Jump to content

Ear Training excercises?


algernon7

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Hey everyone-
I typicall post in other forums, but I'm looking to improve my vocals and technique.
The application will be more towards the heavy side of music, but I really want to develop my voice and also my ability to harmonize, which I couldn't do to save my life.

My question is if anyone has had luck with some type of ear training CD's or anything. I spend a good 40 minutes a day driving back and forth to work, and would like to use that time to listen to CD's and develop my ear and singing abilities.

Any suggestions?...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I dunno what static is trying to say and I can't be arsed into googling it at the moment!

 

Anyway, I suspect that my ground gains involving pitch and harmonies are mainly a consequence of listening intently to songs and trying to pick out stuff like

 

bass line

 

vocal harmonies

 

faint melodies in the background from various instruments

 

instrumental lead melodies

 

etc.

 

 

It's really a lot harder than you might think, but regardless of how hopeless you feel, you WILL improve. Don't be surprised if you listen to the same 5 seconds of a song over 20 times. I do that often if some elusive melody is nagging me.

 

 

I suppose you can play guitar, so use that to check the melodies you're extracting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

See if you can find a used copy of "The Schnerp Studies For Ear Training" by Dr. Dervin K. Schnerpinski. Out of print for quite a while but has a lot of good exercises to develop both ear and voice.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

There are ear-training websites with online training apps--stuff like identifying intervals. Not sure how much this will help, but they're out there (and Google is your friend). Someone (sorry can't recall who) recently offered this very wise advice: Try scat singing along with recordings. This will help you identify the pitches that work with the song. Then try singing some harmony. I find this practice really helpful.

 

I occasionally use this CD in the car:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Singing-Ear-Susan-Anders/dp/B0009WJ2PS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1313077602&sr=1-1

 

Good luck! :wave:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Hi,

 

It depends what is your level...

 

When I started to practice ear training, I used to record my own ear training exercises. For instance if you're a beginner, simply take 15 to 30 minutes to record "c-e-g" sounds randomly in just one octave, then 2, 3, etc. Then listen to them and try to recognize the sounds, it's very easy to improve you ear abilities with this kind of exercises.

 

Then you can try with 4 sounds like "c-e-g-a", "c-d-e-g", "c-e-f-g" etc. then 5, 6 and 7 to have the full scale in C. Then you can do the same for the closest scale with a flat/sharp (G and F, then D and Bb, then A and Eb...) etc. until you reach the chromatic scale. This is how I have learned and it worked for me, but you will improve "absolute pitch" not "relative pitch".

 

Have a nice day

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...
  • Members

The "1-10" Ear Training Test:

http://www.hearchords.com/ear-training-test/

is a killer way to learn how to hear notes in chords, which is basically what you are trying to learn when it comes to harmonizing. If you can't hear the notes in chords, you're not going to be able to sing harmony.

and, ear training CD's??? forget CD's and use mp3's! haaha... this site has tones of ear training mp3's

http://www.eartrainanywhere.com

hope this helps algernon7!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

There are many good ear training suggestions here. Also if you are looking for something to do in the car to practice harmony, get a recording of a song that you like where there are people singing harmony-- then sing along but try to sing along with the harmony part. Then get songs where there's just one vocalist, and try to sing a harmony with that person. It doesn't matter if you screw up because there's no one to hear you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...