Part Four of Eight on how to play keyboard

Train your ears. No method of learning is instant, and learning by ear is no different. Remembering the sound of a song and finding which notes on the keyboard to press is a skill that takes some practice to develop. The good news is that every great improviser in the world knows how to do it, so it's a skill that will never be wasted. Here is how you can start.
Learn the art of solfège. It's pronounced "soul-fezh," and it means sight singing. You already know the basics, if you know how to sing "do re mi." The notes of the basic solfège scale are as follows: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. In the key of C (the white keys), this corresponds to C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.
Try it. On your keyboard, play the C scale we covered above. For each note you play, sing the next note in the solfège scale. Don't worry if your singing won't get you on American Idol. The idea is to connect the sounds with the notes. But what about the black notes?

• Here is the scale, including the black notes in italics: do-di-re-ri-mi-fa-fi-sol-si-la-li-ti-do. Try that on your keyboard now, and see how it sounds. You'll notice that the do-re-mi parts are starting to sound familiar.
• Practice intervals. Instead of just singing "do re mi," try singing them in little jumps: "do-mi-re-fa-mi-sol-do." Make up your own combinations, write them down, and sing them. Then match them to the keyboard, and see if you were close.
• When this starts to feel comfortable, try it with a simple song. It may be a song you already know well, or a children's song that's very familiar. Only this time, instead of singing, for example, "Mary had a little lamb," sing "mi-re-do-re-mi-mi-miiiiiiiii."
  • When you develop the ability to do this, you can learn the solfège words to any song, anywhere you might be, and then when you get back to your keyboard, play them back.
  • The more you do this, the better you'll get.