What is a Good Ear?

What is a good ear?

Chopin is said to have left the words: "The best teacher is your own ear."

Whether it's music or language learning, we seem to understand intuitively that having a "good ear" is important, but what exactly makes it "good" and in what way?

Sound is waves. We call the vibration of air "sound."

When sound waves arrive, the eardrum vibrates, and the signal is transmitted through the outer, middle, and inner ear to a place called the cochlea, where it is converted into electrical signals. These are then sent to the brainstem and delivered to the auditory cortex.

It is said that there is more than a twofold difference in the size of the auditory cortex between musicians and non-musicians. Musicians have remarkably larger auditory cortices compared to ordinary people.

A good ear appears to mean having a large auditory cortex with superior function, enabling one to accurately grasp the characteristics of sound and distinguish the expression of sounds.

Mr. T, a devoted user of M's system, created a gentle principle that all sounds in his household would come "from wave-motion speakers" when his daughter was born. This could be called pure cultivation.

Later, after moving to America where the T family lived in English, her pronunciation was just like a native speaker's, and he deeply felt the excellence of her ear.

He believes that growing up in a home environment where highly directional, harsh sounds were reduced and natural sounds could be heard allowed her to develop an honest, good ear.

I believe this is certainly something that could happen. Even if it's not the musician type of "good ear" developed through piano practice from early childhood, an "ear" that has been surrounded by natural sounds from infancy has great potential to develop into a "good ear."

Even if one lives in the heart of a major city.

Even without being a pianist who plays with transcendent technique and delicacy, a good ear must surely be cultivated in the auditory cortex.