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Thread: Ear Training

  1. #1
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    One point of agreement in the ongoing Tab vs Notation discussion is that regardless of the visual method you use to learn a tune, ear training is critical to becoming a better musician.

    So how do I train my ears? What habits should I develop while listening to music? What can I incorporate into my practice sessions? What should I be listening for?

    Any (Q)tips? Feel free to wax eloquent. I'm all ears....

    c~
    Carl

    "Facts are useless in emergencies..."

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    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    My two cents is the main thing is to start learning tunes by ear. The more you do it, the better your get at it.

    I have used Dan Huckabee's DVD, "The Formula of Music." It has a good basic ear training section for intervals and antother for chords. I also plan to get and use the "Ear Training for Mandolin," CD which has been discussed favorably here more than once.

  3. #3

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    Burn a mix CD on your computer of all the songs you are trying to learn, then put it in the car, listen to it exclusively, and burn the tunes in your brain. After about a mnth, you should beable to play along with the CD effortlessly.

  4. #4

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    This is probably the most important area of musicianship.

    There are several areas of importance but it all comes down to aural perception. You want to increase your ability to perceive and recognize as many musical elements as possible.

    The first area that most people think of is the ability to play melodies by ear. This is really an "ear-to-hand coordination". For many styles of music. this may be the most important skill -- being able to play what you hear in your head. Beginning practice will involve simple intervals but will progress to complex melodies and entire compositions.

    Other important skills include the recognition of chord progressions and rhythmic patterns and the ability to respond appropriately to them in real time and the ability to hear in your head what you see on a page of notation.

    These skills are universally useful. In some styles , more emphasis may be given to certain types of ear training skills over others. Jazz musicians may work on hearing complex chord progressions and recognizing the color and implications of various extensions and alterations of the chords. Players of traditional music make emphasize learning tunes quickly by ear. Classical musicians may work hard at being able to follow three or more melodic threads simultaneously.

    Some other ear skills that are sometimes neglected (but are still quite important) include:

    --recognition of expressive elements such as articulation, dynamics and phrasing

    --recognition of the structure or form of a piece

    --expressive use of intonation

    etc.

    Any study of music should include a large component of ear training. There are many different ways to approach learning these skills -- the main thing is to do some work in these areas every time you practice.

  5. #5

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    Practically speaking, what helped me the most in "ear-training" was singing in choirs. By doing this, you get a taste of all the great tips that everyone mentions above...




  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by
    Practically speaking, what helped me the most in "ear-training" was singing in choirs.
    Excellent point! I wish I had thought to mention it.

    The type of "choir" doesn't matter either. Some of the best intonation I have ever heard has been from amateur barbershop quartets and shape-note singing groups.

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    Registered User groveland's Avatar
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    I wasn't familiar with shape-note singing - I just looked it up, and it still needs a little explanation. Is this the place to explain? (Sounds like tab for vocals. )




  8. #8

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    The hymn books in the churches I grew up in had shape notes most of the time. It's just standard notation, but the notes have different shapes that correspond to each note of the scale. For instance, the 'do' (or I) note - regardless of key - is a triangle, rather than the standard oval shape used in plain standard notation. Each shape will have a stem and whatever flags or dots it needs. It will be solid colored or "hollow", if it's a half-note, etc....

    I sang on the praise team at church this morning, and we sang a song that was new to me. The music we sang from was not shape noted. I'd never really noticed before how much easier it is to sight read with shape notes. Singing bass, it's easy to pick out the I note (isosoles ?sp? triangle), the IV note (right triangle), and the V note ('regular' oval).

    Hope that helps.




  9. #9
    Registered User Pete Martin's Avatar
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    Try these ear training sites:

    http://www.ossmann.com/bigears/

    http://www.8notes.com/school....en.html

    http://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer

    There are a lot of these on the web, search for them.
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    Western Swing music

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by
    I wasn't familiar with shape-note singing - I just looked it up, and it still needs a little explanation. Is this the place to explain? (Sounds like tab for vocals. )
    No it isn't a tab for voice. It's more of an ear training aid. The different pitches of the scale are assigned shapes so that the relationaship between them is made more obvious. For a cappella singing (without reference to an instrument), this can be a real help.

  11. #11
    Registered User groveland's Avatar
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    Thanks, Jim.

    That sounds like a great tool not only singing, but for stringed instrument players too, where fretboard positions are relative to each other. Knowing where the I is by the shape on the staff, I could conceivably just read shapes from then on for the II, III, IV, etc. Assuming I know intervals on the fretboard, the shapes will guide the fingers relative to the I, unencumbered by accidentals on the note.

    This actually makes more sense to me than our current filled-in round note-heads with accidentals. There is really only one key signature - no sharps or flats. The tonic simply changes, and you find the interval relative to that tonic based on the shape.

    This could be the notation of the future, freeing us from the historical baggage of black and white keys. I might start another thread...

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by
    This actually makes more sense to me than our current filled-in round note-heads with accidentals. #There is really only one key signature - no sharps or flats. The tonic simply changes, and you find the interval relative to that tonic based on the shape.
    The problem is that is works fine for simple diatonic music but developes problems with any kind of chromaticism or modulation.

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    I used the "Ear Training for the Mandolin CD" and it helped a lot. It teaches you to listen and then "hum" (really more like singing) back the notes a few at a time so you can noodle around and find them. I don't think there is any substitute for just sitting and noodling to figure out melodies. I do that a lot and it slowly improves (you get the next note right on the first try more often).

    One thing I do that may help (or maybe I just think so) is I try not to look at the fret board while noodling. I tend to use a FFCP scale.
    "First you master your instrument, then you master the music, then you forget about all that ... and just play"
    Charlie "Bird" Parker

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    Thanks for the great suggestions - it gives me some things to start working on.

    Pete, those were some useful links - but I couldn't get anywhere with the "chord guesser" page. I could get as high a score just making random guesses... Any suggestions for web sites that can help me learn to hear chords better? (by the way, my name is Carl Martin like the blues mando player, and my family calls me Pete - so I have two namesakes for inspiration...)

    OdnamNool, I know I learned a lot about music during the time I sang in the choir, both reading notation and hearing if I was in tune (it's a lot easier if you don't sit next to the alto section).

    JimD, your explanation of the different areas of ear-training makes a lot of sense. Do you have some tips that will help with each of the areas, and more importantly, how do you pull it all together to become a better musician?

    Thanks to everyone,

    c~
    Carl

    "Facts are useless in emergencies..."

  15. #15

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    Carl,

    Traditionally, ear training uses simple music first to grasp the basics like triads, intervals, etc. So if you don't feel ready to listen to a full band playing a fast song and pick out the mandolin line, then find some single instrument recordings. If someone else musically inclined lives in your house, or a friend is interested, have them play intervals and chords for you.

    A warning: Some computer (MIDI) sounds are really bad and have weird overtones. I always prefer ear training with real instruments. I listened to some of the jazz chords on the third site Pete listed, and the choice of sounds were so electronic and ringy that you couldn't really tell what was going on in some chords. Still, some computer programs can be very helpful. The other two sites I thought had usable sounds.

    Here's a basic (and by no means complete) path to follow (and this is not a one week or even one month path, but many months or years):

    Start with intervals. One of the sites Pete recommended will do this for you, or have someone play them. Start with playing the notes separately. Try to figure out what interval it is. After you feel comfy with this add in high-low pairs. Then have the notes sound together. Then start stringing them together into short lines of 3-10 notes. Even picking a popular melody is OK, but try to get something that is not all scales, and break it into small chunks.

    Another warning: some people suggest associating an interval with the first two notes of a song you know. Like a fourth is the first two notes of Auld Lang Syne for example. I discourage this, because when another song is playing, you are not likely to be able to superimpose auld lang syne (in perhaps a different key) over the song and recognize the interval. It may work for two notes played alone, but once you move beyond that you have fooled yourself into thinking you know your intervals.

    Anyways, after a while, you can be told the starting note. Then as you work your way through the intervals, also figure out the notes. So, let's say your friend plays you the first bit of a tune, starting on a G. The first interval is a fourth up. Then that is a C. The next interval is a half step down. So it's a B. The next is a minor third up, thus D. Etc.

    This may seem tedious. Will you ever be able to listen to a piece at speed and know every note played? Perhaps one day. Few reach the place where they can do that on first or second listen. But eventually you bring other things into play: phrasing, harmonic elements of the melody based on the key it's in, melodic shape, etc.

    Also, you should work on the harmonic aspect. Start with three note chords, with the chord name note in the lowest position. Stick to major and minor at first, then add in the (dominant) 7th, and the diminished. Have them played separately (note-by-note, use your intervals), and then together. These 4 chord types will carry you through 99% of basic bluegrass, folk, rock, etc. If you want to go to other music styles, mix in the other 7th chords, (minor, major, diminished, half-diminished (also called 7-flat-5 in jazz)). Even further are the 9, 11, and 13 chords.

    Then, just like with the melody, string them together. Start with simple things out of songs. Bluegrass songs are great to start because they have only a few chords and they change relatively slowly, and they are popular progressions that will be apparent in many types of music.

    You asked about putting it all together. Well, that just happens when you attack it from all sides. If you learn to or already can read music, then you can use that as a way of visualizing the structures you hear in your head. If you know intervals well, you can figure out chords just from the intervals and some chord theory. If you can hear chords well you can find good notes to play over each chord, even as they are played. Eventually, if you work on different aspects of music, they start feeding off each other. Scales, modes, chords, intervals, they are all related on many levels. But the connections come from knowing the parts.

    In the end it’s a big intertwined net. You don’t need it all. The end goal is to express something through music. People give examples all the time of many people who can’t read music, don’t know theory, can’t tell you what in interval is, and still play great music. Regardless, they didn’t come out of the womb knowing to play their instrument, or singing great. They learned it. They listened to what they liked, tried it on their instrument, figured out new things, etc. Everybody who plays music learned to do so somehow. So they are using the parts of the musical circle they choose to use. Most importantly, they were using their ears. Training their ears, even if not formally. They have their own blend of theory and talent. Now go find yours!

    Cheers,
    Mark R-T
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  16. #16
    Registered User groveland's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by
    The problem is that is works fine for simple diatonic music but developes problems with any kind of chromaticism or modulation.
    You can use sharp and flat accidentals for that.

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by
    Quote
    The problem is that is works fine for simple diatonic music but developes problems with any kind of chromaticism or modulation.
    You can use sharp and flat accidentals for that.
    Then, tell me how this would be different from standard notation.

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    Registered User groveland's Avatar
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    Thanks for asking, JimD. But as you know, we've got that discussion going on the other thread.

    (Anyone remember there were doubts about the viability of a Technique/Theory/Playing Tips category early on? Lots of activity here...)

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    Thanks for starting the new thread for shape notes....

    MrT, thanks for the suggestions. I've taken a stab at trying to learn intervals before - maybe I can get further with it this time. I pity the fool that gets in my way (too bad there's not a smilie with a mohawk and gold chains).

    Something else that may be related: aren't there recurring patterns of notes - phrases the seem to crop up pretty often like ascending or descending scales and arpeggios. As I learn to recognize intervals it might help to listen for these patterns as a way of "chunking" the information to make it easier to memorize. Similar to learning mando licks using the Ear Training cd that arbarnhart mentioned - learn the "standard" licks so I recognize them when they show up in a tune. Come to think of it, there are some mando licks in the Co-Mando tabledit files. Might be a good place to start.

    I suspect all this will keep me busy for a while, and I still have to make the mental leap to harmonics and chords ....

    Great stuff!

    c~
    Carl

    "Facts are useless in emergencies..."

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