Confusion on how to Sing the Correct Pitches

Q: My apologies for my confusion. Today, I decided to re-read both books, the Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing, Ear Training One Note Complete and all the FAQs to make sure I’m doing this right. I’m sorry, but I still have some areas of confusion that relate to my earlier questions about SINGING the pitches.

First: You say on page 13 of Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing, ‘A few things to remember as you work through each key trying to sing ‘one’… when you feel you are getting the hang of it, try to sing all the other degrees.’ Does this mean that if you are working on the pitch of Do, that you should sing ‘one’ in the key of C, and then stay in C and sing the other eleven pitches? Or do you simply mean, when you’ve mastered Do, move on to Re, etc… ?
Second: You suggest mastering 1, then 3,5,2,4,6,7 etc… I tried this method but found that by the time I had gotten to #5, that I had forgotten what 1 had sounded like because I mastered it several months earlier. So I tried to remedy this by mastering 1, then practicing 1 and 3 on the same day, then 1, 3, 5 on the same day etc… Problem was that as I got further along, my practice time had ballooned to like 6 hours a day and I couldn’t maintain it. What do you suggest?
Third: If I’m trying to sing 5, and my mind pre-hears 3 instead, is it a bad habit to correct myself mentally and then sing the pitch? When I do this I feel like I’m using 3 to find 5. When you’ve pre-heard the wrong pitch in your mind, you now have a reference point to jump to the correct pitch. Is this a bad habit?

I apologize if I asked any redundant questions. I am trying to stick to your book and instructions.

A: When you master singing ‘Do’ in all keys then move on to singing other pitches in all keys like ‘Mi.’ It is common to lose the sound of previously learned notes. As your brain hears new notes it adjusts its internal definition of each sound within the key. Over time and relearning of lost notes you will find that all notes will finally make sense and will go into your permanent memory. It does help to review each note everyday. Keep in mind some days will be better than others and breaking your practicing up within a day is better than practicing straight through. You of course have to use common sense about your time allotments and also realize that this course of ear training will take some time so be patient. Everyone gets this ear training that sticks with it. You don’t want to reference another pitch when pre-hearing. If you consistently hear the wrong pitch, play the cadence, play the note you want to hear. Do this a few times then try to pre-hear the note. It should be in your short term memory at that point. Overtime you should find that you will hear the correct note without first playing it.

It is also recommended that you read Bruce Arnold’s Blog at his artist site. It contains more discussion of the musical topics found in these FAQs as well as other subjects of interest. You will also find the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located here which shows you the historic significance of the music education products found on the Muse Eek Publishing Company Website.

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