Audiate LOUDLY

Audiation is the skill of hearing music or any audio only in your head. It’s the skill of imagining what something will sound like. That might sound simple, but the way it becomes a skill is in being able to audiate music and understand exactly how to play that music. You might be able to hear a song like “Happy Birthday” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or any other song in your head, but in hearing it do you know exactly how to play it on the piano or the guitar? That’s where it becomes a skill.

This can become incredibly difficult the more parts you add.

For example, orchestral and choral conductors often need to be able to audiate full orchestra or choir arrangements just from looking at the sheet music.

This means they need to know how each separate part will sound. They also need to be able to imagine how it would sound on that specific instrument. They’ll also need to be able to hear multiple lines together and imagine how those lines will sound all played together. Hopefully you can see how this becomes difficult quickly.

Jazz musicians also use audiation all the time. Before playing a solo many jazz performers will audiate what they’re going to play right before playing it. This is done while improvising solos or chord changes or even rhythms.

Singers often audiate as well because they need to be able to “hear” what note they’re about to sing right before they sing it.

Hopefully you can see how it becomes an incredibly useful and important skill.

Do it LOUDLY

One way to improve your audiation skills is to audiate loudly an with more detail. When hearing something in your head, hear it as loudly as possible and as vividly as possible. If the music is quite, hear it quietly but vividly. The goal is to be able to hear tiny details in the music and imagine small details.

The more vividly you can audiate, the more detail you’ll have in your head.

You’ll also be able to play more detailed music because you’re hearing in more detail.

Practice

To start practicing this start hearing a simple song that you know really well. Something like “Happy Birthday” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” works well.

Now hear it played by a piano. How does that sound? Try to hear the keys hitting the bottom of the keyboard. Try to hear the wood inside and the hammers hitting the strings. Try to hear as much detail as you can. How does it change if the piano player is using the una corda pedal or the sustain pedal?

Try hearing it played by a flute. How does that compare to the piano? Try to hear the breathe of the player, both an inhale and an exhale into the instrument. Try to hear the keys hitting the instrument as they are pressed down.

Now imagine it being played on an electric guitar with distortion. Imagine the scratching of the pick against the strings. Imagine the scraping sound of the guitar players fingers sliding against the strings. Try to hear it palm muted as well.

Now choose an instrument, any instrument, and imagine it being played staccato with all short notes. Hear the space in between the notes and what it sounds like when the notes are cut off and not held out. Hear the quick attack of the notes. If there are specific sounds of the instrument hear those. Imagine things like the bow scraping against the violin strings. Hear the clicks of the keys on any woodwind instrument or the breathe of the players. Hear the wood on the piano.

Switch it to legato. Hear the notes running into each other. Hear the length of the notes being held out. How does it sound? Is it all exactly the same volume or is there a slight dip in volume at the end of the phrases? Can you hear the breathes of the players on wind instruments? Can you hear the bow of the strings? Imagine vibrato on the long notes.

The goal of all of these exercises is to hear in more detail. Hear the small details that you might not normally imagine. Really hear as much of that instrument as you can.

Hopefully by the end of that exercise you were hearing in a little more detail. It can be a useful way to improve your musicianship without having an instrument.

ISJ