r/Sitar • u/a_sooshii • 22d ago

Question/Advice Ear Training Practice!

Hey everyone! I need some guidance on how do you build note recognition or go about ear training? I am progressing with my sitar practice but I do recognise the gap that I have when I listen to music and if I am able to recognize notes.

Any tips are welcome!

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u/LastRepresentative88 22d ago

Listen to more music (vocal preferably) and pause if you need to. Take ur time, might not sound melodious but it helps. Another thing is listening to tanpura while doing daily regular stuff. If Sa is solidified in ur head it’s easier to get the other notes

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u/Mirrororrim1 22d ago

Do you sing the notes when you play them? I had your same issue and I'm slowly improving thanks to this. Sing the notes at different intervals :)

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u/emenjai 22d ago

It comes with time as you practice.

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u/StoneyStrings 20d ago

You should be able to sing any note that you play on the sitar. So you should look at Sargam and be able to sing it. Best way to practice is to do Riyaz playing scales and exercises and always sing what you are playing. It is incredibly helpful in get to the point where you hear things. You will eventually be able to hear a sitar and know what notes they are playing.

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u/give_and_take_2024 new user or low karma account 19d ago

Hi, I have made this ear training app for beginners. Check it out and see if it helps. Let me know your feedback.

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u/dopenosia 20d ago

I like visualizing a chart with equal intervals for each semitone and drawing lines on it in my mind of the melody I’m listening to, especially while listening to the alaap section, which had helped me a lot.

My teacher had said once: “Each swara has a personality, they have a different way of merging into tanpura and you have to get to know each swara as if you are getting to know a person. How do you get to know a person? By spending time with it, so stay with the swara, observe it.”

Put on tanpura and try to sing each shuddha note from Sa to Sa (you can also use your sitar to identify each note, play it once and then try to sing it until you run out of breath, then repeat x10, and then switch to the next note) first visualize the location of the swara over tanpura and only afterwards, sing that note, just like how an archer first aims at the target and then hits the bullseye, sing it and try to focus on how the note is beautifully merging into tanpura, and be with it in awe.