The 4 Core Performance Skills are the big skills that every musician should strive to master to be the most balanced and well-rounded musician possible, and to have success as a performer in EVERY situation.  The second of these core skills is playing by ear, or playing music with accuracy after hearing it played elsewhere but having no written score.  Whether you're a professional or a dedicated amateur, playing by ear is freedom.  You don't HAVE to find sheet music in order to play something you've heard.  Playing well by ear obviously involves time in ear training, but this episode discusses this and the other things you want to develop in order to be able to play something well just by listening. This is the 3rd of a 5-part series.  If you missed it, check out the previous episodes in this series: The Four Core Skills Part 1: An Overview of the Skills The Four Core Skills Part 1: Sight Reading Let me know your thoughts on this episode as a voice message to possibly share on a future episode at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit  If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice.  You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.