Hear Intervals Better

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Improvisation on the piano can be one of the most freeing experiences for a player. To be able to sit down at the keyboard and just …. play. I find it one of the most powerful forms of self-expression because everything that I play is coming from within. It’s not music written by anyone else. It’s just me.

Really good pianists are able to hear a melody or tune in their head, and then transfer that to the keys instantly. That’s the goal, a true mind/body connection where your fingers are able to express what you are hearing or feeling inside.

But it’s not easy! I’ll be the first to admit that. It takes a lot of practice. One of the best ways to practice is by simply sitting down at the piano, and experimenting with different intervals. In this lesson, Jordan shows us how to play around with intervals to see how they sound, and more importantly, how they ‘feel’. Each interval has its own characteristic. Its own identity, if you will.

Limit What You Listen For

An important point that Jordan makes is to limit what you are listening out for. You’ll notice in this lesson he is only using the first five notes of the C major and minor scales, anchored around the perfect fifth in the left hand. We’re not trying to learn every interval at once. We are taking a few intervals, and noticing what they sound like in the context of chords and melodies.

This is an unstructured practice. But it really gives you the freedom to learn. Because there are no mistakes. There are no time signatures to worry about. It’s just you and the piano.

And for me, those are some of the best practices I’ve ever had.

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Lisa Witt has been teaching piano for more than 20 years and in that time has helped hundreds of students learn to play the songs they love. Lisa received classical piano training through the Royal Conservatory of Music, but she has since embraced popular music and playing by ear in order to accompany herself and others. Learn more about Lisa.