I ever do that when the notes that im humming are too far away from each other, works 9/10 times

 

Oh yeah, definitely! Sing the notes that you're playing, be it a scale or a melody or a chord. It becomes a habit after a while and while I can't say if it works for everybody it certainly works for me.

 

The answer is just one word: INTERVALS

Be able to perfectly distinguish all intervals within an octave (there are ear training programs to help you with this) and it's literally all you need imho.

 

Just a tiny corollary, an aside...the magnificent Isaac Stern teaching a student to play what she feels as she sings.

https://www.nytimes.com/video/multi...edCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article

 

Check out EarMaster 7. Compared to version 6, it has added many great features. Install it once and you won't get dissappointed. Although most of its features are locked in the free version, but at least you can see the name of its exercises. Many exercises have been designed for all stages of music education.

https://www.earmaster.com/

Download:
https://www.earmaster.com/all-download.html

 

i dont think you can learn to imagine sound, you are either able to do that or not.

however, the whole thing you asked for consist of three parts:

- beeing able to imagine sound
- beeing able to make exactly the sound in your head
- having the possibilty/knowledge/gear required to do that

and dont be jealous when someone can imagine everything without actually doing it. it does not only have advantages, it often means that you loose interest in finishing an audiovisual works as soon as you know how it will be like when its finished.

 

Also, I suggest you do a search for "scat singing".... The first time I had contact with this was when I met a female vocalist, in one of the vocal groups I sang, who improvised in any musical style, using things like “do-be-do-bap-di-she-wah”... As she had musical training, one of the things she did, sometimes, was to transcribe the things she sang.

The second time I saw something about it was an exercise proposed by Joe Satriani, called "Atonal Scat Singing", as said by Satriani, this exercise comes from Lennie Tristano, the "father of Cool Jazz", in reference to the act of put the metronome in 60bpm. After that, put your timer for 3-4 minutes. Play downstrokes onlyr 8th notes only. Non stop, keep up, no pauses. Play random notes. 8th notes only, with the metronome, singing each note you play out loud (singing ba, da, ba, da). Don't play familiar patterns, be random:

❝You should keep the action going for about three minutes. As you play, try to anticipate how each note will sound. Do not touch cliches or family patterns. Think and play freely. No style, just notes. When you pass the three-minute mark, start singing the notes you are playing. You can use any syllable sound you want. Stay like this for a few minutes or until you can't continue any longer. This exercise is a strange and beautiful thing. I am deeply impressed with how it always makes me feel more attached to the music.❞

So, what you can do is record these improvisations and then create the habit of transcribing them!

 

To the OP, this might sound passe but it's gotta be put out there. You're talking about becoming fluent in the language of music (this is what it means to be "able to play what's in your head"). If you don't know music theory then that's the language you seek. Otherwise you'll be stabbing around in the dark, maybe you'll hit on what you hear in your head, maybe not... Good music can be made either way. But learning the way music is organized will give you the vocabulary to reliably transform the sounds in your head into reality. It doesn't mean you'll be instantly transformed into a bland music nerd lol.

There is an intellectual gap between imagined sounds and what we are able to create into real sounds. Learning how music is organized is the bridge between them. Learning exactly how rhythms are made, how scales and chords are organized etc, will give you mastery of your musical ideas in no time.

If you're into Gamelan, or Indian classical music, death metal or salsa, it's all the same shit really. Pitches and rhythm. Every listener is ALREADY a fluent LISTENER of music theory, as a musician you might as well learn how to SPEAK it.

 

Exactly!!! Intervals make up motifs, learning intervals will surelly improve you hability to recognize the melodies in your head and also make you more properly to recognize motifs!!

 

Yes. But being able to hear something in your "head" and actually being able to sing it are or course two different things.

Problem is memory is short and if you are confused whether a certain interval is big or small or even whether they are going up or down and you are not hitting clean intervals anyway, you wont get very far. For some people all this is easy. Really difficult for others.

I suggest solfege training. Start with the C-major scale. You sing the scale (and especially in the beginning just small parts of it) up and down and keep checking you are hitting the notes correctly with a piano afterwards. Then you start adding interval jumps. Start with singing the major chord intervals up and down. Once get somewhat comfortable you start adding your own custom melodies to your practice sessions.

At some point you don't need your voice or the piano anymore. You can do it all in your head. That's the end goal.

The results will come but it can take some time. This is something you need to commit to.

Extra advice:

- Sit with your back straight when you sing.

- It's better to practice 5 minutes once a day than 8 hours once a week.

 

This isn't really the place to go into all this aside demonstrating a recognition of pitch.

The uneven partial and pitch envelope de-tuning of bells has been mathematically worked out rigorously since Canon Simpson published his findings in the late1890s. Tuning a bell isn't as difficult as it once was with computerized assisted lathes, but it is temperature dependent and calculated thickness strike points helps to maximize en-harmonics vs dissonant overtones to a point, the issue of partials touched on the above papers is a real one but as far as absolute pitch vs. temperature, alloy resonance patterns. Besides I am referring to bells I am talking about large cloche type bells. The physics is a bit different for flat resonant surfaces and dampening or decay attenuation changes the parameters of pitch drift and alternative sweep in bells.

This isn't the place for something like this.

Lets just leave it at allowing people to enjoy what they want to enjoy. This is a dive into minutia that unless entered for it's own sake generates bad juju for no other reason than to expound on the pedantic.

Have a read if you care about some older sources that focus on cloche type bells and the differences between them and concert or orchestral bells as they operate under different conditions and different purposes.

http://www.keltektrust.org.uk/sob08.html

There are other more technical articles but they are behind paywalls but you can search around and see what you dig up.

If you are curious or enjoy a good mathematical read there is quite a bit on the subject as metal resonance & attenuation is a rather vast, ubiquitous and very useful field of engineering and physics from bridges to cars to airplanes.

I'm not really interested in going into the mathematics, nor the subjective evaluation of the topic as I've spoken my peace on the matter and am only replying out of courtesy. If there should come a thread focused on the matter I might be tempted into discourse, health permitting.

 

Maybe my point didn't come across then. I just wanted to point out, that very often find myself in the situation that "I hear something in my head" that cannot be easily replicated on the instruments I have at hand (singing included ).

Then the real fun starts: hunting for the tiny details and character of sound, maybe even different tunings, as well as nuances in the playing.

Sometimes I even had to study some books or articles (that is why I came across the posted one) in order to achieve the sounds I was imagining before.
Ah music...

 

Yep, being prepared helps a lot.

To quote Louis Pasteur: "In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind"

 

This is interesting. Especially the contributors.
It's a fairly open topic because depending on the level of an individual's hearing skills due to the speed they can translate being relational and/or dependent on that to a degree.
The opposing argument is of course that if they sing they can translate it immediately and not be skilled in anything other than the ability to sing what they hear. Theoretically, if any musician can play what they hear in their head that's a win and that goes for composition, improvisation , orchestration and most musical scenarios.
The further argument is that it is like a form of internal transcription so to capture the feeling /emotional intent/phrasing etc etc is another area that is important.
Knowing what you are hearing always helps. I won't buy into arguments but most of what is said in this thread is useful - Good topic.

 

HahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahahaHaha
Hahahahaha

 

lmao sums the year up quite accurately doesn't it?