HOST- Jeremy Burns, Matthew Scott Phillips
GENRE- Ear Training
DURATION- 25:52
BUMPER MUSIC- "Blue Wire Red Wire" (Area 47 Music)
ANNOUNCER- Chris Burns
We've touched on music apps in past episodes. But we thought it might be nice to dedicate an episode to some great apps that cover ear training, rhythms, notation and practice. We will also share some of our own ear training tips that we've picked up over the years!
MacGamut was an early pioneer in the ear training world. It is now partnered up with Artusi music. It is designed in a quiz format, where you must hear intervals and chord progressions and identify them. It is availble via website and still appears to adhere to current standards withing academia.
Toned Ear is website based and also available on Android and IOS. Like MacGamut, it is in quiz format, where you answer correctly 80% out of maybe 20 or so examples. There is a “teacher’s site” that charges per student (suggesting it useful in classroom settings). From the website, linked above, you can try the quiz options.
In addition to electric guitar and bass, Rocksmith now includes piano and acoustic guitar and is available on iOS, Android, PC, and PlayStation. You can plug in your guitar and play along to songs at the notes show up on the screen. For free you can get limited access to the songs. However, the subscription is a little pricey and so is the cable you need for interface. Also, you can access all the songs in their catalogue. Subscriptions run about $20 per month or $140 for the year. It cost a little less than private lessons but doesn't beat individual instruction.
From musctheory.net, Tenuto, is still around with many new improvements. It has many features for testing your interval, melody and chord recognition. You can customize speed, timbre and reference note (defaults on C) and the note range. You can use note names, scale degrees or solfege. There is also a challenge mode where you try and get a certain amount of answers within a set time limit. It will save your high scores and you can share them with other participants. This is only for IOS and lists at about $5.
Functional Ear Trainer uses a method established by Alain Benbassat. They play a I - IV - V - I progression to center you in the key, then they give a note. Using solfège, you must identify said note. The basic version is free. Lifetime access provides more options such as better sounds for instruments, melodic dictation exercises, no ads and listening mode (where you can hear the exercises without participating).
This is a site where you can load an MP3 or a YouTube video, select the section you want to learn or transcribe, and loop it or slow it down without effecting the pitch. You can also add ID markers such as riff 1, riff 2, etc. to help you keep your place.
The Ear Gym is very comprehensive in terms of listening options but doesn't focus on a lot of theory. According to the website The Ear Gym provides exercises for intervals, scales, chords, harmony, clefs, perfect pitch and many more. This is mainly available on Google Play.
We recommend Sound Gym for music producers and audio engineers. They have exercises for EQ band, compression, panning and gain recognition. The free version gives you limited daily access. Premium version runs about $25 per month or $8 per month with a yearly subscription or $346 lifetime. There’s also a communal aspect where you can compare your scores with other musicians and win points and rewards.
ToneGym has some really great tonal ear training games but also some cool rhythm exercises. On one, it shows the notation and then counts off a click track while you click the notes. Another plays a rhythm in the first measure, while you play it back in the following measure. Tone Gym comes from the same crew that brought us Sound Gym, as previously discussed, and with it comes the same community vibe. Tone Gym is slightly less pricey than Sound Gym.
Gap Click is so simple yet so brilliant for internal time keeping. You can set 4 measures for example and loop it. The first 3 measures will sound off on a click and the fourth is silent. So, can you play that measure unaided, keep it solid and land back on the downbeat of the loop? You can tweak the challenge level in a few ways, such as changing accented beats and the number of silent measures. Gap Click is vailable on the AppStore and on Google Play for a one time purchase of $3.
With Moises you can remove vocals and instruments from any song. You can adjust the speed, change the pitch, and enable metronome counts. It’s powered by Artificial Intelligence and is a good for filling in your part and jamming with prerecorded tracks. Moises is vailable for free (with in app purchases). The premium and pro plans are $27 yearly or $210 yearly and it’s available on IOS, Google Play and on desktop.
This app shows you a chord chart, in the style of the Fake Books and, thusly, seems pretty jazz friendly. You can play or mute drums, bass, piano or vocals and play along as the app highlights the measure your are on. You can also assign swinging beats and syncopations to test your stability. This is available on IOS and Android via Google Play. It lists for $20 on the AppStore.
MuseScore is a free notation software and the current version is a part of their Muse Score hub. Along with the notation software comes “Audacity” (a basic recording app), Tonebridge (where you can download cool guitar sounds) and Staff Pad (intended to allow for notation on a tablet, via stylus). You can also pay for scores, classical and popular, for your own library. Musescore notation software is freeware but they also accept donations.
Sebelius has become the industry standard for notation software. In addition to some functional advantages over other freeware, it is full of customization options to make your scores look very beautiful and professional with little effort. While it's default settings deliver a great look, customization can be a little tricky but well worth the effort. Currently, the Sibelius subscription runs for $159 annually.
-Challenge yourself by singing familiar melodies using solfege and/or scale degrees.
-Try to harmonize with some of your favorite bands. Explore each part and then make up your own.
-Sing or hum whatever notes you're playing on your instrument. If your instrument doesn't allow for this (as in the case of wind and brass instruments), try to learn them on the keyboard or just sing the parts separately.
-If you're having problems with certain intervals or scales, compose and record your own! That's a sure way to memorize it better. Don't worry about it being an unoriginal melody. This is for educational purposes, after all.
-Roughly 32% of Asian-American music students have PERFECT PITCH. Only 7% of all other music students have this rare skill. If you are not one of these, you can still acquire RELATIVE PITCH.
-Use familiar sounds in your environment to challenge yourself. Learn the notes and intervals in your ring tone. Sing a harmony with the doorbell. Transpose it. Get creative and share your ideas with us!
-Be sure to spend some time with both ear training and theory apps. You can't fully grasp one without a base knowledge of the other. There will be in depth theory discussions in coming episodes that will require a base knowledge of both. Happy listening!