Re: [Harp-L] singing ability

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"John Dekker" wrote:
<My question is this: is the ability to play by ear a natural talent that you either have or you <don't, or can the ability be learned, and if so, how? After six months of serious effort, I can play <single notes well, and bend them fairly well, but I am getting frustrated by my lack of ability to <play anything without having the tabs in front of me.

Pitch perception is in fact a talent--something that is intrinsic to the individual--which means that some people have more of it than others.  Some people are born with perfect pitch--the ability to hear a tone and know immediately what pitch it is.  Most people aren't.

Talent and ability are not the same thing, even though great talent contributes to great ability.  There are a lot of people well over 6 feet tall who will never be great basketball players. It takes a lot of work to turn any level of talent into great ability.  And regardless of how much talent you have, hard work can improve your ability.  I will never run 100 yards as fast as Jesse Owens or Florence Joyner--I don't have the talent and never will.  But if I practice every day I will certainly be a faster runner 6 months from now than I am now.  

Annie Raines quoted Jon Gindick once in my presence to the effect that "frustration is the feeling you get when you're on the verge of a breakthrough."  How do you make a breakthrough?  You work at it.  I worked hard on ear training exercises with friends when I was in college.  I still listen to records with an ear to identifying every part. 
  
There are plenty of books of ear training exercises out there, probably videos too, and probably YouTube vids.  Go get 'em.

Regards, Richard Hunter 



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