New Ears Resolution is not only designed to teach you to play by ear; this discipline also encourages you to think more intelligently about the material you are playing. Rote memorization of a song is not only tedious & laborious, but that process also cheats you out of the joy, wonder, and beauty implicit within the composition, the qualities which make a great performance so special. When you approach a piece with “new ears,” you are beginning to understand its underlying logic in the same way the composer did while creating it.
Below is a simple illustration of this process. The example is a Mixolydian phrase. Try playing it in all 12 keys. On the first line, the phrase is presented as if it were in C major. On line 2, the same phrase is shown once again, this time as if it were in F major. Which line helps you to better understand the phrase? I welcome your comments.
CRAIG BUHLER JAZZ 