contrive vs play by ear

contrive

verb
  • To invent by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise 

  • To invent, to make devices; to form designs especially by improvisation. 

  • To project, cast, or set forth, as in a projection of light. 

play by ear

verb
  • To do by guessing, intuition, or trial and error; to react to events as they occur; improvise 

  • To play guided by one's musical ear, rather than from a written score. 

How often have the words contrive and play by ear occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )