# The instrument in my head



## brianvds

I am not sure whether this is the right place to post this, seeing as my question here is not so much how to play an instrument, as how to learn not to be dependent on one.

I played a bit of piano in the past, and nowadays I dabble in guitar. I can even blow a few tunes on a recorder, and my friends all think I'm pretty good at whistling.

But one skill has always eluded me, and that is the ability to hear music in my head while following a score. I cannot audiate even the simplest of tunes. I'm sure I can learn. But I have very little time, and I'm not sure how to go about it. Is it just a matter of practice? How much practice? What kind of practice? Are there any tricks or shortcuts?

I have a reasonably decent ear and have no trouble singing or imagining a given interval. But I battle to recognize intervals on printed music because key signatures seem to change them all, so you basically have to memorize 24 different sets of intervals. or is there some easier way to do it? I also tend to very quickly forget which tone I chose as my tonic, and then everything goes awry.

This problem has also greatly reduced my ability or desire to learn any music theory, because it seems to me theoretical knowledge is of little use if one cannot hear any of the chords that one reads about. 

How does one go about improving one's musical imagination?


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## Lunasong

Learning to sing intervals might help. There are several mnemonic tricks for remembering how intervals sound (usually in reference to a well-known song).

It is true that the key signature changes intervals as printed, but if you look at the lines on the staff, then look at the key signature, you should be able to tell if and how the key signature changes the interval.


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## brianvds

Lunasong said:


> Learning to sing intervals might help. There are several mnemonic tricks for remembering how intervals sound (usually in reference to a well-known song).


I can already recognize and sing intervals, so there's one obstacle down. 



> It is true that the key signature changes intervals as printed, but if you look at the lines on the staff, then look at the key signature, you should be able to tell if and how the key signature changes the interval.


Hmm, true, although I guess that means a lot of back and forth glancing. But I suppose with practice it will become more automatic.

It is actually weird that a notation system originally invented to write down vocal music has evolved into something more suited to keyboard instruments than anything else. Even in good old C major the jumps are not consistent: half tone from E to F, and then a whole tome from F to G, even though the distance looks the same on the staff.

I think at this point my biggest problem is that a few bars into a piece, I forget what tone I chose as tonic. Not sure how to overcome this. I'm also not sure whether one should always keep in mind what the tonic is and then compare notes to that, or whether one should learn to recognize intervals and sing them. The former method works well enough for simple melodies, but the more chromatic a piece gets, or if there is a key change, it may greatly complicate things.


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## maestro57

I just have to say that your avatar is hilarious.


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## brianvds

maestro57 said:


> I just have to say that your avatar is hilarious.


I can't take credit for it. I found it somevere on ze web und decided to steal it.


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