, but you want to develop the melody a bit further. What do you do? Well, maybe you can jump from the root to the perfect fifth, rather than the major third. Or, you could change the major third to the minor third, add an augmented fourth, and make the melody sound really blues-y. Do you see what I mean? Having a good theory background will help you decide what will sound good based on fact. Based on science. The spirit and emotion of the music then is all up to you. You provide the heart and the soul. You know that Indiana Jones Theme Song that is so catchy? John Williams, the master of movie composition, wrote that melody to be powerful and strong. So, when he harmonized it, he used a major seventh chord for each note. That is 1 3 5 7 (CEGB). If he flatted the seventh of the chords, and flatted the seventh of the melody, it would sound totally different. Add a ride cymbal, and that would be some seriously jazzy crap! What that is is a dominant seventh chord. 1 3 5 flat 7 (CEGBb). That is actually the most common chord in jazz. The point is, though, knowing this stuff will allow you to set the mood when you know what you want the mood to be. Classical theory will be a huge arsenal for you. And believe me - it is not actually that hard! If you are willing and motivated, you will pick this up in no time at all.
You need a teacher. That is a must. College is a definite possibility, but if you do not want to go to college, that is absolutely fine! But then get a private tutor. Find someone who will help you step by step at your own pace understand everything.
But, the most important advice I can give you is to find time to sit down at the piano or guitar for an hour or two at a time and compose. Whether you write it down is up to you - I never write down what I compose, I remember it all. But just play! Even if you don't think you know what you are doing - just play random crap and eventually you will suprise yourself. Trust me. It is the most rewarding experience in the world. You will come up with some awesome stuff that is totally your own. And then, after you learn some theory, you will be able to orchestrate it however you want.
Composing is a blast, pal, and don't ever give up. Don't take any crap from anybody - you are on the right track, and if you are motivated, you will write some great stuff!
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Title : How do you develop advanced tone recognition?
Description : Q. I have a pretty good musical ear. I can hear individual tones but I'm not to the point that I can easily hear intervals or chords. ...