r/eartraining • u/Worth-Elk-2466 • 12d ago
How To Train Successfully?
How to practice ear training successfully?
Hello potential new friends. I am a young musician looking to learn everything I can about music, and to do that I need to start with ear training.
Let me tell you first what I understand the way I understand it(feel free to correct anything I say, I’m here to learn, not to have my ego stroked; I can go wreck noobs in games for that.)
Musicians have a focal pitch, which is one pitch they know insanely well, a pitch they can recall from memory. It’s basically Music Netflix, it’s on demand. This is Pitch Memory.
Then Relative Pitch is being able to hear the intervals of pitches. Essentially, if what I’ve been told is right, you train a focal pitch so you recognize it and then you can hear the interval another pitch moves(whether up or down) and then you’d know that pitch.
Having a great ear - is about training both simultaneously.
That summarizes how I know the process to work. In my case, I’ve chosen the note A, as I’m a humble violinist.
My trouble is the physical action behind training them. What should I do? How long should I do it for? What are the do’s and don’t’s and the small tricks? Most importantly, will this finally put girls in my DM pool?
In all seriousness, I’d appreciate any answers and advice. Music means a lot to me, and I don’t just want to be good, I want to be the best. That starts with having a good ear.
3
u/to7m 12d ago
The focal pitch thing is completely wrong, not sure where you got that from. Some musicians have something kinda like that, but only if they also have perfect pitch or tinnitus.
Relative pitch isn't relative to a 'focal pitch', it's relative to whatever else is happening in the music. The best way to ear train is to do it all the time, including when you're away from your instrument, which means that most of the time you won't have any reference pitch at all.
1
u/roman-de-fauvel 12d ago
Wait until you get to college and then you’ll take classes in this for four semesters.
2
u/Worth-Elk-2466 10d ago
Respectfully, no. I am not waiting til college when I could start now, and go into college having even a mediocre ear compared to the one I have now. Why wait for improvement when I can start it now?
1
u/grokit-guitar 11d ago
You don't need a focal pitch.
What you need is recognizing intervals relative to a reference pitch that you've heard recently (in the same listening session). Usually that reference pitch is the tonic of the key that the current melody / harmony is in.
The most practical approach to ear training is to combine a little bit of formal exercises for interval and chord recognition (hear a pitch, hear another pitch, recognize the interval, hear a chord, recognize the quality of the chord), with a lot of practical singing and playing exercises.
Only a little bit of formal exercises is needed, they are useful for learning how different intervals sound, but they don't in themselves help you with music.
Most of your time should be used to listen to melodies, then sing them and play them on your instrument.
As you do it, you'll naturally learn to recognize the intervals that are inside these melodies, the scales, arpeggios and other elements, and learn to reproduce them by ear.
1
u/Worth-Elk-2466 10d ago
Okay, that helps, thank you! I’m using an app called Chet to help me with interval recognition. Should I keep using it, or would you say it’s just a waste of my time?
1
u/grokit-guitar 10d ago
I don't know what this app is, however if it works on interval recognition, then I believe that it's helpful to use it.
Just don't over-use it. I'd say put about 20% of your ear training time into the app, and 80% into singing and transcribing melodies
1
u/GeorgeDukesh 9d ago
Nope. Your “focal pitch” is irrelevant. Relative pitch is all that matters.
Some musicians do develop a “perfect pitch” with a single note, but it’s is completely irrelevant.
It so happens that I can sing an A pretty much exactly spot on, but I have been doing this for 65 years (I started singing lessons when I was 5)
You need to learn to sing a scale.
Easiest way is “Solfege” (that is Do Ray Me Fa So La Tee Do”) I personally hate it but it works.
practice singing it. It’s the major scale.
Then break it down
“Do - Do, Do -Do” Thats your octave
Then “Do-So, Do So, Do So” Thats your Fifth
Then “Do -Me, Do -Me “ Thats your major Third
Then Do-Me-So-Do. Root-third to fifth,-octave)
Then learn all the other notes from Do And now with practice you can sing (and hear) all the major intervals.
Then learn the minor scale.
The minor scale is just the major scale with some notes “flattened” (you can look it up.
Key different is that the third is “flattened” listen to the difference wpbetween the “normal “ (major) third and the flattened minor third
Just keep singing them (and listening to them until you just naturally know what each interval sounds like.
After a short while,myou can naturally “know what “a 3rd,5th, 7th “ sounds l8ke
Then you can start learning what chords soind like.
Play C, E,G onna keyboard. It’s a basic major chord.mit sounds “nice”
Play C, Eb, G.mit sounds a bit “sad” it’s a minor.
After awhile,myou can hear which combinations sound “happy” (major) and “sad”. (Minor)
There are a load of apps online that help you with all this.
1
4
u/gizzard-03 12d ago
Musicians don’t all have a focal pitch that they retain. This is not necessary for ear training.
Ear training involves learning intervals, as well as relating these intervals to scale degrees. Learn each interval until you know them by heart. Also learn the scale degrees and their general functions.