In the chord section of the Intervals & Chords tab, there are 4 new
checkboxes, representing various chord inversions:
R = root position
1 = 1st inversion
2 = 2nd inversion
3 = 3rd inversion -- applies only to 7th chords
When you select one of these checkboxes, you add that sequence to the
random mix of chords.
REPEATED LOOPS
The play mode drop-down has several new options. The options with an "x" in them signify
how many times a sequence will be played during the looping process (x2 = repeat 2 times, x4 = repeat 4 times). If there's no "x", it
will only be played once. I added this feature primarily so I could hear random chords played
(harmonically) multiple times during a loop. The repeat gives me enough time to noodle around
with the chord, adding some improvisation to my ear training routine.
GETTING STARTED - LEARNING INTERVALS
Intervals (distances between 2 notes) are the building blocks for all chords and melodies.
Learning every interval, in both ascending and descending order, will greatly improve your
ability to play music entirely by ear.
SINGING INTERVALS
The first step toward interval mastery is the ability to sing each interval sound. I
suggest you start with a few intervals (3 or 4). Master them in ascending order. Then
add more intervals. Once you can sing all of them in ascending order, learn to sing
them in descending order.
Using the ear training tool to sing intervals:
Select the "Intervals & Chords" tab of the ear trainer
Select one or more intervals you'd like to work on, from the "Intervals" section
Select the "Note Order" you want to work on (I suggest starting with ascending)
Set the Play Mode to "Sing- No Play"
Click the "Play Next" button to generate the intervals
When an interval appears in the staff, click the bottom note to establish its sound.
Sing that pitch aloud. Now try to sing the second note. Click the second
note to check your accuracy. If you've missed, try finding the note you sang on
the keyboard and then listen to the difference between the correct sound and the
sound you sang.
TIP: It might help to associate each interval (or at least some of them) with sounds
from popular tunes. A perfect fourth (ascending), for example, is the sound heard in the first
two notes from "Hear Comes The Bride". Further down on this page, you'll find a list
of intervals and song associations.
IDENTIFYING INTERVALS
As you learn to sing intervals, you should begin to test your ability to identify intervals
by sound. These tests will help reinforce the your mastery of each interval. Additionally,
the tests will start you on your way to identifying intervals in real music.
Using the ear training tool to identify intervals:
Select the "Intervals & Chords" tab of the ear trainer
Select one or more intervals you'd like to work on, from the "Intervals" section
Select the "Note order" you want to work on (I suggest starting with ascending)
Select the "Sequence style" you want to work on. It's probably best to begin
with melodic sequences (notes are played one after another). Once you master
melodic sequences, try harmonic sequences (notes are played together).
Set the Play Mode to "Play - Manual"
Set "Delay results for" to 5 or more seconds. This sets the amount of time that will
pass before the results are displayed, so feel free to use more or less time.
Click the "Play Next" button to generate and play the intervals.
When the interval sounds, sing both notes of the interval, listening closely to
the each tone. Try to identify the interval distance and note name before the results are
displayed. If you guess the wrong interval, use the keyboard to compare the sound of
the guessed interval and the correct interval.
PLAYING INTERVALS
Once you've gotten good at singing and identifying intervals, you should try to play
the notes on your instrument as you hear them. You will basically want to follow
the instructions shown in the IDENTIFYING INTERVALS section, however there is one
import option. Beneath "Delay results for" you'll see an option to "Display first note".
Checking this box will always display the first note, so you'll have a pitch reference
to use when playing the next note in the interval. As you gain more experience with
these exercises, try un-checking the "Display first note" box.
You may find that after a few exercises, you're
actually able to find the first notes by ear as well!
If your ear is having trouble locking in on the notes, slow down the tempo and/or reduce the number
of intervals you're trying to play. When my ear is struggling to find the notes, I'll set the tool
to a simple interval (e.g. seconds) and play along with that for a while. After a few minutes, my
ear is re-tuned and ready for harder/farther intervals.
Tip: Once you get good at melodic intervals, be sure to try harmonic intervals. When listening
to harmonic intervals, try to pick out each note from the bottom up.
RANDOM MELODIES
Playing random melodies by ear is similar to playing simple
songs (or any other music) by ear, however the ear training tool provides a controlled environment
that helps you to gradually improve and challenge yourself.
As with intervals, you should practice both singing
and playing random melodies by ear.
Using the ear training tool to generate random melodies:
Select the "Random Melodies" tab of the ear trainer
Select which notes or keys you want to use in the random sequences. When starting out,
I'd suggest picking 3 or 4 notes. Be sure to select "Single Note" where it says "Each
checkbox is a:". If that option is set to major scale, then each checkbox will pull-in
every note in the associated major scale.
Select the number of notes you want in your random sequence. Once again, 3 or 4 is
probably a good place to start.
To prevent large interval jumps, check "Restrict notes to a single octave"
The play settings should be familiar at this point, so make your selections (Sing vs. Play,
Delay time, etc) and click Play Next to begin.
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS
When playing along, be sure to set the "Key center" to your instrument's key (Bb: trumpet, clarinet, tenor sax,
Eb: alto sax, F: french horn, C: you know who you are)
so the notes and pitches will match your
instrument... unless, of course, you'd also like to work on transposing.
As you become more familiar with how the ear training tool works, you'll probably want to
use the automatic looping function for many of the exercises. When choosing a "Play - Loop" duration,
it's important to know that the loop counter starts after the results are displayed. So,
if you want to delay the results for 5 seconds, and then loop 2 seconds later, you'd set
"Delay results for" to "5s" and you'd set "Mode" to "Play - Loop 2s".
Looking for more material to play by ear? If so, be sure to check out my
simple song randomizer.
I find it helpful to associate each interval with the beginning of a popular tune.
Below are some associations that I use:
MINOR 2ND
Ascending: Nice Work If You Can Get It Descending: Joy To The World, Solar, Descending Major Scale
MAJOR 2ND
Ascending: Happy Birthday, Ascending Major Scale Descending: Mary Had A Little Lamb, Freddie Freeloader
MINOR 3RD
Ascending: Georgia On My Mind Descending: Hey Jude, Frosty The Snowman
MAJOR 3RD
Ascending: Major Triad, Oh When The Saints (Go Marching In) Descending: Summertime, Giant Steps
PERFECT 4TH
Ascending: Here Comes The Bride, All The Things You Are, Auld Lang Syne Descending: Oh Come All Ye Faithful
DIMINISHED 5TH (TRITONE)
Ascending: Maria (from West Side Story) Descending: Blue Seven
PERFECT 5TH
Ascending: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Descending: Feelings, Seven Steps To Heaven
MINOR 6TH
Ascending: Love Story (Theme), Manha de Carnaval Descending: Chega de Saudade (No More Blues)
MAJOR 6TH
Ascending: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, Take The 'A' Train Descending: Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
MINOR 7TH
Ascending: Star Trek Theme Descending: Watermelon Man
MAJOR 7TH
Ascending: Ceora Descending: I Love You
OCTAVE
Ascending: Somewhere Over The Rainbow Descending: Willow Weep For Me
TECHNICAL ISSUES
If you don't see anything but a blank gray area above, or if you get a message telling you
to download a plugin then you probably don't have the
required Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Plug-in (version 1.4.0 or higher is recommended).
You can go directly to Sun to download the JRE.
There are a few links on the Sun web page, so look for the one that says "Download JRE 5.0 Update 6" (the update number may be different).
As of this writing, the link appears in the middle of the web page, about half-way down.
I've tested the ear trainer application on a few computers and it works nicely.
If anything locks up, or if the sound fails, I find that a simple browser refresh will reset everything.
If you don't get any sound, then you probably don't have a midi-capable sound card.
Let me know if you run into any problems (for the time being, please use the
comment form here).
