Ear Training on the Violin

Playing the violin develops pitch discernment.

A fretless instrument offers fewer clues about how to produce an accurate note than a fretted instrument or a keyboard. This can mean difficulty to the beginner, as playing a violin requires reliance upon the ear to hear if finger placement has produced precisely the right note.

Tuning

An accurate way for students to tune is to play the "A" string into an electric tuner, or into a computer with appropriate equipment. The tuner will indicate when the performer achieves a true "A." This practice can then be used for "D," "G," and "E" strings; eventually the ear recognizes these pitches, which are degrees of highness or lowness of a musical note. Violin.qarchive.org says there are various software programs available. Other methods compare one string to another, or use a tuning fork, comparing each string to an "A" produced from a vibrating device, requiring the ear to already be able to know the interval between "A" and each string's proper note.

Intervals

In learning the four strings' pitches, students learn the interval of a fifth. (String "G" is five notes from "D," and "D" is five notes from "A," and so on.) Memorizing what a fifth sounds like improves tuning, and improves playing songs that utilize fifths. Other intervals can then be learned.

Singing

"Ear Training for Twentieth-Century Music" says singing passages assists in playing them accurately. Notes can't be played if performers can't hear when they reach them, so they have to know their goal note. Again, this calls for remembering the sounds of intervals in the "mind's ear," training the ear to know what note is needed.

Techniques

Intonation, or playing precise notes, can be made more tangible for beginners. Narrow tape at basic finger positions helps. The Belknap Practicing System uses scales, practiced by sliding one finger from note to note, listening carefully for arrival at the next note.

Process

Students of the violin need to realize that this is a process. Skill development takes time and practice. The ear of a first-year student will probably not be as precise as a second-year student.

References

• Violin.qarchive.org
• "Ear Training for Twentieth-Century Music"; Michael L. Friedmann; 1990
• Belknap Practicing System