I never gave this much thought before, but I was listening to a jazz piece the other day and instead of hearing a bunch of confusing chords and notes I could hear the chordal movement of the piece.  And, it wasn’t intimidating.  It just made sense and I felt like I could almost transcribe it right then and there.  It seemed like my mind took a bunch of confusing music and heard it as a simple structure.  Very strange, but this is indeed what some composers do.  You, and me, and anyone else can learn to hear music in a very simple manner.  Once your mind or your ear get to this level of cultivation you will notice, as I have, that it is almost completely effortless to improvise or recreate a melody.  I used to really struggle with figuring out music by ear, but after about 3 years of ear training I have noticed that I can pick up melodies much easier and notes are starting to take on new character as  I play.  This is basically what David Burge teaches on his Perfect Pitch and Relative Pitch CDs.

I still believe that it is absolutely true that you can learn perfect and relative pitch on your own.  But, according to my studies it can take some time.  I’ve done a lot of interval listening studies and drills and some of that is fun, but for me the most interesting part is learning songs by ear.  It seems like that is the most fun thing I can imagine.  The more I listen to things and try to recreate them on guitar or piano the more I start to notice this “new awareness” that Burge speaks of.  It really is a “new awareness” and I finally understand what he means by “cultivating your ears” or “opening your ears”.  For a lot of students this is kind of  “out there” and people don’t understand it.  But, it’s real.  I’ve started to experience it and it’s even more awesome than I imagined.  I hear music now and it’s just amazing.  It’s like I’ve turned on a new speaker in my head and I can hear more information in the music.  The funny thing is this.  It’s not more complex.  It’s easier. The tones seem more clear, and the whole concept of “unlocking the chords and tones” has started to make sense to me.  But, it’s important that as a student you don’t approach this on an intellectual level.

I’m usually trying to figure everything out with my mind and I tried that with the Burge courses.  I tried a very mechanical approach and while that is very interesting it’s not nearly as interesting as when your ears start to open up automatically.  At the end of 4 years of studying these courses I will do more blog updates so that anyone can read my progress.  As for now I’m continuing to enjoy my new “awareness” and I’m thoroughly enjoying playing music, learning music, and staying open to what new possibilities lie ahead.