Defend your ears by listening to music at moderate to low volumes and wearing earplugs around loud, chronic noises, like a construction site. Sounds as loud or louder than normal traffic can be harmful to your hearing. [2] X Research source
The musical staff and bass and treble clefs. The staff is comprised of 5 lines and 4 spaces that represent the notes in a scale, with each line/space corresponding to a white key on the keyboard. A treble clef, which is shaped similar to an “and” sign (&), or a bass clef, shaped similarly to a backward C with a colon (:), start each staff. [3] X Research source Ledger lines. Ledger lines are small lines drawn above or below the 5-line 4-space staff to represent notes that are higher or lower than the common notes of the regular staff. [4] X Research source Common intervals. Music is arranged according to lines of a staff or, comparable, to the white and black keys of a keyboard. The distance between the 2 neighboring white keys is a whole step, also called a second. Black keys represent half steps between white key whole step intervals. [5] X Research source A major third, like the interval between C and E, is made up of 2 whole steps (C, D, E) or 4 half steps (C, C#, D, D#, E). Scale degrees, which are the special names for notes your scale. These names, starting from the root of a major scale like C major, are: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, with the seventh interval called a leading tone if the interval between it and the tonic is a whole step or subtonic if that interval is a half step. [6] X Research source
The ability to identify intervals, musical keys, and/or recreate notes from memory. The ability to tune pitches by telling if they are sharp or flat. The ability to imagine the sound of music from notes without a point of reference.
Listening to classical music can expose your ear to many difficult and intricate composition. There are also many difficult intervals that are infrequently occurring in contemporary music that are more common in a classic style, like opera. Sing along to your favorite pop artists in the car. Though you should be careful when doing this, as it is easy to pump the volume of your favorite tunes and sing too loudly, which can lead to vocal strain. [9] X Research source [10] X Research source
Studying piano will familiarize you with both treble and bass clefs, as well as different keys and styles. Due to its versatility, this instrument is considered to be ideal for studying and training music theory.
Practicing scales and arpeggios encourage ear training by conditioning it to innately know and predict the flow of notes through a piece of music. [13] X Research source Some might believe scales boring, but true musicians know the value of this kind of practice. [14] X Research source
Do this frequently to gain greater familiarity and mastery over your mental representation of the sounds you have learned.
Note that achieving perfect pitch may not be possible, but it’s also not necessary. Relative pitch is just as useful!
You might start with a tonal element that’s easier to hear, like the root of the chord. Then you can add new tones to it with an instrument, or move vocally from that root to discover the other tones that are a part of the chord progression. This is how you learn to harmonize.
