Definition of musical ear. Do I have hearing?

Since ancient times, it has been believed that a person has musical ear- a gift from God. Scientists explain this concept by the ability to recognize notes, perceive sounds and reproduce them using the voice. There are two main types of musical ear: absolute and relative. Nature bestows an absolute ear for music from birth. People who have it can easily repeat any piece of music. Relative hearing can be gradually developed by playing music.

In order to discover that you have an ear for music, you don’t have to turn to musicians. The easiest way to test your ear for music is to try to repeat the melody you heard as accurately as possible, while trying to reproduce the rhythm. Even if you couldn’t repeat it the first time, this does not mean that you have no ear for music. This may be a consequence of coordination problems in the hearing or vocal apparatus. In this case, you can develop your ear for music with the help of special exercises.

So, how to develop your hearing? There are many ways. You can sing more often with an accompanist, try singing two-part melodies, sing the same melodies in different tones, or sing up-and-down scales. Singing as part of a choir helps develop hearing well, especially if these are the parts of the second voices.

Having discovered that they have an ear for music, many people wonder how to improve their hearing. Firstly, you can train your ear for music using special online programs. You need to try to duplicate the songs with your voice. Listening to the melody, you can try to distribute it to the sounds of any musical instrument, such as a guitar.

The guitar is the most common and convenient musical instrument for home use. If you have a guitar at home, and with the help of exercises you still managed to pull your ear out from under the bear, you need to know how to tune the guitar by ear.

To do this you need to: tune the first string, which corresponds to the note “E”, the second string needs to be tuned by pressing it at the fifth fret. Tuning continues until the same sound as the first string is achieved. The third string is pressed on the fourth fret, and must match the tone, open second string. The fourth string is pressed at the fifth fret, and should match the tone of the open third string. The fifth string is pressed down at the fifth fret, and should match the tone of the open fourth string. The sixth string is pressed at the fifth fret and should match the tone of the open fifth string.

To make it easier to tune your guitar, the sounds of the strings can be downloaded. Makes setup even easier special program– tuner. The most convenient program to use is AP Guitar Tuner 1.02. It can be easily downloaded on the Internet. With the help of these programs, with a minimum of effort, you can achieve perfect guitar tuning that will surprise even experienced musicians.

The concept of “musical ear” should be considered from the point of view of the ability to quickly capture, identify, remember and reproduce heard sounds. For artificial development, cultivation of musical ear, the use of systematized methods is required with which one can achieve best result.

A correct, high-quality test of musical hearing will reveal in a child, and not only in a child, abilities that should be developed.

When is it necessary to diagnose musical hearing?

In principle – at any time! In general, there is an opinion that a person acquires an ear for music through genetic level, but this is only half true. In order to become a professional musician, no special talent is required, and even the presence of some “rudiments” of it guarantees the possibility of obtaining high results in the process of regular practice. Here, as in sports, training decides everything.

How is musical hearing tested?

In particular, a musical hearing test should be carried out exclusively by a professional music teacher. The process itself consists of several stages, as a result of which it becomes possible to draw certain conclusions (although one does not have to rely on the reliability of the conclusions obtained - often, often they turn out to be erroneous simply because the child perceives the test situation as an exam and is worried). It is important to diagnose hearing according to three main criteria:

• presence of a sense of rhythm;
• assessment of voice intonation;
• capabilities musical memory.

Rhythmic hearing test

This is usually checked like this. The teacher first taps a pencil or other object on the table (or claps his palms) with a certain rhythm (best of all, a melody from famous cartoon). Then he invites the subject to repeat it. If it accurately reproduces the real rhythm, we can talk about the presence of hearing.

The test continues: examples of rhythmic patterns become more complex. Thus, it is possible to test musical hearing for a sense of rhythm. It should be noted that it is the sense of rhythm - in the matter of the presence or absence of hearing - that is the main and accurate assessment criterion.

Voice intonation: is it sung clearly?

This is not the main criterion for “sentencing”, but a procedure to which all candidates for the title of “listener” are subjected without exception. To identify the correct voice intonation, the teacher hums a familiar, simple melody, which the child repeats. IN in this case the purity of the voice and the prospects for vocal practice are revealed (timbre beauty - this applies only to adults).

If a child does not have a very strong, melodic and clear voice, but is found to have hearing, he may well attend lessons in playing an instrument. In this case, it is the test of musical ear that is important, and not the presence of excellent vocal abilities. Yes, and one more thing: if a person sings dirty or doesn’t sing at all, then it’s a mistake to think that he has no hearing!

Guessing notes on an instrument: a game of hide and seek

The one being tested turns his back to the instrument (piano), the teacher presses any of the keys and then asks to find it on the keyboard. The test is carried out in the same way with other keys. The potential “listener” must accurately guess the notes by pressing the keys and listening to the sounds. This is somewhat reminiscent of the well-known children's game of hide and seek, only in this case it is hide and seek.

A professional musician and scientist developed this music test that tests your musicality of hearing and how good your musical memory is. Test your skills in 6 minutes!

You just need to compare pairs of sounds, but which ones! They are very different, and there are a lot of nuances hidden in them. But as a result of this hearing test, you will definitely learn something new about yourself.

If you know a little English, you will quickly figure out where to click. If not, use our tips.

When you enter the music test, you will see this picture:

Click on the arrow!

The music will immediately start playing: first one melody, and then the second. Click on the green button if the melodies are the same, on the red button if they are different. That's it!

At the end of the hearing test, in order to get the maximum accurate results, you need to provide additional information.

• Number of years you studied music (0 for those who did not study)
• Ethnicity (Caucasian - for Europeans, Mixed - for people with a mixture of nationalities)
• Age
• Gender (male – man, female – woman)
• Hearing test result (if you have never been tested - 0)

Women need to additionally answer questions about the female cycle, as its characteristics appear to affect hearing.

Put in music test check one of 8 options:

• Do you have a regular cycle?
  • I'm going through menopause
  • I'm not in menopause, but I don't have regular periods either.
  • I haven't started my period yet (for teenage girls)
• If regular (4 weeks)
  • Now first two week period
  • Now second two week period
• If you are pregnant
  • I'm in first trimester
  • I'm in second trimester
  • I'm in third trimester

As a result, you will receive a response like this:

• Above 90%: exceptional ear for music (not even all professional musicians have this)
• Above 80%: very good ear for music (usually professional musicians fall into this category)
• Above 70%: normal hearing for music
• Above 60%: lower level of normal
• Above 50%: satisfactory perception of halftones or memory deficit

Scrolling further, you can see statistics regarding your result ( online translator adapts answers well to Russian). You will immediately see how well your music test scores compare to others surveyed.

You will also see which hearing test answers were correct and which were not.

About the musical ear test and its developer

Although this hearing test is simple, it is anything but easy to understand. And all because it was developed by professional musician Jake Mundell, who also works as a radiologist, has medical education and is involved in brain research.

Here's what Jake himself says about his music test:

“While working in the Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory at Beth Israel at Harvard Medical School in Boston, I developed a fast online way to screen for sentiment. It actually turned out to be a good test for checking musical ear. The test is purposefully made very difficult, so even professional musicians rarely give above 80% correct answers. Try it!”

Answer:

Many women love to sing in the shower, but how do you know if you have a voice? It has long been proven that a person hears himself differently than the people around him. Resonance in the sinuses is to blame. People hear themselves through bone. In order for a person to find out how those around him perceive singing, you can record your voice even on the most ordinary voice recorder.

When listening to the recording for the first time, many are horrified by their voice. This happens because people cannot recognize their timbre. Stranger will not be surprised by anything, because the voice on the recording will be familiar to him.

After listening to your singing, you can hear falseness, which was not initially felt. If a person recognizes it, it means he still has hearing. Otherwise, there is no need to be upset. Most likely, coordination of hearing and voice may be naturally developed.

In order to finally be sure whether there is a voice, you need to contact professional musician or a teacher-vocalist. It’s clear that their services will cost a lot of money, but what can’t you do to get started? musical career. It is not necessary to contact specialists from higher education institutions educational institutions, you can also choose a teacher from a music school or college.

How to check if you have hearing and voice - expert comments

You shouldn’t give up playing music, thinking that you have no hearing or voice. They just need to be developed. We will give some recommendations on how to check whether you have hearing and voice:

• one person plays a note on the piano, the other listens to it and remembers it. The keys will then be pressed randomly until the second person hears the desired note. If you can identify a note by its sound, it means you have hearing;
• one person silently taps a rhythm on the table with a pencil for ten seconds. The subject then tries to reproduce this rhythm. Over time, you can complicate the musical pattern;
• if the subject can play the piano, you can conduct musical dictation. The teacher plays single sounds in turn. The subject tries to get his voice in unison with the sounds he hears;
• the vocalist plays the piano, the subject tries to write down the notes he heard in a notebook. The vocalist then checks for errors.

If something doesn’t work out, experts advise not to give up. Sooner or later it will work out, the main thing is that there is a desire to develop. You just need to practice a little. Voice and hearing are inherent in humans by nature. People who have them less developed will have to put a lot of effort into improving them.

Many parents dream that their child will become a popular celebrity on big stage, and already with early years enroll the child in a music and choreography school. The wishes of parents do not always coincide with the capabilities of their child. Just because a baby likes to listen to music or dance, this does not mean that he has the ability to sing or dance.

Obvious signs of talent

The child’s outstanding talent is immediately visible:

expressive or unusual singing;
getting into the rhythm;
the ability to quickly memorize new melodies;
selection by ear on a musical instrument;
rhythmic and smooth movements;
self-production dance.

If musical abilities are not expressed so clearly, then most likely you need to rely not on your intuition, but on the professional approach of teachers. A striking example: the child hears the melody, quickly remembers the words and rhythm, but cannot express it with his voice. This situation does not indicate a lack of musical ear and voice, but rather a lack of coordination between the voice and internal hearing. In addition, there are many examples of children coming to music school without the ability to sing, but graduated with a diploma.

How does a musical hearing test work?

However, in order not to guess about the child’s talent, it is worth enrolling him in vocal lessons and playing musical instruments. In one case or another, you will be able to understand what chances your child has of mastering this instrument. The process of testing musical hearing consists of several stages:

Having a sense of rhythm;
assessment of voice intonation;
ability for musical memory;
ease of perception of a musical instrument, manifestation of interest in it.

However, if such testing is carried out in the form of an exam, the child may become confused and show poor results. Therefore, everything should take place in a calm, relaxed atmosphere. So, to test a child’s ear for music, the teacher taps a pencil on the table, taking any melody as a basis, and asks the student to repeat the same thing.

To identify the purity (intonation) of the voice, the teacher hums a familiar melody, which the child must also repeat. And if it turns out that the child does not have a very melodic voice, but has an ear for music, he may well attend guitar lessons or any other instrument, at the choice of the parents or the child himself. Of course, boys love the guitar most, but it is a universal instrument, so there are no restrictions.

Thus, important factors, indicating the baby’s musical abilities are:

Desire to listen to music and memorize words;
emotional sensitivity to different moods in music;
showing interest in musical instruments;
wild imagination and imaginative perception of the surrounding world.

The main thing is to choose a suitable music teacher for your child and give him the opportunity to try himself in this field.