Singing Notes in Ear Training Two Note

Singing Notes in Ear Training Two Note

Singing Notes in Ear Training Two Note

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Singing Notes in Ear Training Two Note

Q: I’ve been doing the Ear Training One Note Complete for about two years now, and Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing for a year. Last week I reached 80 percent for the first time on one note! I have a question about singing Two Note Ear Training, and also about hearing the 12 ‘signature sounds’ in real songs that I listen to. First, I was wondering if I should be singing notes ‘Do, Di, Fa, Fi, Do, Di, etc.’ for the two notes in a chord progression C, F, C in the key of C? Or should I be singing notes ‘Do, Di, Do, Di, Do, Di, etc’ and just know I am singing notes; C, C#, F, F#, C, C#, etc. I don’t understand this. I think this question is directly related to hearing the ‘signature sounds’ in the songs I listen to. . .

It seems like I should hear the notes (of a melody for instance) as relating to the current chord being played, not the key, since I have to store the key in my mind to hear each note. But, if the current chord played is the basis of the quality of the note of the melody, then the process seems to be in the moment and instantaneous. So, if a melody is made of the notes ‘B-flat, G, G, F, F, E / A, F, F, E, E, D / G, etc.’ but the chord progression in the key of G (minor) is Gmin / Dmin / Amaj7, then would I hear ‘May, Do, Do, Tay, Tay, La / So, May, May, Re, Re, Do/ Tay’ or should I hear ‘May, Do, Do, Tay, Tay, La / Re, Tay, Tay, La, La, So/ Do?’ Could you clear up my confusion in this area in Two Note Ear Training, please?

Also, I would really like to be able to hear the these sounds in the songs I hear. I really want this a lot. I listen to tango, Jewel, Nora Jones, Brazilian Axé music, Gal Costa, Carlos Jobim, and piano music of Chopin and Rachmaninoff played by Ashkenasky. I would love to be able to hear all those pitches, to be able to sing them myself (by hearing each of their unique qualities) and play them on the piano and write them down on manuscript paper. I plan to continue doing this ear training and never stop because I really love music, but is there more I can do? Could you help me with more diverse exercises (for guessing the notes and eventually hearing notes in the music I listen to)? I am really excited about the exercises. That doesn’t go away.

A: It’s very difficult to answer your questions about how you should hear in the examples you have given because I don’t know how quickly the chords are changing and I don’t know the tempo of the music. Both these facts will have a great influence on whether you will remain in the same key or modulate. In the final conclusion you must hear whether you are still in one key or have modulated. At your current ability of 80% with the one note ear training I think it would be pretty confusing to you to try and figure this out because you are still weak with the one note and haven’t worked through the Key Note Recognition and started the Two Note Ear Training books which will teach you how to modulate.

If you want to use real music to improve yourself I would only work with songs that have one chord so that you don’t get confused. There are thousands of songs like this including entire idioms such as Indian music.

One exercise that you could do to help you start to hear chord progressions in one key is to take songs that you know that contain only diatonic chords and sing the arpeggios over a key drone. You could use the Fanatic’s Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing CD for this. Take a progression like C, D-, E-, F and sing the triads over the C drone so you would be singing notes C, E, G, D, F, A, E,G,B, F, A, C. Then try different permutations of this progression by starting the root going to the 5th then the 3rd. This would be C, G, E, D,A,F, E,B,G, F, C, A. You will find a list of permutations in the ‘applying music theory’ file in the member’s area of www.muse-eek.com . This will show you other permutations that you can use for 3 or even 4 note chords. Remember for now all notes you sing will only be over a one chord vamp and therefore the solfeggio syllables will all be related to the key of C or of course another key if you transpose these exercises to a different key and use a different chord as your drone.

Hope this helps. Be patient your probably 6 months to a year away from beginning to modulate correctly. You just need to work through the other books I’ve mentioned and of course keep in touch with your questions.

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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