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Suggestions needed on ear training books


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Posted

Another suggestion. It's not a book, but over at Jfrocks.com he has an ear training section with a bunch of lessons in which he gives you a riff/scale etc that he'll play at normal and slow speeds for you to figure out. He also gives tips and a short lesson on how to transcribe it.

At the very least, it makes good practice on transcribing

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Posted
I ordered
A Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training Volume One
a few days ago, but it hasn't arrived yet. It's very well reviewed and apparently a required text at some universities, but I can't vouch personally for it. When it gets here (probably tomorrow) I'll give you my first impression of it, for what it's worth.
:wave:



I'll greatly appreciate your impressions. Also many thanks to Pepsi (I'll check Jfrocks.com) and Santuzzo for suggestions. :wave:

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I bought the following books from Amazon:

 

I like this one, comes with 2 CDs, starts out very basic, but goes all the way from singing a major scale to learning to recognize chord progressions. It's from Musician's Institute in CA

http://www.amazon.com/Training-Contemporary-Musician-Keith-Wyatt/dp/0793581931/

 

This one is more advanced, and is really a sightsinging course in disguise. I plan to do this after I'm a bit further through the first book.It doesn't come with a CD. It's from Berklee.

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Ear-Training-Contemporary-Musician/dp/0634006401/

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I like this one, comes with 2 CDs, starts out very basic, but goes all the way from singing a major scale to learning to recognize chord progressions. It's from Musician's Institute in CA

 

I was looking at this one, I have and like the theory book in the same series.

Would the CDs lend themselves to my two hour per day commute or do they require an instrument or paper and pen?

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Posted

don't neglect


 

 

The "Note Location" part of that website is similar to the Bruce Arnold "One Note" method. (Bruce Arnold has several publications under the Muse Eeek company including "A Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training Volume One ")

 

Acroding to Bruce, this is better than learning "intervals." With interval training you are learing relative distance between notes. With his method, you are learning the sound and function of each note against a key.

 

One thing he points out as an example is how people learn melodies. It is possible to learn a melody by stringing the notes together and just learning the relative distance between notes. A better way to learn a melody is by relating each note to the key and so you have to learn the sound of each note relative to the key.

 

Basically, a cadence is played (like I IV V I) and then a random note is played. You have to determine what that note is (do re me etc). So what you are trying to do is learn the sound of any note against a key. The cadence sets the key up in your mind, then the sound of the note against the key should be recognized by you.

 

In the Bruce Arnold "One Note" series, a CD with 99 tracks is used. Each track starts the same - a cadence in the key of C. Then a note is played...then after a few seconds, a voice on the track will say the name of the note. Before the voice says the name of the note, you try to identify the note name. For example if you recognise the note as a b7, you would say to yourself "A#".

 

You can play the CD anywhere - I have it on my mp3 player and will play it for about 20 min while I'm walking or driving somewhere.

 

The muse eek website is pretty good with faqs for each of his books:

http://www.muse-eek.com/books/books.html

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I was looking at this one, I have and like the theory book in the same series.

Would the CDs lend themselves to my two hour per day commute or do they require an instrument or paper and pen?



Er, you might be able to use it on a commute, but I find that I have to pause the track often and rewind a few times before I can really nail down the answer.

You start out learning how to sing the major scale (though really you already know that :)

Then the first chapter plays simple short melodies for you while you try and identify them. And you do need to write them down - the answers are not on the CD, but printed in the back of the book.

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