CPTP141: Playing by Ear with Ruth Power

Playing by ear is an area of piano that can intimidate some teachers. If you've never done it yourself, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to teaching students these skills.

On the other hand, teaching songs to students by ear is often the quickest route to getting them sounding great and playing the music they want to play – especially for teens.

My guest today, Ruth Power, is here to talk us through the process and demystify playing by ear. She has a step-by-step course where she teaches students songs by ear and she's here to show us the ropes.

Transcript

If you'd like to download a PDF transcript of this episode, please click below.

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In this episode, you’ll learn

• Why Ruth wanted to create a course about playing by ear
• How teachers who are nervous about playing by ear can still help students
• What she teaches in her course
• The first steps to teaching a song by ear
• How she activates and exercises up her students' ears
• How this approach can lead students to understand harmony

Links Mentioned

• Piano Picnic
• Ruth's courses

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Do you teach students the skills for playing by ear?

How do you go about it? Do you take a similar approach to Ruth?