Is note/key recognition by ear a must have ability?

[hhuang9611]

This question just came to me. Personally, I have never been good at this (nor did I have any training on this)... I am good at music theory stuff but when it comes to recognizing notes or key with my ears, I just can't do it. The most detailed thing I can tell is the quality of relatively simple chords, though I can't tell it's root note or inversion. I sometimes can't even remember or recognize the key of my own tracks.

However, this never bothers me too much, unless when I try to reproduce melodies from tracks of others. (I do this rarely just to learn from good tracks) I can still come up with chord progressions and melodies that sound at least good to me. But I am wondering if this is an essential skill for music making? For those of you who are good at this, how does this benefit you?

Thank you very much

[Watchful]

It can be helpful, but is definitely not necessary.

If you can tell the difference between a major or minor chord, and identify a whole tone from a semitone, you have all you need to figure out entire songs. I can spot a D major by ear, for some reason, but that's it. If I had the ability to identify every chord by its sound, it would be a time-saver, but wouldn't get me much I can't already so.

For example, if I hear a note I want to emulate, I simply guess and play a note with it. I can tell if my note is too high or too low, and by about how much. Then, I move up or down until the notes match. Done.

A more useful skill, I believe, is learning to identify chord patterns. Spotting a I-IV-V or a I-vi-ii-V is immediately helpful when playing with others or learning a new song. Once you figure out the key, you can play along.

[hhuang9611]

Exactly what I would do. Thanks for sharing

For example, if I hear a note I want to emulate, I simply guess and play a note with it. I can tell if my note is too high or too low, and by about how much. Then, I move up or down until the notes match. Done.

[jancivil]

Interval recognition can be trained. You may be able to train yourself. It's easily better that one be able to hear more particularly than quality of third and detecting whole tones than to have to do a lot_of guessing.

I didn't start with much of an ear, really. I spent a lot of my early teens picking things, to the extent that I could, off of records. The first quarter, or trimester, whatever of Music Theory I had at community college spent a little time training interval recognition; and it was about intervals you'd tend to recognize from songs. EG: Ma RIIIII A, from Maria, West Side Story is going tonic up to the augmented fourth, then the P. fifth. But really clear examples, obvious...

[Delta Sign]

Yeah, using songs to recognize intervals is a good learning method. Like somewhere over the rainbow is an octave etc.

I don't have perfect pitch by any means, but I can tune instruments to C by ear, simply because I've done it so many times. Relative intervals are of course a lot easier than absolute pitch.

Identifying intervals is a useful skill to have, simply because it makes it a whole lot easier to get the stuff from your head to your instrument. It's no fun fumbling around for notes and losing the initial idea.

The same goes for chords, although it's not always necessary to identify the actual chord, but rather its function. Pretty much anyone can spot a cheesy V7 - I, for example. Thinking about it in terms of functional harmony often makes it easier to get chord progressions from your head to the instruments, at least in my experience.

[imrae]

I can only imagine that it would be difficult to write good polyphonic music if you can't hear how chords are voiced. In a well-voiced passage there should be an underlying logic to each voice, moving when it "wants" to and changing the tension as appropriate.

The house music thing of sampling chords and pitching them around is striking because it sounds unnatural compared to "real" harmony arrangement.

[jancivil]

I don't recognize keys by ear, though. Except where I'm entrained by guitar-ing. E or E minor instantly recognizable; G major, same for nearly the same reasons: open strings prevalence. I have a pretty good sense of a tonic D as well. Beyond that, I have to find it on something typically. But I have better luck with F or Bb than say Gb. That's kind of in absolute pitch territory, which isn't me.

[Lotuzia]

Interval recognition can be trained. ....

This. It's much more important than perfect ear.

[hhuang9611]

Thanks guys, I will definitely start interval recognition training soon.

[lfm]

Since you have some understanding of theory - it won't be a problem, I think.

Once you found the notes, you can get the chord progressions and key they song is in.

I have a Tascam GB-10 which proved to be very useful over the years. You both can alter key on any song played(it alter playback sample rate) and also slow down playback speed - and have repeat thingy in an easy way. So you can fool around a few notes at a time and find your way.

So if wanting in a key that better suite you voice or key you are more familiar with - easy to do.

Only thing I miss from what I had in a Fostex portastudio once, was ability to pan with a shifted phase on a song, to identify a particular instrument or voice. You sort of cancel out certain frequencies by using the pan control with same signal 180 degress out of phase so what you really need to hear stands out.

But as a single important feature - I think good repeat ability like many players have, even Cd players. Just a couple of notes at a time repeated - that help a lot.

[Dasheesh]

in my opinion it’s not necessary with today’s software, but you should be able to hear pitches to have any kind of fun with music. listening for pitches is half the fun. if you can’t even hear pitches the software will do the work for you, but people will know the difference. you are not mozart. neither am I. i am very good at hearing tuned oscillations, but I cannot read and write music worth diddly TBH. I could if forced, but it just takes all the fun out of it. if it isn’t putting a smile on your face why do it? I will have to read and write better over time, but I just like playing with the instruments to be frank about it.

[Dasheesh]

plenty of famous musicians (especially jazz) have played by ear over the years... some completely blind!

[fluffy_little_something]

However, this never bothers me too much, unless when I try to reproduce melodies from tracks of others.

As long as the notes are correct relative to each other, it doesn't matter whether the whole melody is a few notes too low or too high.

[Jafo]

Absolute/perfect pitch: absolutely not, but it helps. McCartney lacks it, and he does all right. Counterexample: Hendrix had it, but never used it. If anything, he convinced us that the guitar actually sounds better out of tune.

Relative pitch: absolutely yes. You want to be a musician, not a robot performer, right? Well, unless you're throwing around filterswept supersaws in C.

Absolute pitch without relative pitch means you're a jerk, not a musician. "They performed my symphony in D instead of C! It's ruined, ruined, ruined!" Avoid such people. The traditional treatments of beatings and exorcisms aren't necessary; padded walls and straightjackets work just fine.

Interesting trivia: Back in the old days (before equal half-steps, basically), you could tell what each key was by listening to the chords: F# Major felt different than C Major, because the distance between f# and a# was different than the distance between c and e. In those days, key actually mattered. These days, every half-step is equal to all other half-steps, so it doesn't (subject to instrument range and fingerings, of course.) In the really old days, music was pretty much performed in just one key, with intervals that were actually in tune, the notes having their frequencies in ratios of small fraction (c:e in the key of c was exactly 4:3); some call it perfect these days and others call it boring. Start with the Wikipedia articles on just intonation or microtuning and you can get obsessed for a lifetime if you like. Still, it's worth knowing a little about tuning and ratios.

[jancivil]

(c:e in the key of c was exactly 4:3)

4:3 is a perfect fourth, eg., F vis a vis C. C to E in basic Just Intonation is 4:5.