Recommendation on Changing Workbooks for Ear Training

Recommendation on Changing Workbooks for Ear Training

Q: I’m determined to improve using the Ear Training One Note Complete , so I will definitely keep at it. If I may, could I ask for one clarification: To do the exercises you suggested, I need some way to find the pitches at the outset. My approach has been to try to pre-hear and sing, say, a major second, get it wrong (my voice usually goes directly to the root or third), then move step-wise or use a pitch pipe to find the actual pitch. Then, once I’ve located the target pitch, I keep repeating it over the chord to try to memorize the sound. As you anticipated, I did this for about a month with the major second and saw no apparent improvement — leading me to send my email to you. I’m happy to now move to another scale degree — believe me – but do you recommend that I keep using the same basic approach, or try something different?

A: I’ve included an FAQ that I recently received that I think directly applies to you. Basically you need to first realize that you need to improve your memory of notes. You improve short term memory by repeating notes until you hear them. I don’t know what your daily life is like but having a lot of spare time would certainly help you at this time to break through your current stalemate with ear training. Read the FAQ and then I’d like you to try and see how long you can remember the second degree of a key center. First you will need to play the cadence and attempt to sing the second and then play the note as needed until you can pre-hear the second after hearing the cadence. This may take a few minutes but most people find that they gain an image of this note in their mind after 3 or 4 repeated attempts. Then wait a couple of seconds and try this whole thing again. You should be able to find out the exact amount of time that your short term memory will be able to hold onto the sound of the second degree. You would then want to keep repeating this process until you can wait longer and longer and come back to the exercise and still hear the second. Let me know how this works for you. The more times you can do this throughout a day the better.

Another recommendation is 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.