Quick Fix Friday: Listen before you look

Happy Friday!

If you’re trying to improve your listening skills (for pitch and/or rhythm), there’s one important thing you need to do…

Listen before your look at the tuner or metronome!

Instead of constantly looking at your tuner or metronome, take a few seconds to listen to yourself. How do you think your pitch is? Is it sharp? Flat? By how much? For rhythm, are you lining up with the metronome? Are you rushing? Slowing down?

Once you’ve listened and answered these questions, look at your tuner or met. Were your answers close to the results you see?

By listening to yourself before looking at external sources (aka your tuner and met) for validation or confirmation, you are training your ears to develop the skills necessary to listen and adapt. This is crucial for performances or other live events.

Simply put, be proactive instead of reactive. Proactively listen and adjust – don’t reactively adjust based on what your tuner or met tell you. This doesn’t help you develop the ear training necessary to become a top-level musician.

I hope this quick tip helps! Happy practicing!