Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: Ear training apps

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Seattle WA
    Posts
    49

    Default Ear training apps

    Anyone have any apps for ear training to recommend? What kind of progress were you able to make?
    ________________
    Collings MT
    Kentucky KM 140
    Travolin

  2. #2
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    2,117

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    Ear training is difficult but essential. Depending on what you'd like to achieve, ear training is mostly directed at the effort to sing properly. It of course helps on all other musical levels.

    There is a software called "Sing and See". I have downloaded it a long time ago. It is quite good.
    You could also train with a tuner app. I've done that also.
    But... The app itself does nothing. It just shows you how you hit or miss the pitch.

    What you'd want to do is to hit the singing notes correctly. Therefore you have to train your voice. I think that for that a vocal coach that knows his craft ist unavoidable.

    I found out that singing is all about relaxing and breathing right. When you do that and you'll find out that you are hitting the notes well/better/great, you'll have made the first step of ear training.

    Rehearsing intervals on a guitar/mandolin etc. is also a help. Once your´re doing that your on your way to music theory.
    Olaf

  3. #3
    Registered User Christine Robins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Corvallis, OR
    Posts
    112

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    I've used a number of ear training apps, some free, some purchased. Some of them have you click or tap on your device to respond. I've found this not too helpful, because you never do this while actually playing music. The best apps use a "call & response" set-up. You are given a note, or series of notes, and then you play them on your instrument (or sing). Here you're doing what you do making music. The free one I use a lot is:

    https://www.iwasdoingallright.com/to...aining/online/

    It's completely call and response, and very flexible. You can chose the number of notes, number of repeats, and a wide range of speeds. If you read music and want to check yourself, it gives you the notation for each "call".

  4. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Christine Robins For This Useful Post:

    AlfonsDougC 

  5. #4
    Distressed Model John Ritchhart's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Mars Hill, North Carolina
    Posts
    1,036

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    I use Earpegio.
    We few, we happy few.

  6. The following members say thank you to John Ritchhart for this post:

    Alfons 

  7. #5
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    SD
    Posts
    3,658

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    On iPhone I have several interval et and triad tutor are nice for me.
    My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A

    Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.

  8. The following members say thank you to John Bertotti for this post:


  9. #6
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    2,117

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    I thought about this ear training thing again. There is an free online tool on the website of the Salzburg (Austria) music school Musikum:https://www.musikum-salzburg.at/exte...aspx?InfoID=52

    You can choosee an interval ear training (https://www.musikum.at/intervalle/) or a chord ear training (https://www.musikum.at/akkorde/).

    I can assure you that this will bring your personal perception to a new level. If hearing intervals is what you want to learn, this is highly recommendable. It does not help you to sing on pitch. But it will definitely make you a more knowledgable musician.
    Olaf

  10. #7
    Stop the chop!
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    europe
    Posts
    1,698
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    Quote Originally Posted by grassrootphilosopher View Post
    Ear training is difficult but essential. Depending on what you'd like to achieve, ear training is mostly directed at the effort to sing properly. It of course helps on all other musical levels.



    What you'd want to do is to hit the singing notes correctly. Therefore you have to train your voice. I think that for that a vocal coach that knows his craft ist unavoidable.

    When you do that and you'll find out that you are hitting the notes well/better/great, you'll have made the first step of ear training.

    First step? Ear training? I thought "ear training" was about aural recognition as in these exercises:

    https://tonedear.com


    To my mind vocal training is something else altogether, training your vocal cords to remember pitches, finding the correct muscular tension to produce what you "hear" in your mind. I don't have a very great ear, but there's lots of stuff that I've learned by ear, on the whole scale from "laboriously" to "in real time", without being able to reproduce them on that particular instrument. Click image for larger version. 

Name:	EXAMPLES.jpg 
Views:	99 
Size:	72.1 KB 
ID:	195401

    Of these examples only G (Lonesome Moonlight Waltz) is within reach (or used to be, I no longer sing). Not even F, which is from an actual song, Zambezi, two parts of which (the most characteristic ones) I recently transcribed from memory.

    B is one of many parts from Fiddler's Waltz by Benny Martin -- the easiest one to transcribe, yet I haven't the slightest idea (and never had) how to train my voice to sing it.


    Maybe it would have been useful for my mandolin and guitar playing to have that training, but the one instrument I really regret never studying is the piano.

  11. #8
    Still a mandolin fighter Mandophyte's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    N E Scotland
    Posts
    334

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    Or Functional Ear Training. (Just search for it).
    John

    Social Groups: FFcP, A Song-a-Week
    ABC. Notation for the tabophobic: ABC intro, ABCexplorer, Making Music with ABC Plus by Guido Gonzato.
    FFcP: Just do it! (Any genre, (Honest!) just ignore the jazz references.)
    Eastman 604, 2007 | Thomas Buchanan Octave Mandolin, 2010

  12. #9
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Irving, TX
    Posts
    925

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    I have MyEarTraining on my android, but haven't used it.

  13. #10
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    2,117

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    Quote Originally Posted by ralph johansson View Post
    First step? Ear training? I thought "ear training" was about aural recognition as in these exercises:

    https://tonedear.com


    To my mind vocal training is something else altogether, training your vocal cords to remember pitches, finding the correct muscular tension to produce what you "hear" in your mind. I don't have a very great ear, but there's lots of stuff that I've learned by ear, on the whole scale from "laboriously" to "in real time", without being able to reproduce them on that particular instrument. Click image for larger version. 

Name:	EXAMPLES.jpg 
Views:	99 
Size:	72.1 KB 
ID:	195401

    Of these examples only G (Lonesome Moonlight Waltz) is within reach (or used to be, I no longer sing). Not even F, which is from an actual song, Zambezi, two parts of which (the most characteristic ones) I recently transcribed from memory.

    B is one of many parts from Fiddler's Waltz by Benny Martin -- the easiest one to transcribe, yet I haven't the slightest idea (and never had) how to train my voice to sing it.


    Maybe it would have been useful for my mandolin and guitar playing to have that training, but the one instrument I really regret never studying is the piano.
    Yes, the tonedear thingy does what my Salzburg link teaches you. Indeed it is about note recognition (wether notes, intervals, chords etc.).

    You need that if you want to sing. Because just as you can only play on an instrument what you hear (in your head), you can only sing (your voice being your instrument) what you hear in your head.

    Especially when you try to sing harmony identifying a harmony note (harmony line) needs ear training as mentioned above.

    The muscle thing, proper breathing etc. is the mechanical side to put out what you have in your head. That is what I meant when I said that ear training will not help you to sing.

    So when the OP asked about ear training I did not know wether it was about learning how to sing or indeed how to put ear training into practice (vocally or instrumentally). This is often confused by people.
    Olaf

  14. #11
    Registered User DougC's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    1,874
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    I'm a big fan of MusicTheory.net

    This program has expanded over the years to include tutorials and examples of all kinds of things like chord inversions, learning notes on the different clefs, note recognition and ear training. Today I saw that he now has interval training based on the mandolin fretboard!

    I've been playing with it for free and you can probably put the program on your cell phone, but I'm on the laptop most of the time so this is a great way to get a quick practice in; as a break from work.

    The correct answer marks the answer tab in green, and it won't go to the next example until a correct green button is lit! So when I'm wrong, the answers are in red. Oh, well I'll see a lot of red for a while. But this is using a MANDOLIN for the training. Bravo!

    https://www.musictheory.net/exercise...board-interval
    Decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile

  15. The following members say thank you to DougC for this post:


  16. #12
    Registered User DougC's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    1,874
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    Quote Originally Posted by DougC View Post
    I'm a big fan of MusicTheory.net

    This program has expanded over the years to include tutorials and examples of all kinds of things like chord inversions, learning notes on the different clefs, note recognition and ear training. Today I saw that he now has interval training based on the mandolin fretboard!

    I've been playing with it for free and you can probably put the program on your cell phone, but I'm on the laptop most of the time so this is a great way to get a quick practice in; as a break from work.

    The correct answer marks the answer tab in green, and it won't go to the next example until a correct green button is lit! So when I'm wrong, the answers are in red. Oh, well I'll see a lot of red for a while. But this is using a MANDOLIN for the training. Bravo!

    https://www.musictheory.net/exercise...board-interval


    Just checked this link and found that you might have to click on the gear icon and customize the guitar to show the Mandolin fretboard.
    Decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile

  17. The following members say thank you to DougC for this post:


  18. #13
    Registered User lowtone2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    lower alabama
    Posts
    893

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    Last ear training “app” I used was a Jamey Aebersold CD, too many years ago.

  19. #14
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Columbia River Gorge
    Posts
    303

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    Jamey Aebersold ( jazzbooks.com ) has pretty much all their ear training stuff on sale right now. Just type “ear training” in the search box.

  20. #15
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    SD
    Posts
    3,658

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    I just downloaded a new one called TONALY. I like it also re-downloded Practica Musica on my Mac there is a lot in there and one is just trying name tones with not reference. My ability to do this without a reference point is abysmal but after a while I started getting a couple right. It will be interesting to see if I can learn this. TONALY only has a guitar or piano l display and I emailed and asked if they would consider adding a mandolin fretboard they replied with they would consider it and to watch for updates. FYI.
    My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A

    Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.

  21. #16
    Registered User John Bertotti's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    SD
    Posts
    3,658

    Default Re: Ear training apps

    FYI the Tonaly app isn't marketed as an ear training app. I believe it is sold as a song creation app. Yea I spent a few dollars on it but I have found chords and such are fun to find and try out when I am somewhere where an instrument wouldn't be received well or I don't have one with me. Like I mentioned I am also hopeful they will add mandolin not just guitar and piano. I think some of the chords I try to find might be easier to find initially with this app but I also think it is teaching me to listen to the chords and their voice. I often try to make a chord that may be the right chord but not the right voice of that chord. So apologies if this diverges from straight ear training apps but to me this is also teaching my ear. It might be more appropriate to put this in the theory threads or chord threads but I thought it might help someone else like I think it is helping me. At the very least I am having fun with it.

    Tonaly
    My avatar is of my OldWave Oval A

    Creativity is just doing something wierd and finding out others like it.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •