Learning harp by ear vs from sheet music

One of the most common questions I get asked is whether learning by ear or reading from sheet music is more important when learning the harp. Playing by ear is the ability to hear a piece of music and play it without looking at sheet music. Reading music, of course, is the ability to “read” musical notes, rhythm and dynamics on sheet music, and play a piece accurately

Since starting piano lessons at the age of eight, and then the Clarsach (celtic harp) aged twelve, I have been exposed to many different ways of learning and later teaching music. Sometimes my work involves playing music that has been transmitted entirely aurally and conversely, sometimes it requires me to read or write complex scores. I use both approaches in my career and encourage a similar balance among my students.

Reading Sheet Music Pros and Cons

Sheet music doesn’t just tell you what notes to play; it also tells you how and when to play them. Sheet music provides information about time signature, key signature, rhythms, articulation, phrasing, repeats and dynamics.

Probably the biggest advantage of sight-reading is that it gives you the ability to play literally anything you can get sheet music for. Once you understand how to read music, you can read pretty much any piece just like reading a book.Thus, when compared to learning by ear, more tunes can be ‘learned’ in a limited amount of time.

 However, learning to read music takes work to become fluent and quick. Also, the sheet music can become a ‘crutch’ for many people – if you can’t play any tunes without the sheet music in front of you, or you couldn’t pick up a song from the radio and work out how to play it, it might be time to focus on training your ears more.

Learning by Ear Pros and Cons

Written music doesn’t ever really tell the whole story; many of the subtleties around e.g. rubato or ‘swing’ are hard to convey. Learning a tune by ear forces you to listen carefully and repeatedly to a piece of music, which can often lead to quicker memorisation and more musical playing.

Another strong argument for learning by ear is that essentially music is a language. Just like a baby learns to speak, with music, you hear something and then copy it, and through doing so, learn the ‘language’.

 Learning music by ear is definitely more time consuming, and if you aren’t used to it, you may find it quite difficult at first. But the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Often I find when a student learns by ear they initially make progress very quickly, often faster than if having to read. It gives a great sense of rhythm and timing from an early stage, and really hones to ear to listen to what is being played. However, as a student gets more advanced, only playing by ear may start to become a problem. Whilst it might be possible to understand concepts and play very difficult things, lack of reading skills really slows down how fast a student can learn things, write out music or sometimes follow discussions. It can also limit the amount of material that can be assimilated, and the complexity of that material.

My own thoughts

I use both playing by ear and reading music on a daily basis, both for my own playing and in teaching. Both are valuable ways to experience and understand music. Most people tend to have more aptitude towards one or the other so the opposite approach feels more difficult but it’s worth working on both for the advantages that each give. The two skills are compatible and both part of being a well-rounded musician.

I have concluded that it is not an either/or. It is most definitely an “and” situation. Every student should learn ear training AND sight-reading because both will make better musicians out of them.

What I have found, however, is that relying too heavily on one skill may prevent the other from developing. Thus, I definitely feel the key is to gently encourage the development of both skills for well-rounded musicianship. 

In the next blog post, we’ll look at a number of tips and suggestions for learning by ear.