Ear Training Music Courses Advice

Q: Any Ear Training Music Courses Advice about the right products to acquire and the best way to work with them will be highly appreciated. First, I’d like to give an update about my ear training studies. I contacted you for the last time about 5 or 6 months ago and you gave me some good Ear Training Music Courses Advice so thanks. So, when I started to work on Ear Training One Note Intermediate. I had started on the Ear Training One Note Beginning Level which was already well established with about 90% to 95% of right answers. I’m continuing to work on Contextual Ear Training in which I’m getting about 50% to 60% of right answers most of the time. I also added some Direct Application Ear Training which included Direct Application Ear Training Vol. 1 and the Major and Dorian Direct Application MP3s. Also, I added some Music Theory Interval Recognition to work on spellings. So I need some Ear Training Music Courses Advice. At this time my progress is as follows:

Ear Training One Note: I completed the Ear Training One Note Intermediate Level about 3 months ago and only have slight troubles on notes with very high or low pitches. Since then, working on the Ear Training One Note Advanced Level with about 98% to 100% of right answers now. The “2nd” and “b7th” that used to driving me nuts are not a problem anymore. I do make sporadic mistakes but only sometimes when I’m not paying attention to the exercise.
With the Contextual Ear Training Course I’d say that I’m about 85% to 90% of right answers at this moment. Since I contacted you in January I had the “1st,” “b2nd,” “b3rd, “3rd,” “5th” & “7th” consolidated. The next two months were really hard; it seems I’ve hit a plateau, and couldn’t sing any other notes consistently right to add to this list. Fortunately, things began to change at this point; I began to get more right answers with the “6th,” and soon I was able to add it to the “consolidated list.” More notes began to be sang more clearly; the “4th” was the next one in which I had slight problems on certain occasions and I’m still working on that. Later, the “b7th” & “b5th” began to be really well established, with hardly any mistakes which was really exciting because those were two notes gave me a lot of problems in the beginning. Now I can sing both of them with almost any mistakes. At this time, I only have problems with three notes: the “4th.” I usually get it right, but I have sporadic mistakes with it, and the “b6th” which is a little harder; about 50% to 60% of mistakes. Then there is the “2nd” which is the most difficult for me; maybe 70% to 75% of mistakes.
Direct Application Ear Training Volume 1. I’m working with this course and it’s been really interesting and revelatory. The first tracks (key of C) I was getting a consistent high ratio of right answers, but when I began to work other keys (F, Bb, etc) the number of mistakes began to grow exponentially. I felt a little disoriented, but I continued to work with the tracks. Some months later, things began to improve, and now I can hear most of the tracks with merely a few mistakes (that rarely surpasses the 20% of wrong answers). I’m also improvising with my guitar over the tracks, playing what I hear in them (and in my mind) with more accuracy each time. Anyway, I think I need to continue to work with this tracks for some time yet, cause I feel I need to be close to 100% on all tracks to really consolidate my ear in the context of these progressions.
Direct Application Major Volume One & Direct Application Volume Two Dorian. I’ve not worked a lot with these MP3s but I’m more focused on the Direct Application Ear Training Volume 1 tracks I mentioned earlier. To be precise, at this time I’ve worked exactly once on each track for both CD’s. The reason is I found them extremely difficult and made a lot of mistakes (especially with the dorian CD), and I feel I must consolidate the Direct Application Ear Training Volume 1 tracks first, cause the material on the Direct Application Major Volume One & Direct Application Volume Two Dorian seems to be more challenging (the ear training with the Direct Application Volume Two Dorian was really frustrating at the time; it seemed that the root was the only note I could hear consistently).
Music Theory Interval Recognition. Not bad at the time. Working on individual keys for now, and consolidating the sixths spellings (b6th, 6th & #6th), which are the most difficult for me. I’m getting right answers most of the time, even on those sixths intervals. I’m sure it won’t be as easy once I start to work on all keys simultaneously.

So, that’s my ear training situation now. I’d like to ask for the best path to continue this study. Based on what I’ve read in your FAQ’s & Ear Training Guided Tour, it seems that there are a lot of products recommended to continue this journey, but I’m not sure about the right ones to choose so I need Ear Training Music Courses Advice. For example:

The Ear Training One Note Series seems to be consolidated. I guess I must continue with Key Note Recognition but I’m not sure if I must incorporate other products, like the Instrumental Color Series, or would be enough reviewing the Ear Training One Note Advanced periodically.
Contextual Ear Training obviously needs a little more work, but i think I must incorporate other tools (Fanatic’s Guide, maybe?). Also, it seems logical to incorporate some Direct Application work, as I did on One Note Ear Training Series (Singing the Blues seems to be a good addition at this point). Not sure about incorporating other tools, like Secondary Dominants or 2 Note Melodic Ear Training.

Any Ear Training Music Courses Advice or suggestions about the right products to acquire and the best way to work with them will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

A: Thanks for the update. First, congratulations on making it through this first initial group of exercises, you did well! Below is some Ear Training Music Courses Advice:

You should move on to the first level of Key Note Recognition. There are four levels for this course and you want to complete them all. Move to the next level when you are getting 80% correct answers. These four levels are important because they build up your ability to hear more complicated key centers like what you will experience when playing or listening to “real music.”
For the One Note Ear Training I want you to move on to One Note Ear Training Extreme Method. This will get you answering quicker, which is not only important when applying this ear training to a “real music” situation but will also be important when we move into Two Note Ear Training. I would listen to the One Note Ear Training Extreme Method once or twice a day for 5 minutes.
For the singing I like to move you into two different approaches to the exercise found on page 17 (The Blues Exercise) of the Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing Volume One. First, I want you to sing through this “Blues Exercise” using a MetroDrone and slowly speed up the exercise. I also want you do use the “Dominant Drone” found in Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing Volume Two. You will again sing through the “Blues Exercise” with the dominant drone. I would spend 10 minutes are each of these two exercises each day.
Yes! You most definitely should start doing some Melodic Ear Training. I would start with Ear Training 2 Note Melodic Piano doing this twice a day for 5 minutes.
For Direct Application I would work on two things; The Secondary Dominant book and Scale Analysis. In the Secondary Dominant book I would concentrate on one progression a week by both singing the exercises and improvising along with the MP3. I would do this for 10 minutes each day. I would also get started on the Scale Analysis course. You should work through one chord progression a week in this book. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete the exercise so it isn’t a big time commitment but it is extremely important that you begin to understand how all this ear training relates to chords and scales. There are many other exercises in the Scale Analysis course but initially I just want you to get started with the core exercise so you understand how to think of a whole chord progression and related scales in one key center. Some times people are confused about the Secondary Dominant and the Scale Analysis course. Think of the Secondary Dominant as a way to look at specific progressions that are super common in music and learning how to hear those progressions and improve your ability to solo over them.

Think of Scale Analysis course as a macro course that will help you understand how you hear an entire chord progression and the multiple scales that will work it. The Scale Analysis will also help you organize scales, see internal relationships and basically understand the concept of “Hearing in a Key Center.” There are two major sides to the Scale Analysis course. One is just filling in the proper scales for the progressions which is what I want you to do initially and then there are multiple singing exercises and improvisational exercises to do which we will concentrate on more one you have finished the Key Note Recognition.Key Note Recognition levels and starting on Two Note Ear Training. For others that might be reading this FAQ remember you don’t have to have completed One Note Ear Training to start on the Scale Analysis course. It will help when you start the ear training side of the course but the theory side of the course can be done right away and it’s important to do it right away so you understand what you are working towards with all of this ear training exercises. It will only take about 15 to 20 minutes a week to do the theory side of one chord progressions so it’s not a big time commitment.
As far as the Instrumental Color Series goes I would go to the page and listen to the various examples using different instruments to see if you have troubles hearing the “One Note Exercise.” Some people have problems with any other instrument but a piano while others may only have a few instruments where they have problems. Select those that you have a problem with and listen to those “One Note Exercise” twice a day for 5 minutes.
For the Music Theory Interval Recognition I would continue to work on that until you are 100% in all keys. Think of this course as something you will do 5 minutes a day for a year. It’s like taking a music theory course in college which usually lasts two years. By just taking a few minutes a day and slowly adding in keys and more difficult intervals you will build up quick knowledge of the building blocks of music theory which of course is the intervals.
That is about it for the Ear Training Music Courses Advice but there is something else. One of my other concerns is your ability to understand and play scales. You need to know this information both intellectually and be able to play it on your instrument. If this is problem then I would start working on the Essential Scales book or the New York Guitar Method Volume One. If you need work in this area then you need to spend at least 30 minutes a day working on one scale a week. For guitarists you want to play the scale in all positions saying either the note names or the degrees. DO NOT just learn fingering patterns that is a complete waste of time. You also need to apply this one scale a week to Jam Tracks. I would recommend Jam Tracks Volume One and/or Volume Three. When you practice the scales I want you to have a MetroDrone going in the background so that you hear the scale in relationship to a “key center” This is super important so please make sure to have that key center going when practicing.

All of Ear Training Music Courses Advice should give you a well rounded practice session each day. The ear training will take about 1 hour broken up into various 5 minute intervals with different exercises. The theory from the Scale Analysis should take 15 to 20 minutes a week. The scale practice will take the most time. Try to do 30 minutes to 1 hour a day of scale work. Once you get going with improvisation and the scales many times students need some inspiration for new melodies. For this I would get the Two Note Modal Sequencing or the Three Note Modal Sequencing. These courses will give you many melodic ideas and will also build mega-chops. I hope all of the Ear Training Music Courses Advice helps you organize your practice day better!

Stay in touch!

Bruce

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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