Ear Training (Melodic,Harmonic Dictation) Help

[ravelmaniac]

            Hello everyone (I'm new here)  .  I've been getting serious lately about a career in piano, so I know I need to do some more ear training that I've neglected for a while.   What are some of the best books on melodic and harmonic dictation techniques that include many practice examples? I ordered books from the Bruce Arnold method that emphasize tonal centers and deride intervallic training, but I don't think those will be effective for me. And how is the Norton programmed text by Leo Kraft? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

[happyface94]

By ear training, do you mean such as hearing intervals, chords, cadenzas (chord formulas), dictation?

[ravelmaniac]

All of the above, but mostly melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, and sight singing.

[happyface94]

Well I had the pleasure of having a teacher who created such books for the classes. I think nearly anything will do? It's just a matter of practicing with a tape (kinda important).

[sleepingcats]

This site has some of what you're looking for:

https://www.musictheory.net

[whynot]

Put on a CD of something you know really well (like songs you know all the words to) and try to play along.  It's the most thorough and interesting way to learn this skill, and really, this is the goal of ear training anyway:  to understand what you hear well enough to play it or write it down.  You can use this idea to practice many levels of listening.  If you're just starting, figure out the melody.  If that's easy for you, you can find the chords in their basic forms, then work out the chords in inversions that allow you to stay in one area of the keyboard for longer, instead of jumping around in root position.  Then you can add rhythm or accompaniment to make it sound more like the style and texture of whatever band or ensemble is on the recording.  All of this projects are enlightening, stimulating, extremely relevant to the end goal, and VERY fun and satisfying.  You'll make a lot of observations about music that would be difficult to learn from a textbook.  At any point, you can write down as much as you've figured out, which further improves your ear (I believe) as well as, of course, your sightreading.  After doing all this for a while, you can try writing down the melody and chords of a new song (chord names or spelled out, doesn't matter) WITHOUT trying it at the piano first.  Maybe peck enough to figure out the key, but then work out the song in your head.  Then turn on the CD, play what you wrote, and see whether it matches the recording.   

If you do this, you will be at the top of your ear training class.  More to the point, you will really understand what you hear in all music and be more at ease in your musicianship.  Best of luck, whatever method you choose!