Piano Techniques: The joy of being able to play by ear
When you think about learning piano from scratch, what comes to mind? Is it the agonizing number of hours we were forced to sit in front of the piano? Or perhaps it is the waves and waves of scores that start to look the same 2 hours into practice? Most likely it is the sense of despair when practice time comes.
I learnt piano when I was a little boy, and when I recall the memory of learning to play the piano, those were the thoughts that came to my mind. I dreaded learning piano and heaved a huge sigh of relief when I was finally able to give it up in elementary school. Even though I hated practicing, the piano took a significant part of my childhood memory and I have always missed the sounds coming from it.
Then, when I became a little older, I started to analyze why I dreaded piano so badly. I asked myself many questions and researched on other people’s experiences, I was extremely surprised to know that many people share similar experiences as me. Finally, I concluded that I hated playing the piano because I did not know what I was doing.
To me, staring at the music sheets and playing classical music was not fun. What made me extremely excited in the past was when I managed to replicate a small part of the advertisement jingles on my piano, I had immense joy doing that until I was told to go back and practice.
As I began to wonder if I can rediscover my love for piano in a different way, I came across the concept of playing the piano by ear. That was exactly what I have been looking for because it teaches people to listen, learn and understand sounds first, and then playing them out on a piano.
I was also extremely excited in the fact that my ability to play the piano would no longer be limited by the availability of the dreadful music sheets. I could easily express the melodies in my head with the piano once I learnt this technique, and I got down to it right away.
Today, I can easily play on the piano whatever tune I have just heard, and the feeling is incredible for me. All of sudden, not only did I discover a new found love for the piano, I have been exposed to a totally different way to enjoy and embrace music. If you ever want to join me on this incredible journey of musical discovery, you need to learn to play the piano by ear today!

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