Ear Training Listening Plus Singing
Ear Training Listening Plus Singing
Ear Training Listening Plus Singing
Q: I recently purchased your Ear Training One Note Complete with all three cd's. I have read some of the beginning and I am trying to take it all in slowly. Is it really necessary for me to have the Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing? Should I purchase Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing before going ahead with the ear training? Also, I know that you have addressed this several times, but I am still having trouble with how all of the ear training will apply to other keys if the book is written in the key of C. Should I buy the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One and Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two that you have available on your site in order to apply the ear training to other keys?
A: Ear Training Listening Plus Singing is the best approach to improve quickly when working with aural comprehension. You need to work out of both the Ear Training One Note Complete and either the Contextual Ear Training book or the Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing book in order to improve at your quickest rate. Since you already have the Ear Training One Note Complete book I want you to listen to the Beginning CD 5 times a day for 10 minutes. Remember you are trying to memorize the sound of each note against a key center, so concentrate on each note you hear and try to remember its unique sound in the key center. At the beginning you probably won't hear this, but over time and with repetition you will start to remember. You can limit which notes you are testing yourself on if you think that might help but always listen to all notes at least a few times everyday. Also remember that you are, for example, trying to memorize the sound of let's say the 3rd of the key. The 3rd of the key will always sound like the 3rd in any key. Therefore if you are in C major and hear an E it will sound like the 3rd. If you are in the key of Ab major and hear a C it will also sound like the 3rd. This is the reason why you don't need to do the One Note exercises in every key because all notes have the same relationship and therefore the same sound in every key.
Contextual Ear Training and/or Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing will have you singing in every key. This is to make sure you don't memorize sound based on vocal "positioning" or other crutches. Once you get the Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing book you should also work on this book about 5 times a day for 10 minutes. Start with the "One Note" exercises.
I would also highly recommend you get started with the Scale Analysis course. The overall idea of this course is to teach you how this ear training works when you have a chord progressions. Basically Scale Analysis teaches you how you will hear the scales that go over a chord progression. There are two sides to this course. One is filling in the worksheets and the other is doing the ear training exercises that accompany the course. If you could get started filling in the worksheets now and in 6 months or so start the ear training exercises when you get better at the "one note" ear training that would be the best approach. I'd like you to do one worksheet a week which will take about 20 minutes to fill out. There are 36 worksheet to complete in the course so that will take 36 weeks or 9 months to complete. If you can get to the point that you intellectual understand how this ear training works it will help you see what you are working towards and you will also start processing chord/scale relationships in the right way.
I hope this helped you see the importance of Ear Training Listening Plus Singing
Also if you are playing an instrument you should definitely get the MetroDrone and Jam Tracks Volume One so that you can be doing ear training as you work on scales or any other technique.
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.