10 Musical Ear Training Tips for the Adult

Beginner
by Sabrina Peña Young | Ear Training, General

Do you love music? Are you learning to play music?

Whatever age you are, your musicality will benefit from ear training.

Whether you start with basic skills like clapping back a rhythm or singing a song by rote, or you
develop more advanced aural skills like complex harmonies or music dictation, you can use ear
training to improve your musical ear.

Learning how to develop your ears may seem a difficult task. You might even be worried that
you’re tone deaf. But once you understand what ear training actually involves, you will realize
that you have already been training your ears your entire life! Actively practicing ear training is
just a more effective way to do it.

If you’ve only just picked up an instrument as an adult beginning to learn music, you might be
surprised to find out that everyday activities like singing in the shower are the first steps in
training your ears…
What is Ear Training?
Even if you have never heard the term “ear training”, if you have performed as a musician or
have ever taken a music lesson, the chances are that you have worked on ear training.

“Aural skills” are musical listening skills that develop your ability to hear specifically in regards
to music and sound, and ear training is the process of developing these skills.

For example, if you can listen to a song on the radio and play or sing it back, you have been
training your ears. If you can play back a rhythm, orcan tell the difference between different
types of sound effects, you have been training your ears.

Developing your aural skills with ear training benefits you in a number of ways including
improving memory, increasing confidence, developing your ability to improvise, and exercising
your voice and intonation. Learn more in this article about learning music later in life.

Here is an easy ear training exercise:

 Turn on the radio to a familiar tune.

 Listen to the tune for a few minutes.
 Now turn off the radio.
 Can you imagine hearing the melody in your head?
 Now try to hum the melody out loud.

Congratulations, you just practiced ear training!

This particular skill is called audiation: the ability to retain a musical sound when the sound is no
longer present.

You can take this ear training exercise one step further by playing back the melody on your
instrument or singing the words. You are developing your musical ears and your musical
memory.

10 Ear Training Tips for Adult Beginners

As an adult first learning music you may be concerned that your ears are not as developed as
they would be if you’d started sooner. Don’t worry! You can develop your ears with ear training
at any time in your life, and a musician who starts late and actively practices ear training can
easily end up with far better ears than a musician who started young but neglected ear training.

There are a wide variety of topics you can study in musical ear training, each of which develops
different listening skills. You can explore different types of ear training to find those which suit
your musical life.

To help you get started, here are 10 tips for beginning ear training as an adult:

1. Start Simple: Learn active listening

Don’t worry about being a Mozart on day one! Start with simple ear training exercises.

Take a lesson from composers John Cage and Pauline Oliveros: close your eyes to take in your
sound environment.

Ask yourself questions like:

 What do you hear? Work on differentiating between low sounds, high sounds, talking,
animal noises, machines, etc.
 Are the rhythms fast or slow?
  Are the sounds loud or quiet?
 Where are the sounds located? Are the sounds above you? Below?

Becoming aware of your surroundings like this enhances your aural skills and it’s an exercise
you can do every day.

→ Learn more about active listening

2. Test your hearing

If you find that you have difficulty hearing people speak in crowded rooms, cannot hear high
pitches, or have to constantly ask people to repeat themselves, then you might want to test your
hearing.

Check out the Action on Hearing Loss site for an online hearing test and consult your physician.

If you are able to enjoy the music you listen to, that’s a good sign your ears are still strong
enough to become an able music-maker! Testing your hearing is a good way to confirm this and
let you know if there are any issues to be aware of as you learn music.

→ Take an online hearing test

3. Test your existing listening skills

How good are your ears? You might know more than you know!

Take a simple Intro to Ear Training quiz and discover your ear training level. From there you can
pursue the ear training that you need.

→ Take an Ear Training Quiz

4. Let rhythm guide your learning

Although people think of rhythm as a “natural” ability, the truth is that your rhythm skills can be
learned and improved.

Honing your rhythmic skills is often one of the simplest ways to begin your ear training journey.
Almost anyone can clap along with a favorite tune!
Test your rhythm skills online with the Theta Music Trainer Flash Rhythms game. Learn more
about rhythm ear training here at EasyEarTraining.com and test your rhythm skills with the
Aural Workshop Rhythm Quiz.

→ Learn more about rhythm ear training

5. Master the melody

Improving your musical sense of relative pitch is key to understanding melody and learning how
to sing and recognize intervals is a great way to do this.

Download the free Step and Half: First Steps app to learn the basics of interval training and how
to transcribe and play tunes by ear using intervals.

→ Learn more about relative pitch ear training

6. Step up to the harmony

Once you are comfortable with rhythm and melody, have fun with chords.

Chord ear training exercises and interactive apps like Chordelia help you master triads quickly.

→ Learn more about chord ear training

7. Have ear training fun with a friend

Music is always more fun with a friend! Rope in your band next time you work on a harmony
exercise or turn a night of karaoke into a fun ear training exercise.

Test the rhythmic chops of your drummer, learn basic dictation with your kids or grandkids, or
enjoy taking a free ear training course with your spouse.
8. Connect your ear training with your instrument or singing practice

Apply your new ear training skills to your instrumental or vocal skills. After a few weeks, you
will find that your improved ear training has really enhanced your musicianship!

→ Learn more about instrumental ear training

9. Learn about audio

Ear training as an adult beginner doesn’t just involve rhythm, melody, and harmony. For those
involved in music production or performance, learning the difference between different audio
effects and how to recognise frequencies are useful skills.

Do you know the difference between reverb and echo? How do you EQ your band’s new demo?

Developing your ear for audio frequencies and effects provides a valuable counterpart to musical
ear training.

→ Learn more about audio ear training

10. Keep challenging yourself[

Once you have moved beyond rhythm, melody, harmony, or audio effects, continue to challenge
yourself. Pick a new area and stretch your ears in a different direction. Learn how to dictate
complex harmonic progressions, teach yourself sound synthesis, or compose original music.

There are countless ways to move beyond the basic and become an ear training guru! The online
Ear Expansion course introduces you to 10 key areas you can incorporate into your own musical
ear training.

→ Learn about 10 key ear training topics

Time To Start!
Learning how to develop your ear training skills as an adult musician is fun and rewarding.
There are numerous benefits like enhanced memory and focus attributed to musical skills.

Start simple and move through different levels of ear training: sounds, rhythm, melody,
harmony, audio effects….

Have fun with ear training!

We’d love to hear your story. Share your personal experiences with ear training in the comments
below!

Want to become more musical?

Whether you want to sing in tune, play by ear, improvise, write your own songs, perform more
confidently or just make faster progress, first you need to know where you're starting from.

The Musicality Checklist will quickly reveal your personal musicality profile and how you
can improve your natural musicianship.

Available FREE today!

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