Developing the ear: how to go about?

Hi there,

I've composing for some time, mainly minuettes in the style of Mozart and Bach. I'm struggling with writing (and thus hearing) more than one line.

It took me quite some time to learn how to write single lines without the piano (intervals drilling etc) and I can also, to a certain point, hear what kind of harmony should go behind the lines.

However, I'm not good at writing multiple lines. How do you develop the ear so you can actually hear multiple lines in your head? I've learnt to compose by sininging. At this point, I don't really have to sing out loud per se, I can hear single lines in my head as well, but I do anyway more often than not.

However, I just don't hear multiple lines in my head. How do I go about this?

Also another question, but maybe this should be different threat, how can I learn to hear harmony in my head which is needed for 4-part writing. I've been trying to do the excersies from Piston's Harmony (5th edition), but I can't really hear in my head all the spread, close voicing. If I see a chord on paper, I don't exactly hear it in my head, like I would hear a single note line.

Many questions, hope someone can help me out.

Thanks.

It sounds like you just need plenty of ear training. Really, the best advice is to actually play the piano a lot. Any common-practice music, obviously Bach which is extensively contrapuntal, but anything through Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms, will use multiple voices and you will pick up the mechanics of functional harmony. If you are taking lessons, a good teacher should include aural training which will re-enforce what you are reading on the page and in harmony books. Even playing chords on the keyboard and trying to recognise what they look like written down will help. Also, sing in an SATB choir. It doesn't matter what voice you are or how simple the music, you will also learn a lot about harmony.

Read Johann Fux's classic harmony text Gradus ad Parnassum, which in modern editions should come with additional exercises. It deals with two-voice counterpoint and explains how the intervals between two notes can be used. The Piston book is a good start, as is Schoenberg's Principles of Tonal Harmony and chorale writing exercises, but only when backed up by good aural training. If you can learn how functional harmony works and then back up that learning by actually applying it practically, you will be able to mentally envisage what you want to write.

Thank you. Are there ear training books that you can recommend?. I already own Ron Gorow's Hearing and Writing Music.

The problem is that most books deal with intervals only. Ron Gorow talks about how to practise hearing different harmony behind any musical phrase, so that's good.

I've played jazz a number of years, and even though I got pretty decent, I didn't really develop a good ear to write contrpunctual music. In jazz you mostly deal with the soprano line. If you can hear it, you're ok. But actually hearing contrpunctial music in my head is beyond me at this stage.