Playing by Ear VS Playing by Sight

The great debate.

Many music teachers argue that their students should learn music primarily by sight.

Many music teachers argue that their students should learn music primarily by ear.

Both are correct.

Here's why:

(Short version first...)

1. Music is a language.

2. Just like English or French, music is learned naturally by ear, at first.

3. Just like English or French, music is then learned by sight.

4. Teaching the physical aspect of music (reading music) before the emotional aspect of music (hearing music) doesn't connect music to the brain as much as teaching the emotional aspect (the sound) first.

5. A proper music education includes much of both ear-training and sight-reading.

Okay, now let's get into the details. (If you're still interested, of course.)

First, let's begin by looking at two common pitfalls of primarily focusing on sight-reading.

One of the common ones (that I myself struggled with) is that it encourages a more robotic, less nuanced performance. The focus of the music then becomes hitting the right notes rather than achieving the right sound. Although it is very important to hit both the right notes AND achieve the right sound, music is communicated through sound. Totally wrecking the sound means that the actual communication of the music has been corrupted.

Another is that it reduces interpretive playing to merely relying on the dynamics written in a piece. While it is obviously good to observe written dynamics, it is foolish to expect a composer or arranger to write in dynamics for every single note and phrase of a song. One should not be left stranded when coming across the phrase "a piacere" or "ad libitum."

Now, let's take a took at two common pitfalls of primarily focusing on playing by ear.

An approach that solely focuses on this aspect will often teach a student that reading music or learning music theory is much too complicated and should not be attempted. This is cheating the student out of valuable information that would drastically improve their interpretation! Plus, who says music theory is hard...? (That's a joke...)

Another disadvantage to this approach is that it limits a student's ability to learn new music without listening to it several times. Obviously, this is difficult when learning a song "on-the-spot" for a singing group, or when you get called on last-minute to accompany a special group or even an entire service.

So what does a properly balanced education include?

A lot of ear-training and a lot of sight-reading.

You as the teacher should always tune the lessons (pun intended) to the needs of your student, but do make sure that you equip your student with the necessary tools to become a qualified musician.

We hope you found this helpful!

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Aaron Dempsey

I Corinthians 15:58