Відео

For audiation, I have some tips that could help you in my Audiation Essentials course: www.uremusic.com/audiation-essentials A Bach Chorale would be a bit complex. I’d stick with the 3 and 4 voice solutions Fux uses in his Gradas as Parnassus to start and then you can start doing chord progressions.

Well, it’s why we can leave out the fifth of a chord or why when we hear a full triad followed by an interval, we assume the quality from the previous triad. Basically, you’re getting aural illusions and to get more clarity, you just need more exposure. It’s possible you’re hearing overtones, but it’s more likely you just need to keep focusing on these drills and pushing forward. As you said, the difference becomes clear with comparison. As you continue, the difference will simply become clear. You’re simply slowing acclimating the ear with these drills. And all of the drills work together to support the other drills.

Anything that improves your memory will help with musical memory in my experience. There are things that can be done, but they require a second person. For example, you could play two progressions and then after a brief period of time, play one progression again and ask the person to identify the progression. Honestly, there are a lot of ways to improve memory. You just gave me an idea for a short technique book that I’ll break up into solo and group exercises…

@@UreMusic Can't we do these second person exercises with recording? And do you consider making a video about this before writing the book if you have techniques in your mind? Also, I wonder this for a while: What is the lowest pitch difference can a human hear? For example can we hear 1 cent or even smaller 0.5 cent differences of an instrument which takes place in a polyphonic orchestra.I can get close to 1 cent in isolated sounds and I saw people can do this in isolated sounds but I didn't see an example of doing this like, guitar is playing 1 cent off while playing a music. Do you have exercises for ear training of pitch differences smaller than 1 semi-tone and what do you think the limit is? Of course, context is important. For example pitch differences in solo are probably more detectable than in polyphonic orchestra so it's better if you give detail with different contexts.

Well, to answer your second question first. Humans aren’t machines, but yes, they can get very particular about intonation. Personally, I don’t really think about this (maybe I should) but there are going to be slight variations from player to player no matter what, especially when playing quick moving lines. You’ll drive yourself crazy if you’re trying to be perfectly in tune, and I think a little flexibility is part of what makes us human and creative. For your first question, some benefits could be achieved through recordings but the exercises I’m referring to really require interaction more than anything. I normally write first and then record. If I can write about it, it helps me maintain focus and stay on topic. But it depends on the project. Theory and ear training take longer to write about than demonstrate. But in the case of advanced exercises like we are discussing, a book format is more flexible and makes more sense to be written first.

See if it gets any better as you keep coming back. Don’t need to do it every day, even every other day should help.

I wouldn’t do that. I gave the example of a can, but ultimately you want to just have a sense and not be so specific.

Thank you so much

You can do that! Again, these are experimental and all I can guarantee is that they will open up the ear.

If you’re intentionally changing the shades of darkness, then you should try to avoid that. If it’s imagery that just comes to you, that’s fine. While this may develop some aspect of perfect pitch, keep in mind that ultimately you’re just training you ear to open up and hear more in music. With this aim, you just want to focus on the subtle comparison between different notes.

I get that, but then you would be focusing on the wrong thing and we don't really want an anchor for this to be effective. Focus only on developing your intuition and your sense of the note. If you’re looking for something that shows you the notes, look at The Staff Speaks playlist. It does that. This exercise is about the sound and not the theory.

The Staff Speaks: ua-cam.com/play/PLoSeDrmcZDEuaU_ZJlQ64VJDlMaM2jmR1.html

@@UreMusic THANK YOU for your prompt, and thorough explanation (and link). Very kind and generous of you and it is sincerely appreciated.

You can improve by just playing… but it’s sooooo slooowwww

Anytime

I don’t know, but when you find this mythical beast, be sure to ask it to reveal its secrets.

I do. This was one of the things I did early on in my education. When it comes to sleep, I’d only listen to consonant intervals. It’s useful to get acquainted with the sound of the intervals, but it’s a softer exercise that boosts active training, but it should be understood that when used by itself falls flat. Think of it this way, if you are exercising, you won’t get in shape by sleeping, but sleep is essential to recovery. These exercises supplement active training and reinforce. The key, as you said, is to also complete active ear training. If you only do one without the other, the ear doesn’t catch on as fast.

@@UreMusic I also thought, although all ear trainings can open up the ear, especially listening octaves carefully can be beneficial for perfect pitch development. Like listening octaves being aware of color tones and qualities. So especially practicing octaves with meditation and sleep could be quite effective. What do you think?

@dodecahedron-12 I believe that if octaves do work to develop perfect pitch, it’s only because you are comparing two similar sounding pitches. I think there are other ways that may be faster to develop a sense of perfect pitch… This one is complicated and can’t be answered quickly or easily. If I say yes, people will start listening to colors and qualities in notes, and this is not wholly what someone with perfect pitch does. Rather than the term awareness, I’d probably say acclimation is more accurate. You can’t memorize a quality or describe a quality, but you know it when you see it. It’s like wind, you know it when you feel it, but how would you describe it to someone who never left a bubble? The problem with perfect pitch is that you can’t describe it, analyze it, or explain it, but you can experience it. Once you have experienced it, you just know and you can’t explain how you do it to anyone else. If you listen to these while sleeping, I’d keep it to a very low volume. Almost imperceptible so it doesn’t upset your sleep. It’s one reason I don’t care when people say the volume is too low on some of my trainings. You can’t blast an interval to get into its sound. Playing it as soft as you can hear creates the frustration you need to learn it well. Anyway, this is a good question. I don’t think I can answer it here, but I’m going to record a video on it at some point. Better to demonstrate. Keep in mind this is my opinion based on experience and it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m right. I’ve helped students develop a form of perfect pitch, but that doesn’t mean your method won’t work.

@@UreMusic I used awareness because Burge in his course mention the first stage as color awareness. He creates some adjectives for all notes and he wants people to be aware of these. And if ı remember correctly he says when he asked people with perfect pitch about these adjectives some of them say that's true I heard this quality of tone. But they probably learned in childhood so they can be aware of it with gut feeling and not being aware of tone adjective. (And I think children can learn this more oftenly because of the thing you mentioned about perfect pitch that not trying to learn it. For adults it is more of a run against time. And I think breaking this is one of the important things). And I think of octaves as a color hearing practice because sometimes I heard the interval and know it is an octave with gut feeling and be so sure about it. But mostly it is more like an interval training. Like memorizing, recalling and practicing like a classical ear training method. So I try not to use relative pitch and solfege in octave training and hearing the color but other times than I know with gut feeling I mentioned I can get confused especially with perfect fifths. Also I want to ask that when I hear a note I see a very weak sine wave shape in my head but it's not clear at all. And this shape is kinda intrinsic to the note. I tried to draw them but I couldn't draw exactly like in my mind. Could be this a form of synesthesia. I heard someone with this perception, too and I guess probably common among musicians. Do you know anything about this.

@dodecahedron-12 Regarding awareness, that makes sense. I know David Lucas Burge, and I’ve talked with him a few times. If you don’t know, he now teaches deep meditation over at Ojaya.com. I’ll tell you this about him: he’s an honest person who knows his stuff. While I’ve never gone through his perfect pitch program, his relative pitch program is exceptional but I always felt it missed some steps. Still, there was nothing else even close to his training for decades outside the conservatory and university. Seeing a weak sine wave when you hear a note could be a form of weak synesthesia. Synesthesia is a condition where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in another sensory pathway. There are different types of synesthesia, and what you’re describing sounds like a cross-sensory correspondence, which is common in weak synesthesia. In weak synesthesia, people might recognize similarities between different sensory experiences, such as associating high-pitched sounds with bright lights or soft sounds with dim colors. This is different from strong synesthesia, where the sensory experiences are more vivid and consistent, like seeing specific colors when hearing certain musical notes.

And honestly, it’s comments like this that make it worth it. I truly want people to experience a more effortless approach to composing and performing music. If I could do it for free, I would! And you’re right, the course has several modules. 4 of them can be broken up into daily work sessions. I talk about this in the course, but even 1 day a week with one module will give you results, if you also perform that is. Expect a booklet to be added to the course with an overview of each lesson by next Thursday. This way you can watch the short tutorials and then refer to the book to stay organized.

@@UreMusic awesome, looking forward to it!

Good, make sure you are not using relative pitch. It will happen to some degree, but use your intuition and not any rational thought process to figure out what the notes are. Just sense them. It’s a hard thing to not think, but that’s the aim with these exercises. The idea is they are simple enough that you can do it effortlessly until I add so many notes that you get stuck. At that point, you stay on whatever drill you’re on, and you may even want to go back one drill.

That’s about right. There are always questions that sort the As and Bs (grades). But with this, you eventually will get an A.

Thank you for being so supportive, I appreciate that and I’m glad you’re enjoying the educational materials.

F# and Gb? They are the same pitches. Not sure if this is what you meant or if that was a typo, but F# and Gb are enharmonics. It means they are two notes that sound the same. We just write them differently, usually based on the key. So if you’re having trouble with those two, that’s good! They are the same.

Oh, I just realized what video you’re posting in. Don’t use solfège to think about C and D. You just want to label them as C or D and just appreciate any small differences in sound between the two notes.

@UreMusic Yes, I understand what you mean I can hear the differences between notes , but I still struggle with sight singing . I wonder why and what I am still lacking? Thank you for your guidance 😊🙏🙏 I am very glad that I discovered your channel🙏🫡

@@NouraEinstein More than likely, you are just lacking practice. There are also some techniques for sight-singing that can help you longterm. I've talked about some of these in my podcast videos, but at one point, I need to make a video on the best approach to sight-singing. Of course, it's all my opinion and personal experience, but that's the great thing about UA-cam. You can keep searching until you find the instructor who works for you.

I struggled with solfège too. It was the hardest part of sight singing as an undergraduate. We would be given one minute to review a melody and I would spend the entire time learning the solfège, but it gets easier with practice, even for me!

@@UreMusic I am looking forward to it 😊

You're welcome!

@@UreMusic I'm trying to join the channel to continue with the rest of the course, but UA-cam's payment system is giving me problems : (

I'm sorry to hear that, you may want to get it here: www.udemy.com/course/flawless-ear-training/?referralCode=4D9B0ABDD354142D4A5E You can also find it on my website at UreMusic.com.

That’s a different take :)

That can definitely happen. If you can’t hear anything, you can stop and try again the next day. You could also finish your session by singing a chromatic scale and a few perfect fifths by randomly selecting a few notes on the piano.

It’s also a good sign in my experience. We sometimes get confused before things get better.

It’s funny, but C major can be difficult for some people. C is often described as clear or dull. There is often less “friction” in C that makes it harder to identifying for some. If you have a lot of experience with B, it makes sense that C is not your foundation.

We never stop!

The placement of F on the fourth line of the bass clef and G on the second line of the treble clef dates back to medieval notation. The bass clef, also known as the F clef, is a stylized letter “F” that marks the fourth line as F, which is below middle C. Similarly, the treble clef, or G clef, is a stylized letter “G” that marks the second line as G. When you place these clefs on a grand staff, it creates a symmetrical system that allows for the notation of a wide range of pitches, from the lowest to the highest notes. This symmetry between the bass and treble clefs ensures a comprehensive and organized way to notate music. If you placed the F anywhere else, you would end up using additional ledger lines and the middle C crossover between treble and bass wouldn’t work. It would be confusing. Think of it this way, if you have a G on the second line of the treble clef in a grand staff, and you remove the staff lines but keep remnants of the staff lines in place to create ledger lines, you still have a G in the bass clef. If F was the top line of the bas clef, that G would become an E.

You should absolutely practice listening in real world applications. The ear training works best when you put in your time daily and move on to other things. Get in, get out, and do something else. The earlier in the day you do ear training the better.

Yep, and honestly, I recommend never spending more than 3 weeks on one lesson. The goal is to acclimate and culture the ear. If you’re impatient, 1 week would be fine!

Well briefly… The positioning of the bass clef and treble clef on the staff is actually quite practical. The treble clef, or G clef, is used for higher-pitched notes, while the bass clef, or F clef, is for lower-pitched notes. This makes it easier for musicians to read and play music, as each clef covers a specific range of pitches suited to different instruments and voices. Think of the staff system like an XY axis, with Middle C as the origin point. The treble clef represents positive integers (higher pitches) and the bass clef represents negative integers (lower pitches). This symmetry around Middle C helps visualize the relationship between notes. For example, F is a perfect fifth below Middle C, and G is a perfect fifth above Middle C, showing the balanced structure of the musical staff. Historically, different clefs evolved to accommodate the range of various instruments and voices. The treble clef is typically used for instruments like the violin, flute, and the right hand of the piano, while the bass clef is used for instruments like the cello, double bass, and the left hand of the piano. This separation ensures that notes are written within a comfortable reading range for each instrument, avoiding excessive ledger lines that can make reading music more challenging. It should also be noted that the bass clef is a stylized F and the G is a stylized G, so these clefs are positioned according to their lettering. It’s a great question, maybe I’ll be able to make a video about it one day with research sources.

So yes, I believe you’re essentially right!

Yes!

Keep in mind they are very short. Most lectures are less than 5 minutes. But of course, you want to go at your own pace and match your schedule.

Staves!

That’s not typical! Usually the 1 and 5 are much easier. In my experience, this is a good sign though. You’re hearing the chord member that creates the quality of the chord.

I appreciate any support you’re willing to provide. I hope you enjoy the series!

Never mind. You answered the question late in the video. 😅

Thank you! If you work through the course, let me know if you have any questions!

I agree with you. This is only effective if you are doing active training along with it. The only (main) reason I have this available is to help you get acquainted with the intervals. It only works if you’re also working on the Flawless course, are very young, or are doing your own ear training. I talk about it in the Flawless Course and here: ua-cam.com/video/g5DAzu9-NJ8/v-deo.htmlsi=rTET8azWP6AnYdCS This is also better than white noise, according to research. White noise can have damaging effects on your hearing and perception, especially while sleeping.

Positive thinking will also help

16 Units, each one will have 15 lessons. Unit 1 is the longest and hardest one in many ways. The whole course should take the average person 8 months to one year to complete. Also, Unit 2 is now available on UA-cam and through my website if you get the Level 1 Video option. However, Unit 2 is only temporarily available until it's finished which will be a few days at this point.

Thanks for commenting. It appears that the 5th line is very faint, but if you use the G-line as G4, you’ll see the intervals are correct. This is an older lecture and it would be nice to use a better image there, but the intervals themselves are correct. You can see the 5th line but it’s really faint. Thanks for pointing this out though, maybe I’ll be able to upload versions with staff lines that are clearer.

Great observations and question! So, this is going to be a longer post because I feel you are raising some good questions. Audiation and ear training can be developed completely separate of each other even though there is some natural overlap, but when they are developed, I think it makes your ear much more powerful. My end goal here is to create a series of courses that will lead you to the equivalent of what a doctoral candidate in music would obtain. You won't get the mentoring and access to ensembles, as well as many other perks of a traditional program, but you'll develop the skill you need. For a lot of musicians, especially guitarists and pianists (because they are their own orchestra), I think advanced degrees aren't all that helpful unless you want to teach. The skill beyond all of this is something hard to define, but I guess the closest I can get to it is a "unified theory of music composition." The Staff Speaks will take people from the very basics to the most complex concepts in music using a rigorous training method that really helps you absorb and use theoretical concepts creatively. Audiation is the basis for everything, and it can be taught without ear training. But, you'll be very frustrated if you can develop strong audiation and have no capability to extract what you're hearing. That's where ear training comes in. Counterpoint and Form helps further refine these concepts and make music much more concrete and definable. Sight-singing is something that is coming in the Flawless course. It doesn't show up until Unit 3. We want to have a strong foundation with the 4th and 5th before we start sight-singing. This is where most courses fail, I think. If you introduce sight-singing too early, then it ends up becoming rote memorization and singing exercises and not true sight-singing. Dictation is handled through my Practice Dictations, but it will also remain a part of my Flawless course. So yes, I do see my offerings as the path. If you were to work on The Staff Speaks (even though there are some basic concepts), Practice Dictations, and Flawless, that alone would end up taking you through a complete sequence in musicianship training. If you ever want to dive deeper into a subject and get instruction along the way, that's where the Audiation, Counterpoint, and Form classes come in. Those are workshops where I am there to guide and correct you. By the way, if you're interested, this is the trajectory for The Staff Speaks. When you get to the Audiation course, you can supplement with Audiation Masterclass, Counterpoint Masterclass supplements with my Counterpoint course, etc. My goal is to have all of this completed within 2 years, but barring any onforeseen roadblocks, this series will be completed. In the end, you'll know everything that I felt was truly important for musicians to know in a doctoral music program. When finished, this will be a multi-year course in musicianship. I have no idea how successful it will be, but for musicians who finish it, they will save a lot of time since they won't waste as much time looking for extra resources to fill in the missing pieces in their training. It's the training I wish I had without all of the failed experiments and wasted time on exercises that didn't work for me and my students. Fundamentals 1. The Staff System, Pitch, and Notes - Learn the basics of the staff system and how to identify notes and pitch. 2. Reading Musical Rhythm - Master the skills to read and understand rhythmic patterns in music. 3. Introduction to Time Signatures - Get to grips with how beats are organized into measures. 4. Basic Notation and Dynamics - Understand the symbols for dynamics and how to notate music. 5. Introduction to Scales and Modes - Explore the building blocks of melodies and different scale patterns. 6. Simple and Compound Time Signatures - Differentiate between simple and compound time signatures. 7. Understanding Rhythm Notation - Learn to read and write various rhythmic notations. 8. Basic Dynamics and Articulation - Study how dynamics and articulation affect musical expression. 9. Fundamentals of Musical Expression - Grasp the basics of expressing emotion and intent in music. 10. Introduction to Musical Form - Gain an overview of the structures that form musical compositions. Music Theory 11. Introduction to Music Theory - Dive into the basic principles and elements of music theory. 12. Pitch and Note Naming - Learn to identify and name different musical pitches. 13. Scales and Modes - Understand scales, modes, and their applications in music. 14. Intervals - Explore the relationships between different pitches. 15. Chords and Harmony Basics - Get started with chord structures and basic harmony. 16. Advanced Harmony - Dive deeper into complex harmonic relationships. 17. Chord Progressions - Study how chords move from one to another to create harmony. 18. Cadences and Phrases - Understand the end points of musical phrases and their functions. 19. Non-Harmonic Tones - Learn about tones that add interest to harmony without fitting the main chord. 20. Modulation and Key Changes - Explore techniques for changing keys within a piece. Audiation 21. Introduction to Audiation - Understand the concept of hearing music mentally. 22. Developing Inner Hearing - Practice exercises to improve your mental hearing of music. 23. Audiation Exercises for Beginners - Simple exercises to start developing audiation skills. 24. Advanced Audiation Techniques - More complex techniques for experienced students. 25. Audiation in Performance - Use audiation to enhance your musical performances. 26. Audiation for Composers - Apply audiation techniques in the composition process. 27. Ear Training for Intervals - Train your ear to recognize musical intervals. 28. Ear Training for Chords - Learn to identify different chords by ear. 29. Ear Training for Rhythms - Develop the ability to hear and replicate rhythms. 30. Transcription Exercises - Practice transcribing music from listening alone. Counterpoint 31. Introduction to Counterpoint - Discover the principles of counterpoint in music. 32. First Species Counterpoint - Learn the basics of note-against-note counterpoint. 33. Second Species Counterpoint - Study counterpoint involving two notes against one. 34. Third Species Counterpoint - Explore three or more notes against one. 35. Fourth Species Counterpoint - Introduce syncopation into counterpoint. 36. Fifth Species Counterpoint - Combine elements from all species of counterpoint. 37. Two-Voice Counterpoint - Write counterpoint for two independent voices. 38. Three-Voice Counterpoint - Techniques for creating three-part counterpoint. 39. Four-Voice Counterpoint - Manage complexity in four-part writing. 40. Counterpoint in Composition - Apply counterpoint techniques to composing music. Form 41. Introduction to Musical Form - Basics of the structure and form of musical pieces. 42. Binary and Ternary Forms - Simple two-part and three-part forms. 43. Rondo Form - Structure based on recurring themes and alternating sections. 44. Sonata-Allegro Form - Classical form used in many first movements. 45. Theme and Variations - Techniques for developing variations on a single theme. 46. Fugue and Imitative Forms - Complex forms based on thematic repetition and development. 47. Through-Composed Forms - Music that doesn’t repeat sections, creating continuous flow. 48. Strophic and Modified Strophic Forms - Repeating sections with or without variation. 49. Analyzing Classical Forms - Detailed analysis of traditional musical forms. 50. Form in Contemporary Music - Modern approaches to musical structure. Schenkerian Analysis 51. Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis - Overview of Schenkerian analysis principles. 52. Fundamental Concepts (Ursatz, Urlinie, Bassbrechung) - Key theoretical concepts in Schenkerian analysis. 53. Foreground Analysis - Analyze the surface level of a musical piece. 54. Middleground Analysis - Explore deeper structural levels in music. 55. Background Analysis - Understand the core structure and large-scale overview of music. 56. Schenkerian Analysis of Classical Works - Apply techniques to classical repertoire. 57. Schenkerian Analysis of Romantic Works - Analyze music from the Romantic period. 58. Schenkerian Analysis of Modern Works - Techniques applied to modern compositions. 59. Practical Applications of Schenkerian Analysis - Use Schenkerian analysis in practical musical situations.

@UreMusic Honestly, that all looks amazing! I am a guitarist, so I can understand your point about our different needs exactly. I can also see your point that one could hear music clearly in imagination, but not know which notes they were, how to play them on an instrument or transcribe them. I has conflated the skill itself with the things I would want to use it for. I really admire the ambitious scale of your project. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help e.g. listen in advance to episodes before they go out to offer feedback etc

@@guitarinmartin email me at kevin@uremusic.com and we can talk about this!

Thank you! Glad you’re here!

I’m happy to offer all of this and grateful you find it worth your time!

It sounds like you’re learning to hear pitches in relation to a key center. Solfège can be very useful for this, but ultimately its relationships and not perfect pitch that is being developed. Although, hearing relationships to a key center is one of the early stages of perfect pitch based on my experience. So, I’m not saying you’re not developing perfect pitch, you really could be. Aruffo’s concept seems to be based on imagery and associations. I’ve heard of this, and it’s based on the idea that you can create associations with notes. People with natural perfect pitch often report multiple different associations. So, it makes sense to try to do this. Ultimately, perfect pitch training as an adult is about exposure in a very particular way. You have your reach a point where you have a feeling about that note, and over time, that feeling becomes more and more accurate. Let me know how that course works for you. I think there are ultimately many ways to achieve success in ear training. My method is more all-encompassing, but narrowly defined approaches can work well too.

@@UreMusic maybe I didn’t articulate it well enough, I hear the SOUND of the note and then it’s weight within the tonality. So like I hear D as a D without context, I hear the D ness of the D lol but I also feel it’s pull towards C if that makes sense. His method uses octave equivalence but I’ll keep you posted.

@@anthonyutobunwa6895 I think I understand what you're saying. Definitely let me know how it goes. I'd be especially curious if it help when you go outside of simple diatonic melodies, or maybe you're doing that already. In any case, I'm a fan of anything that works for you.

@@UreMusic it does! Imo modes are just different intervalic permutations / structures so the mode is irrelevant because from a key center every note has a different weight. A flat 2 feels different than a natural 2. Etc. I’ve also had a lot of fun combining and making alterations to existing modes. Really love the work you’re doing! This is the first channel on youtube that I’ve found is really focused on this deeper sort of ear training!

@@anthonyutobunwa6895 It's funny because some ear training methods work great for certain individuals, and they don't work at all for others. I think it is really great you found something that is giving you such great results. Ear training has always been a fun concept for me, and I enjoy how deep you can get in music when you open your ear. My courses are designed around getting you to refine your ear and hear more in the music. I have nothing bad to say about Aruffo though, his concept is sound. Maybe one day I'll get a chance to check it out.