'Sup everyone. I would like to train myself to be able to "write" melodies in my head so when i write them in Finale, i'll know exactly what notes that were used in my head. I think this all has to do with ear training correct? and if so, what are the best books(s) to get.

Mostly it has to do with skillful composing.

It's not really something you can just be taught like that, it's a very dedicated thing.

For most people, it's a gift, then they have to develop it carefully.

I, fortunately, have been born with it, I just need some time to develop my "perfect/absolute pitch" so I can do what it is you are trying to also.

If you can hum doremifasorati in your head, then you are able to hear your own music in your head as well.

A way that I believe may be possible to learn is sing the solfage to yourself until you are able to hear it in every melody. Then you can step it up a notch and try to hear the chromatic scale in your head.

If you manage these then you now have "Perfect Doremi", not perfect pitch but I think its the next best thing.

I am currently just under this stage where I can get mostly any interval except minor sixth and augmented sixth.

A good way to work would be taking simple music with a distinct melody, find its starting note and trying to play it. This is how I managed to write the notes for the gundamseed ending theme, and I think it did really help.

If you manage these then you now have "Perfect Doremi", not perfect pitch but I think its the next best thing.



I think you mean 'relative pitch', the ability to define intervals.

People with perfect pitch are usually better musicians than composers, at least the ones I know...

Not counting Mozart. Or Beethoven... or Chopin.

or Bach.

I got what you're all saying. I'm just finding as many different ways as possible to get better at writing the best music that I can.

Picture a keyboard/piano in your mind. When you hear the melody, see if you can 'play it' and figure out the notes.

some of it's natural talent, but hard work and training is vital...even if you start out with little skill in "hearing" music, I believe you need to practice it a lot, and eventually you'll be proficient at it.

You don't really need books. Do you play an instrument? Also, learning how to sing helps a lot. I usually finding matching notes against a diatonic scale (while singing it in my head) helps tremendously when trying to figure out notes.

And about the perfect/absolute pitch, I strongly believe that you can train yourself to hear perfect pitch from scratch. Personally, I have no perfect pitch but a solid relative pitch. Just a few years ago, after listening to a concert A tuning note in concert band for so long, I'm able to hear and sing a concert A dead on at any given moment. Add that with relative pitch, and voila! So just keep on practicing, and you'll get it.

I usually use the chromatic scale to find tuning pitches :heh: ...

What do all of you do when writing melodies? Do you just write down the kind of rhythm your going to want and then play it on the piano or Finale and tweak it until it sounds right?

When I write a melody, the rhythm and the notes all come to me at the same time. I usually sit in front of my piano and play w/e comes to mind. Random chords, random notes, just go where the music takes me and every now and then I'll find something that sounds good. I'll play that little thing over and over again with different intros/ developments/ styles/ Major and Minor/ just as many different ways as I possibly can.

Accompaniment for me comes naturally except on rare occasion, I analyze the line to see if there are any other ways to harmonize it to add zest.

I don't compose. Probably the closest I've ever gotten is a little I-IV-V pattern that I make up when I'm bored.

As for relative/perfect pitch, I have my tuning note in my ear all the time (concert Bb) and I just go off of that. My choir director has helped me with relative pitch when he was teaching the choirs how to sightread choir music. What I say is the more you're exposed, the more you know it.

Then there's always this way: listen to other people's works, imitate it, and mold it to your own style.

Getting a good ear for pitches is really just learning to feel how you can play that note on your instrument.

A good training excercise I read somewhere is to just sit down with your instrument and just play random notes with no musical flow or rythm. Try to predict what note you're playing by singing it.

Hope that helps! ^_^

http://www.good-ear.com/

Just try using this

Yes! Just what I need to prefect my PP.

THANK YOU <3 <3 <3 !

How To Play Popular Piano in 10 Easy Lessons ( the last chapter says something about playing by ear) i have a ebook about it.. if you want you can just PM me