The idiom play it by ear dates back at least to the 17th century. It comes from the world of music and refers to playing an instrument not from sheet music or memory but responding to the situation.
Instruments like the violin and cello have to be played by ear, even when using sheet music, because there are no marked notes on the fingerboard, and they can go out of tune mid-performance.
As an idiom, play it by ear means not having a plan and responding to events as they unfold. It can have positive or negative connotations. In the positive sense, it means staying flexible and not rigidly sticking to a plan. In the negative sense, it means being unprepared and taking a chance that you will get away with it.
Examples: Play it by ear
With interactive lessons where the students participate, the teacher has to have the confidence to play it by ear because you never know what will happen next.
Having learned to play the piano from sheet music, the next big step was to be able to play it by ear.
We used to book hotels in advance for our road trips, but now we are more carefree and play it by ear as we go.
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Using play it by ear
You can use play it by ear in a wide variety of contexts. Unlike many idioms, it has a literal meaning that makes sense and can be used when talking about music. If you play music by ear, then it means you have a good ear for music (i.e., you can hear and reproduce notes easily). Having a keen ear for something means that you are able to distinguish fine aural differences (e.g., “Emily has a keen ear for accents”).
In a nonliteral sense, to play it by ear suggests having a relaxed and confident attitude toward a situation, as well as a large degree of flexibility. It suggests an element of risk as well as a freedom from the rigid constraints of something (like sheet music in the literal sense).
The “it” in the phrase can be replaced by the object that is being referred to (e.g., “It seems like Vikram can play any instrument by ear at the first attempt”).
Examples: Play it by ear
I had been trying to work out the chords to a song for days when Grant came along, listened to it once, and was able to play it by ear immediately!
Sean was worried about how the meeting would go, but I told him that we would be fine; we just had to be flexible and play it by ear.
Sometimes being able to play it by ear is a real bonus, but sometimes it just becomes lazy and risky.
Is it play it by year or play it by ear?
Play it by ear is the correct idiom, meaning to respond flexibly to a situation and not sticking rigidly to a plan. You might sometimes see “play it by year,” but this is an incorrect hearing of the phrase (or simply a typo).
We don’t have any plans for Saturday yet; we’ll head into the city and then play it by year.
We don’t have any plans for Saturday yet; we’ll head into the city and then play it by ear.
Synonyms for play it by ear
When a language has been around for as long as English has, many varied ways of saying the same (or very similar) thing develop, and this is true of play it by ear. There are plenty of other idioms that mean something similar, including:
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