Transcribing Piano Music
A lot of musicians do aural transcription without actually writing down what they hear. They might hum or sing along to the music and then later try to figure out the chords by listening closely to the bass notes and trying to find the top note that goes with them. This is often referred to as “playing by ear.”
Is transcribing piano music really hard? It’s definitely a skill that takes a long time to learn. Even the most experienced pianists don’t always get it right at first, but they keep working at it until they do. And it’s important to remember that just because something sounds like the record doesn’t mean it is actually a good transcription.
One of the most difficult parts of piano transcription is understanding the harmony. This is because most songs don’t use traditional chord symbols so it can be very difficult to determine what a particular chord should sound like. This is especially true when the harmony is moving quickly and the bass is changing keys.
Is Transcribing Piano Music Really Hard?
To make things a bit easier for yourself you should try to work in small chunks when trancribing. This might be a bar, two bars or just one beat depending on the complexity and speed of the music you are trying to transcribe. This will make it much easier to get all of the information you need to be able to play back the transcription correctly.
Another tip is to work with other transcriptions of the same piece of music that you are transcribing. This can be helpful to double-check your own aural transcription against the written version and can also give you new insights and perspectives on the piece. And if you’re having trouble figuring out a certain part of the song then it might be helpful to ask others about the harmony or look up online tutorials and other transcriptions of the same piece of music to see how they approach it.
If you’re having trouble determining the chords in a piece of music then it might be useful to think in terms of what instruments are playing them instead of trying to create a note-for-note transcription of the performance. This way you can focus on finding the bass notes and then try to build a chord from there. It’s a very different way to approach piano transcription but can be incredibly effective for beginners.
The last thing to keep in mind is that transcribing music is part hearing and part deduction. So, sometimes you might think you have figured out what the artist is playing but then realize that it would be impossible or incredibly awkward to play on your instrument. It might be that you are simply hearing the wrong thing or that there is an artifact in the recording that is tricking you.
Obviously there is a lot more to it than this but this should give you a general idea of what is involved in transcribing piano music and some of the most common problems that beginner transcribers encounter. By following these tips you can avoid some of the most common mistakes and quickly improve your aural transcription skills!
