Struggling with Ear Training

[chopinonions]

Hello! I'm enrolled in an AP music theory class thats going pretty smoothly but my ear training before now was nothing so I feel really behind everyone else who has had a singing background. For practicing I sit at a piano and try to match the note, and maybe sing the major scale. Any tips to help me get to speed?

[frodo1]

Not sure what the requirements are for your class.  Best to ask your teacher this question.

Interval training is important.  Play a note on the piano then sing a note that is an interval ABOVE this.

Intervals: minor 2nd, major 2nd, minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, tritone, perfect 5th, minor 6th, major 6th, minor 7th, major 7th., octave. 

After you sing the note, play the correct note on the piano.  Hopefully you match. 

After you get good, sing an interval BELOW the given note..

[frodo1]

Not sure what the requirements are for your class.  Best to ask your teacher this question.

Interval training is important.  Play a note on the piano then sing a note that is an interval ABOVE this.

Intervals: minor 2nd, major 2nd, minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, tritone, perfect 5th, minor 6th, major 6th, minor 7th, major 7th., octave. 

After you sing the note, play the correct note on the piano.  Hopefully you match. 

After you get good, sing an interval BELOW the given note..

This may be too advanced for you at this time.  Here is an easier version of interval training:

Always start with a C as your base note for starters.
Play C then play a note that is an interval ABOVE this on the piano:

Example:
Play C then play F above this for a perfect 4th.

After you play these 2 notes on the piano - try to sing them (one at a time of course).  Be careful to exactly match the notes played.

Other examples:
Play C then play E-flat above this for a minor 3rd.
Play C then play A above this for a major 6th.
etc.

Hopefully your ear will be able to recognize the different intervals over time.  Again, you should ask you teacher this question.  Good luck!

[pencilart3]

This may sound corny, but it actually helped me a lot to associate intervals with the beginnings of songs - for example, Happy Birthday starts with a major 2. Star wars is a 5th. Brahms lullaby is a minor 3. My bonnie lies over the ocean - Major 6. You get the picture. Eventually you won't need this, but it can help you get through the frustrating step of all the intervals getting mixed up. This is of course assuming that you can hear a 2-note chord and distinguish the individual notes.

[brogers70]

This may sound corny, but it actually helped me a lot to associate intervals with the beginnings of songs - for example, Happy Birthday starts with a major 2. Star wars is a 5th. Brahms lullaby is a minor 3. My bonnie lies over the ocean - Major 6. You get the picture. Eventually you won't need this, but it can help you get through the frustrating step of all the intervals getting mixed up. This is of course assuming that you can hear a 2-note chord and distinguish the individual notes.

Not corny at all. The one I've used a lot is the beginning of "Maria" from West Side Story to get a diminished fifth/augmented fourth. "There's a Place for Us," from the same show is a good ascending minor seventh. The beginning of Thus Spake Zarathustra (2001 a Space Odyssey) is an easy ascending perfect fifth. Lots more, obviously. Just remembering melodies and trying to use them for remembering intervals is a way to get more familiar with all the intervals.

[frodo1]

Great tips for remembering intervals!  Also, when you play an interval on the piano: Play the 2 notes separately, then sing them, then finish by playing the 2 notes TOGETHER and sing them again.  You need to be able to sing 2 notes that are played at the same time and be able to recognize the interval. This may take a little practice.  Of course, sing the notes separately (since it is impossible to do otherwise).

[jlmap]

I've been struggling with ear training for about 3 years. I started from zero. I use an app that tests melodic and harmonic intervals, inversions (major and minor 5th chords, and major, minor, dominant and halph diminished 7th chords), melodic dictation and chord progressions of basic chords. It was very difficult for me, but it was such a marvelous thing to learn that I cant umderstand now what is the point of studing music without learning this. What really worked for me was to sing the intervals solpheging. For example, dont say "perfect 5th", but "do-sol", than "re-la", etc. Sing aloud everything. This works magic!

[jlmap]

I've been struggling with ear training for about 3 years. I started from zero. I use an app that tests melodic and harmonic intervals, inversions (major and minor 5th chords, and major, minor, dominant and halph diminished 7th chords), melodic dictation and chord progressions of basic chords. It was very difficult for me, but it was such a marvelous thing to learn that I cant umderstand now what is the point of studing music without learning this. What really worked for me was to sing the intervals solpheging. For example, dont say "perfect 5th", but "do-sol", than "re-la", etc. Sing aloud everything. This works magic!

[anacrusis]

I've been struggling with ear training for about 3 years. I started from zero. I use an app that tests melodic and harmonic intervals, inversions (major and minor 5th chords, and major, minor, dominant and halph diminished 7th chords), melodic dictation and chord progressions of basic chords. It was very difficult for me, but it was such a marvelous thing to learn that I cant umderstand now what is the point of studing music without learning this. What really worked for me was to sing the intervals solpheging. For example, dont say "perfect 5th", but "do-sol", than "re-la", etc. Sing aloud everything. This works magic!

Which app did you use?

[jlmap]

I use "My ear training". Do you know it?

[lettersquash]

I just started using https://tonedear.com/ and made some significant improvements in an evening. There are several exercises, and you can set things to do some of those exercises mentioned above, i.e. identifying by name intervals played as two notes, only intervals up (or down), or both together, starting with a simple selection of intervals (and you 'level up' and get a new interval added in the one I did), or you can toggle any of them from minor 3rd up to minor 9th, fixed root or random root note, It also has apps for Android and iPhone, but I've not tried them.

What it can't do (AFAIK) is the other way round - constructing an interval, i.e., given the root, being able to sing/play the other note. Maybe the apps can - the browser isn't likely to be able to access your mic. But it's not that different a task.

[ranjit]

I've found functional ear trainer to be very useful and probably one of the most straightforward ways to train this. You sing up or down a major scale, first out loud and then in your head to find the scale degree. Once you get good enough, I also find it useful to try to transcribe melodies with the minimum number of attempts possible. Still not great at it though, so I suppose it just takes time...