- Interview with students and amateur musicians
Two additional interviews were conducted, this time from the learner’s perspective. The first was with Daniel Sueiro, a skilled jazz pianist who has developed his aural abilities through years of dedicated practice. The second was with an amateur musician—professionally a physicist—who has impressively cultivated relative pitch through self-guided learning. When in-person interviews weren’t possible, responses were provided via audio or written message. I prepared the same set of questions to each interviewee:
1- How did you develop your ability to play by ear? Could you briefly share your experience?
2- What exercises or strategies have been most effective for improving this skill? What would you say are the key steps to developing it?
3- Is there any specific material (music, themes, repertoire) that you consider key in the first steps?
4- From a teaching perspective, what reflections or suggestions would you offer for integrating “playing by ear” into piano lessons?
Daniel Sueiro - jazz pianist
The interview with Dani Sueiro offers a rich, non-linear perspective on learning to play by ear, rejecting the idea of a single, progressive path. For him, the cornerstone is pure auditory memory—the ability to imagine and retain accurately pitched sounds, which is distinct from naming notes or identifying functions. This capacity, he argues, explains why many great improvisers lack formal training. While names can help, they are often too analytical and slow to be reliable in real-time music-making. Instead, what matters more is deeply internalized harmonic knowledge—structures so familiar they’re recognized instinctively—and the physical connection to the instrument, including proprioception and visual impressions (like imagining certain keys “lighting up” or feeling the shape of a hand in a key). His approach blends ear, mind, and body through exercises like: singing imagined melodies from memory without naming notes, internalizing harmonic structures visually and kinesthetically, improvising within scales or chords, transposing phrases into all keys, and transcribing from recordings. Ultimately, he emphasizes that true improvisation is instinctive, and the path toward it involves slow, long-term cultivation of ear, harmonic intuition, and instrumental fluency—three pillars that gradually merge through consistent, varied practice.
Dani Sueiro emphasizes that improvisation is never context-free—it always begins within a specific musical style. Like language, music gains meaning through shared structures shaped by tradition. True improvisation builds on existing styles, not random note choices. In jazz, he suggests starting with simple blues forms or standards and learning through transcribing solos, grounding creativity in the language of past masters. Moreover, for practical application, Dani Sueiro recommends starting ear training with familiar melodies like Happy Birthday, transposing them from random starting notes to strengthen the ear–instrument connection. As skills grow, students can learn unfamiliar phrases by ear—such as a short Miles Davis solo—first singing them, then transposing. He also suggests classical students adopt a jazz-like approach: begin by listening to recordings, imitate small fragments by voice, and then transfer them to the instrument without analyzing dynamics or articulation. This promotes sound-based learning over purely visual or analytical methods. Finally, singing simple jazz standards with basic chord accompaniment can significantly enhance musical memory and internal hearing, even in classical contexts.
Ignacio González - amateur musician
In his interview, Nacho shares a personal and intuitive journey into learning to play by ear, emphasizing a playful and curiosity-driven approach. He recalls starting with chords on the guitar and gradually progressing to melodies, relying heavily on trial and error. As his ear developed, he became increasingly interested in the relationship between melody and harmony, experimenting with chords that fit under familiar tunes. For Nacho, a key part of this process was learning to recognize whether a note moved up or down, which he refined through scale practice and growing familiarity with tonal structures.
Rather than following a fixed repertoire, he advocates starting with songs that are already internalized—such as lullabies or Christmas carols—because they help the student compare what they play with their inner musical memory. Over time, this shifts from simply reproducing known music to actively playing what one hears internally.
Nacho also highlights the importance of music theory, particularly concepts like tonality and harmony, as tools that gradually expand a musician’s understanding and ability to anticipate and reproduce musical structures. Recognizing cadences, standard chord progressions, or the dramatic effect of a dominant seventh chord becomes second nature once these patterns are internalized through repeated exposure and exploration.
From a teaching perspective, Nacho strongly believes that playing by ear should be introduced at the very beginning of musical training. He argues that early exposure to listening and imitation develops musical intuition far more effectively than focusing solely on theory or notation. Reflecting critically on his own experience, he advocates for a hands-on, sound-first approach that emphasizes listening, experimenting, and connecting what students hear with what they play. While he humbly admits he may not be the best person to design specific exercises, he clearly sees ear training as fundamental to becoming a musician: someone capable of reproducing the sounds they imagine.
