Music Practice Schedule Ideas

Q: Hi Bruce! First of all thank you for all the great books! I was curious about how to develop my ability to pre-hear notes and your books are the solution. I can’t thank you enough for making these available and for patiently answering questions. I’ve read all FAQs, but I’ve noticed that each student’s situation a little bit different. I’m Sorry in advance if I asking you same questions as another students. But i just want to make sure that I’m doing all things correctly. Recently I’ve started with your “Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing Volume One,” and for me concept of pre-hearing notes was completely new. But even after several weeks I’ve see big difference in the way I hear music, all sounds feels brighter to me. I’m working on each pitch for one week, and now I’m doing major second. I’m practicing 5-6 times a day for 10 min with “Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing Volume One,” then about 5 min with “Contextual Ear Training” just to force myself to think faster even if I get wrong pitch. With the One Note Advanced Ear Training I’m get around 98%, and I’m doing about 3 times a day for 10 min. Should I move to Two Note Ear Training Oboe or Grandeur Piano? Do you think, everything is OK with my practice routine and schedule? Should I do anything else?

Thank you!

A: Congratulations sounds like you are making some real good progress. I think your Music Practice Schedule Ideas are good. I would recommend you first work on the 1st level of the Key Note Recognition at getting at least 80% correct answers before moving to the Ear Training Two Note Beginning Series. One you start the Two Note Ear Training Oboe or Grandeur Piano? I would continue to work on the other levels of the Key Note Recognition doing that once or twice a day for 5 minutes. All these levels of Key Note Recognition are important because they build up your ability to hear more and more complicated key centers. This is extremely important when you are applying the ear training to real music. Which of course is the overall goal here.

I would also start applying your ear training to some of the Direct Application courses. I would start with the Major and Dorian CDs. If you are also practicing an instrument I would add in MetroDrone. MetroDrone will allow you to do ear training as you practice various exercises on your instrument. I can recommend some exercises and how to approach them if you need help. Finally you need to get started with the Scale Analysis book. This book will teach you two things: how you should intellectually think of chord/scale relationships and ear training exercises to actually hear a whole chord progression in one key center. You should at least get started with the intellectual side of the course by filling in the scales for one exercise a week. That should take about 15 minutes a week, so not a whole lot of time but it’s important that you start realizing how all this ear training fits into the real world.

Even though there are a lot of different exercises you are doing here, you are really doing less than a hour a day of ear training. Overall, you are trying to diversify your ear training skills and the “context” in which you are hearing within a key center. This is super important because you learn in one context at a time. By diversifying, you enhance your ability to hear correctly in multiple contexts, which is what you need to use this ear training in real time with real music!

Let me know if you have further questions about your Music Practice Schedule Ideas

Best Regards,

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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