Ear Training for Jazz Musicians

Ear training gives you the ability to conceptualise what you hear, nothing more. There are countless phone apps, YouTube videos, and social media hustlers, and books promising results in short order. Unless you are in possession of perfect pitch and deep prior experiences listening to music, this will take some time. I am 48 years in. I am still working on it.

Ear Training for Jazz Musicians

1. The ability to hear the form of the piece so that you do not get lost.
2. The ability to recognize which instrument is playing what.
3. The ability to hear intervals, chord qualities, scale qualities when listening to music.
4. The ability to count rests.
5. The ability to follow a chord progression.
6. The ability to imitate short “licks” you hear in a solo.
7. The ability to control your tone and dynamics in relationship to what is going on around you in the band.
8. The ability to practice solfege
9. The ability to internally hear and then execute beautiful tonal balance and articulations.
10. The ability to remember songs. This is closely aligned with music theory.
11. The ability to hold a tempo steady in the middle of a performance.