Immersive Ear Training: Major Scale (1-Hour)
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Identify melodies by ear. This exercise trains your recognition of melodic scale degrees against a drone through playing a tone, providing the correct answer, and then repeating the tone so that you can create an association between the feeling of that scale degree and the number representing it. The key is changed every few minutes.
The audio and video here are recorded directly from the Sonofield Ear Trainer mobile app. The app will soon be available for iOS and Android users. Download Sonofield for your mobile device here: et.sonofield.com/
Tips:
Keep your focus on the "feeling state" of each tone, not the specific pitch. The feeling of each scale degree is always the same regardless of octave or key. This is what we're learning to recognize here.
If you're just starting out, you don't need to try and figure out which degree you're hearing. Just listen and relax.
When the tone is repeated, focus on making a connection between the scale degree number and the feeling you experience.
Musical Warp Drive, my series of courses on theory and composition, is available now on Udemy! Check it out here:
Music Theory Fundamentals, Mind & Ear Training: maxkonyi.com/mwd1
Melody, Scales & Modes: maxkonyi.com/mwd2
Chord Progressions & Harmony for Composition: maxkonyi.com/mwd3
By using these specific links, you are supporting me most directly 🙏🏼
Join the Sonic Sorcery Discord server! A supportive community of musicians and producers. Ask questions, get feedback, and participate in weekly production challenges:
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This video is a direct recording of my Sonofield Ear Trainer mobile app running in its "Pocket Mode", which enables hands-free training while you walk, commute, or relax. Download Sonofield for your mobile device here: et.sonofield.com/
Eta on app?
@@km47190 Before the new year!
I can’t find it in iPhone’s App Store.
It's not on the Play Store
@@andrea-mj9ce Not yet!
A progress report: I started listening to this video when it first came out in mid-September, approximately two months ago. The first time I played it, I could only hear the 1, 2, and 7 scale degrees. Since then I have played it for about 10 minutes a day (starting at a randomly chosen spot in the video), for 5 or 6 days out of each week. As of this week, I find that I can identify all seven scale degrees over 90% of the time. Also, I am 65 years old. Takeaways: (1) you don't need to be young or musically talented for your brain to learn to recognize scale degrees (I am neither). (2) It's a marathon, not a sprint. Think months, not weeks or days. (3) Consistency is important. Don't do it once a week, or five times in one day then stop for two weeks. Think of it like weight training.
Wow that's awesome. Thank you for commenting! Great to hear.
Thanks, i really neede to read this
Thanks for sharing. I'm just getting started. I struggle between octaves. Say video plays a low 3 then the next one is a high 1 but because its higher pitch I'd guess like a 6 as in my head surely it has to be more than 3.
Did you experience this any tips if so?
@@InternetGuy8745 Yes, this is exactly the point of training like this. You learn to ignore the melodic distance and focus on the momentary feeling state of each note instead. You will get tripped up at first, especially when you're mind chimes in with some logical thought about "it must be this because...".
The recognition is unworded and instinctive, which we put on a label on after the fact.
Thanks for sharing!
Turns out scale degrees are way better than raw interval trainings just by feeling how far the notes are from the tonic i am able to know 7 of them ,this was really helpful thanks
I must say that, after listening (and singing) these immersive trainings twice each (major, minor and cromatic), I have reached a level of melodic dictation that I was unable to imagin two days ago. Thanks Max!
This is the BEST exercise ever! Its been 4 days and my whole approach to music, playing my.acoustic.guitar, listening music or singing with Friends have changed subtly.....i Will stick to 20min a day during 6 months. Happy to share my experience. Dont doubt to launch a simple but effective version of the app!!
how is it going so far?
@izadjan7249 my friend, I am really impressed. I now identify about 80% of the key of the songs. Then for the 3 and 4 chords songs, i might even get them before the song is finished. Songs that i know by heart (not with my guitar before) come even easier to spot the chords. Its been almost 2 months which is nothing actually.....well impressed with my own capacity to recognise and feel music in a completed different way. I am doing just 10 to 15 min everyday of singing the major scale with a drone in the back and my guitar to reproduce the right Sound with my voice. And trust me: i have been the worst ear around. It can be educated with a fun exercise and very little time. I hope the app comes out soon!
@@dannyboy1739 awesome! Can you outline in detail exactly how you go about your practice routine? I am just starting out and seems you have it down nicely. Good job! Any help is appreciated
How are you practicing this exercise??
@@yiyoarango justo watch the whole video. He explains It all!
I just wanna say Max your attitude as an instructor is like... THE best. Please stay that way even as you get big.
Much appreciated! Will do 🙏
The beginning was frustrating, but after just three weeks of practicing for 20 minutes a day, I’m now getting 80% of it right! It’s amazing how much more fun practice becomes once you start recognizing numbers like familiar friends.
Ok, three weeks. On day two here and I do have a somewhat developed relative pitch from before... It's a torture ;)
Very useful! Its funny how calming it seems each time you say 1 after all these degrees away from home.
Thanks! I find this really helpful
Ah thank you so much 🙏Glad it's helpful!
Really useful thanks a lot! Ever since watching your video on feeling the major scale I've had a breakthrough in my ear training. Learning solfege and feeling the scale degrees rather than focusing on intervals alone is a far superior method.
That's great to hear 🌞
Thank you Mr. Max, you’re the best instructor ever. I’ve always believed my whole life I don’t have any musical talent because I can’t read sheet music, which makes me stop playing piano after high school. But your perception changed my mindset, After all music is “hearing”. I’ve listen to this for a month now and now I pay more attention to music than ever. I even tried to transcribe on the piano (after 4-5 years without touching the piano) and which is very close to the original sheet music after I checked my “answer”, which is the best feeling!! Thank you so much for sharing your method :D
That's wonderful!
Thank you for these! I've got these on repeat in my car when I'm driving in to work. Some of the notes are actually starting to take on their colors now in my mind. When I told my wife "6 now feels very red-violet to me, in my mind", she just looked at me like I was crazy though, lol!
I've signed up to be notified when the app drops. Looking forward to it!
Ha! That's great. Glad they've been helpful!
Thank you Max. For really diving deep into the Ear training category. I doubt in you tube there is any content out there just like you.
Thanking you for making me believe that I can do it. You changed my mind set towards ear training with one single line-
" If you can feel chord changes you can train yourself"
This boosted me a lot. With your lessons and through different other approaches I can feel the changes. I am not 100% accurate all the time. But from a guy who can't do any recognition to identifying 8/10 notes correctly is a proof that in future I can do more..
Apart from notes I can feel chord moods. The overall vibe of the song.
And as a result my song listening experience got much better and my playing changed drastically.
Thank u master❤❤❤
So glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know 🌞
Finally, an enjoyable way to practice ear training - I am quite smitten
Thanks! Waiting for the app
Thank you! 🙏
I just watched the entire video while combining it with my meditation, and it was great. I really felt improvement after that hour-long session. The number one problem with the ear training app is that you have to pick an answer, and many times it can be discouraging to see a low score. I believe it's going to be a great app, and I will definitely get it.
I am really hoping to see a functionality that most of that app lacks of, and it is practice audiating, by giving an interval, letting me sing it (or imagine it ) and playing it after that.
Yes, that type of singing exercise will be in the app!
Day 1: 15mins. Strong on 1,7,2. Weakest on 3,4,5. A few lucid moments where I just knew things were right but a lot of confusion.
Conclusion: after 34 days doing this 30 mins a day all 7 degrees have a strong feeling. Progress was a bit non linear and can’t really be rushed. Consistency and just focusing on the feeling rather than attempting to resolve seems to be key. Thanks so much for this Max! Looking forward to tackling the minor scale next and really excited for the app!!
Day 2: 30 mins. Felt worse than yesterday. So much confusion around 3,5 which make me start messing up 1. 4 was much clearer to me today and I was probably close to 85% on it. 7 much clearer than 2.
@@Robertlavigne1Good job being consistent! I’ll start too!
Day 3: 30 mins. Better than yesterday. Lower pitches close to the drone feel easier. The higher ones get more lost and muddy. 4 and 6 come easy. 5 felt more familiar today but not consistently. 3 is the hardest. Having to fight to just feel and not try to slide the notes around in my head to get resolution.
Day 4: 30 mins. Getting more improvements and clarity. Still along way to go but probably around 65%. 5 has a much stronger feeling now that I can find fairly often. Found a little insight into 3 but still muddy.
Day 5: 30 mins. This feels like meditation now. Quite relaxing to do. 6 hits like a ton of bricks now. 0 doubt on it. Some confusion between 4 and 7. 3 remains a mystery but I’m learning to identify that I can’t place it feeling with 3.
Self-taught pianist here. Crazy how this seemingly simple excercise permeates into your playing. Can't wait for the app, Max!
I've been playing this video in the background while doing something else, at least once every day in the past week, and am amazed how much my hearing improved! Im starting to recognise unintentionaly melodies of pop songs as their scale notes. I wish there was a listening practice like this video for sound design skills. Like syntorial but something you can play in the background and guess while listening a single parameter from a small set of possible values. Or sound design of drums.
Interesting ideas! I will consider...
Im floored by this approach. Take my money with thé app!
Generally your technique is what I have been searching for when I started months ago.
An additional feature in the app that will be helpful is to see how each scale degree relates to each other when played together. For instance, 1-2-5 is played and the listener is to guess either all three notes or some out of the three. Then it can be swapped, 5-2-1 and the listener is allowed to guess. This technique has been helpful in my personal practice.
Do you mean like little melodic fragments? If so, that is already in the app!
@@maxkonyi Yes, splendid!
Best one yet!
I'll listem to this 30 mins daily. See you in 1 month.
how it goes now
Thanks! I'm going to listen to this on my commute in to work. It's time that would otherwise be wasted.
This is the perfect exercise I can imagine for me right now thx again
I find it easy when they’re in the same octave but when the pitch is wildly different I struggle even with 1 and 5
That's why we train!
I’ve been wanting something like this for a long time! Can’t wait for the app!
Another form of this is singing the diatonic triads /7ths of the scale over the drone. It helps you understand what the chords within the scale feel like. I do this same exercise with all kinds of scales (natural, melodic, harmonic minor and diminished scales).
Thank you so much! That’s I incredibly helpful as a beginner who wants to truly understand music, intuitively!
This is amazing, thank you so much. Waiting for the App to be released!
This is amazing man!!! Just found your channel in my journey to improve and am shocked I didn't find you earlier! Subbed fr
Also, any way to still join your discord server?
@@thewalrus3657 For sure! Does the link in the description not work for you?
@ just checked and it did! May have been from an older vid/for another reason thank you!
Thanks max, youve improved my life !
Wonderful I am going to suggest this to my students. Singing each note will guarantee your progress. What a wonderful channel and resource.
You just saved my life 😢❤ Love you!
Gimme that sonofield right now!
Awesome! Great! Looking forward to app 😊 doing it at least 30 min a day😊
This is so great, I’ve enjoyed the practice and am definitely seeing improvement. The drone makes it easier, to always have the reference point be explicit. Not sure what you’re planning for the app, but would be interesting to have more advanced training. For example, the drone gets turned off, or notes are played over chords in a key rather than a single drone, or a short chord progression is played to establish the key and then a single note is played in silence right after…! Can’t wait to see what ideas you have in the app!
Thanks! The app (at least currently) cannot do anything chord related, though I do have plans for that in the future, and I agree that would be excellent. There are some interesting features in there though that I think you'll like, such as structured learning paths with multiple difficulties, melody mode, voice mode, pocket mode (like this video), and a free play mode. More to come...
@ sounds great and looking forward to it! These videos are excellent and I listen to them daily, but any additional variety/difficulty/structure would of course be fantastic. Thanks for putting this content out there - this was a hole in my music background for 25 years that I never knew was there until the algorithm brought me your feed!
Can’t wait for the app!!!!!
This is so fun. I’m on day 3 and making slow progress. Sometimes I’ll get a bunch right and then get thrown by a 2 or 6
this video cracks me up for some reason
Love this ! congrats, David
really excited for this release!!
Functional ear trainer made this pretty easy :) I've been waiting and searching for a hands free version of it which iOS doesn't have so I can't wait for your app to be released. I'd pay good money for a lifetime membership if you decide to go that route.
Great! Yes, the Pocket Mode functionality will be part of the paid version of the app, which is a one-time payment and includes all future updates.
Oh my god, I for soo long couldn't make ANY progress with ear training- it was sooososooo frustrating, but after maybe 2 months (not straight, but probably 60 separate days of it in total, fairly often with 1-3day breaks in between, or up to 7 max), I'm FINALLY getting nearly every one of them right!! I started functional ear trainer like a week before this n had begun making progreas on there too, so maybe that helped jump-start me on this (I continued using it a bit in between listening to this too, but primarily stuck with this). I do still kinda need to walk through the scale for some of them, but it's getting quicker n quicker all the time. For some reason 4's came to me like instantly- I'd have zero idea what anyyything else was, then a 4 would slap me in the face, probably from week 1 onwards lol- so weird. I also still have a good amount of trouble discerning 1's n 5's- Ill have to mentally sing the note, then the tonic, and if it sounds "familiar" to me (from playing arpeggios on guitar), THEN I'll know that it's a 5. Or I notice that if I need a sec of "wtf is this", then the vast majority of the time it's a 5, so I can just totally guess that n still get it """right""" lol.
My progress report:
Been doing this for about 20 mins a day and I think this might be day 14ish. The days are spread over a period of 1.5 months, so I haven’t been really consistent.
My most notable perk is that I canola piano sing better! I try to channel the feeling of the note and then it just clicks when I sing.
To me I can group the sounds in two main groups.
3, 4 and 7 sounds deserty to me, somehow it reminds me of the desert people of Zelda.
2, 5 to me give me a foghorn/train vibe. But two has more of what 5 has.
1 is 1
6 I struggle with the most, if I’m not able to group the sound in one of the 2 groups, and I know it not to be 1 then it’s 6 to me.
Each degree also has its own character it feels like.
2 can really be in your face
3 can sound easy/in balance/perfect to me (especially in higher pitch)
4 feels like a beautiful scream
5 sounds like 1 but doesn’t feel as home
6 ??? Still learning
7 sounds dissonant low, and in balance higher.
Will post again!
Excited for the app!
This was invaluable. Please do a chromatic episode. I'm moving on to the minor after 2 or 3 more times on the major. Thanks so much.
Glad it's been helpful! Chromatic coming soon
It's the best way to practice this Skil. Thanks. You are awesome
Fastest email signup ever. Thank you SO MUCH.
Gonna track my progress each day here. I play fingerstyle guitar but I've only ever played tabs and want to move on from that which is what prompted me to start this ear training. I have done the interval training where you reference songs before I found this method. I will attempt to do somewhere between 15-30 minutes a day.
Day 1: I can hear 1 and 7 the best, 2 is ok, and the others are foreign. I'm not sure why but I get 2 and 4 mixed up often as well. I'm also mixing up 1 and 5. Pitches closest to the drone sound the best, farther away is really difficult. Overall, I probably only got ~35% correct.
Day 2: Feels like I regressed today even though statistically I got ~40% correct. 1 is still good. 7 is really good. I said 2 felt ok yesterday, today it feels foreign just like 3, 4, 5, and 6. Absolute worst ones are 2, 4, and 6. 3 and 5 sometimes get mixed up especially as the pitches stray from the drone. Probably also going to stop counting how many I get right and wrong just to make sure I'm 100% focused on feeling.
Day 3: Didn't feel any improvement today. The only thing I noticed is separation of issues. I'm getting 3 and 5 mixed up and 2, 4, and 6 mixed up.
Update: I have done days 4 and 5 but felt 0 improvement so I figured it'd be better to do weekly updates.
same as u, i struggle with the 2 and 4, the 1 and 5 are quite close too but its ok and 7 is really different from the others, easier
A minor scale version would be great ! Thanks a ton !
Coming soon...maybe today...
@@maxkonyi Thanks ! Just listened to the whole thing, it's great !
Fantastic tool! I've been recommending to a few of my students. A minor and chromatic version would be awesome as well, as some have mentioned. Thank you so much!!
Minor is out already. Chromatic soon!
Thanks for posting this man. Here is something I've found over the years..
I can practice ear training in a way that I'm efforting with "thinking and analyzing" and it works BUT..
Just listenining as if your tasting or really absorbing the sound "without giving an answer or solving the problem"
When I do that "it solves itself" and I actually recognize something in the interval and sound that immediately identifys it as a certain tone color.
Much like recognizing a good friend approaching from a far.
Something about the gait, shape and posture and you can instantly name it.
Breaking it down:
Try not to "think" about the answer.
In other words .. forget about solving it mindset right now. Just enjoy the sound relationship.. for a bit. The answer will pop up on its own if you have the major scale already known in your previous practices.
Let it take as long as it takes to hear it in relation to that drone. peace
Exactly!
Great ! Although it is a bit advanced for me, I can only reliably identify 1 and 7 and sometimes 5. Could we have the same thing but within a certain octave ? It is much easier for me to recognize voices and tones within an octave. I feel like getting better at recognising the numbers within an octave would make it easier to generalize afterwards.
Thanks for the great content !
I'm not sure that octave limiting is the way to go, I feel it encourages focus on the wrong aspect. You will become used to the particular resonance of that octave against the drone and then be lost once again when it changes.
I know it can be frustrating at first, but persist in becoming familiar with the feeling-state which transcends any particular octave. Basically, try and ignore the pitch and focus on the inner or background 'quality' of the degree which remains the same at all times.
I am so grateful for this 🙏🙏🙏
Can't wait for the app, do you know if you will release it soon?
Thanks for your amazing lessons and ear training videos! You're the best! 💪
Much appreciated 🙏 Yes! It will be releasing before the new year. Stay tuned...
I just found out I can hum the first and whistle the note and ADJUST the feels!
1-Sa
2-Ri2(chatushriti rishabha)
3-Ga3(Anthara gandharam)
4-Ma1(shudhha madhyama)
5-Pa
6-Da2(chaturthi dhaivatam)
7-Ni3(kaishiki nishadam)
this is so good thank you a lot
THANK YOU SO MUCH BROTHER
This would be great available on Spotify.
The app will be available soon and will make this obsolete since it will be customizable and infinite!
I just started practicing, and I just started to improve when I started to feel that the 4th feels like it wants yo resolve to the previous note, same with 2d, and the 7th feels it wants to resove a forward. Something like that is what i feel and that helped me a lot
wow! Instantly joined the email list :)
Why
@@Bozzigmupp to be updated about when sonofeld releases
wow, I've never thought about the extra opportunities to practice you get when you don't need to use your hands. I am very excited about the release as I've never tried drone ear training and I have offput practicing minor scale degrees as no other functional ear training apps I've found really offer that. I usually practice ear training pretty intensely, where i do a 90 minute session every morning trying to get as many repititions done as possible in the time frame. I therefore wonder if the sonofield app would have features that allow for fast excercises as that would be optimal for me. But I also understand if the point of the app is to help a deeper feel and stronger memory for the sensations of the different scale degree, which would be helpfull for me in its own way.
Yes, you can up the speed of this mode as well as remove the confirmation repeat tone if you like. It then moves quite quickly! There are also other modes which I will show soon..
Doesn't "functional ear trainer" app have a minor scale? I mean, what "other functional ear trainer apps" are you talking about?
Thanks for this.
Love this
Great works!
More of thisssss❤❤
hell yeah, this looks very useful
So 1 is C, 2 is D, 3 is E, 4 is F. 5 is G, 6 is A and 7 is B?
I started training interval recognition the "standard way": resolving upwards or downwards to the closest tonic. I try to focus on the feeling but most of the time my brain just "does the math", especially with the 2 and the 7. I do feel something very unique with the low 6 though.
Resolutions are still useful, just slower. As you gain familiarity with the feeling-states of degrees, that method will take over and resolutions will be used as a backup.
I would love to be able to play the chords too instead of just the notes. Maybe integrate the Circle of Fifths into the circle somewhere, helping me and others identify the chord progressions in the scale,
Also, maybe have a setting where you can change the numbers of the scale degrees to note names.
Also, maybe instead of the 1,2,3,4,etc,
Add the 9,10,11,12,etc.
Did you mainly make this app yourself or did you have a big team or something. I just want to know so I can thank you or the team for this amazing app.
I’ve used it for a while and absolutely love it. It is very relaxing on, also on top of learning everything by ear, I have noticed an improvement in recognizing scale degrees
That's great to hear! It was just me and one other person working on the app.
Thanks for the suggestions. Chord progressions will most likely be in a separate, dedicated app. I have a lot of ideas for that...
Thx so much for this I do it while I crochet lol
genial video me encanta sigue asi
4 is my favorite...
Lol. Mine is 3. On my guitar I just laugh and play 3 repeatedly. It just sounds so good!
Hhhh, it took me three days to realize this had all the the major scales. I thought it was the same key but sounded different because of the different drone note. This is alot to unpack now. I only figured it out be ause i tried to follow on the piana....
Ah! Sorry it wasn't more clear. It's written in the description but not emphasized enough perhaps.
@maxkonyi no, its fine, i was just disappointed in myself. This is a really great video series, thanks.
It is still better to try to sing these intervals yourself and play it with your instrument too.
Good work, hope it helps either
Agreed! This supplements those things. It doesn't replace them. The app will have singing features that require you to produce the degrees internally and then vocalize them accurately. Hopefully we can get the instrument side involved down the road...
You can't randomize ear training by yourself. When you play a degree you always know what degree you play
THANKS
Wow, thank you very much, Max! I appreciate that!
That's so cool. I'm actually getting how each degree feels. 1, 3 and 5 sound so good (well, it is the major chord triad), 4 feels kinda annoying. It was my first day and I was able to get some of them right, especially 1, 4, and 7. But I get lost when the note is at a high pitch though.
The tonic is playing in the background, so these are basically harmonic intervals, right? Does this help to identify melodic intervals and playing melodies by ear too?
It's true that they are harmonic intervals, but the point is the feeling-state of each degree, regardless of octave. It definitely helps in playing and transcribing melodies by ear. It's exactly what I use to do it!
using (movable do) solfege is a miljon times better than using numbers. Easy to sing, easy to remember, its been the main musical education method for hundreds of years before theory took over
Both have their strengths. Numbers are good because they are so strongly related to the way we normally think about chord construction and movement. Solfege is good because it is easy to sing. I sing with Indian solfege (sargam) funny enough, but speak and think in numbers.
@@maxkonyi When conceptualising notes as numbers you should use semitones. Using scale degrees (of any scale) is just using labels and adds to the confusion because there is NO correlation between the label (that sounds numeric but isn't) and neither the sound nor the numerical value. I think this is the root of much of the confusion about music theory
More of this on the app. Cant wait! Happy to pay for it! Quick question please: i am beginner and hace been two days practicing with Mynoise in the back and my guitar and of course producing with my voice the note.....so far only doing 1, 5 and 4. Alternating and creating and repeating melodies....I will introduce soon the 3, 6, 2 and 7 like in your other video. Or shall i start with @ll of then in no particular order?
Thanks for sharing and the Great work
That's great to hear! The app is coming together very nicely, I think you will really enjoy it.
It's a good idea to introduce degrees one a time and compare them to the ones you're already familiar with. There are various orders that you could use to become familiar with their own reasoning, but it's not a huge deal. You can go with the order you've got there for sure.
cool thanks
Crazy stuff!!
I saw the video. "the usual od stuff, I'll never learn"
I tried the video ten minutes. -> a disaster, I totally sucked, really: 0%. I didn't even recognize the fifths, I didn't recognize the firsts! Nothing! ->> "no surprises, I knew that😔"
But I tried again.
Sometimes I could recognize the seventh because I was struggling to recognize the beats...but it was frustrating...and then I was thinking, what about when I don't have the drone underneath? How do I hear the beats? Frustrating. Also, working on multiple octaves seemed to me to be crazy. "It was foolish, he had to do it on one octave", I thought.
But the video is hypnotic, and I kept listening and re-listening, in a relaxed tone -- listen, try, fail, listen, try, fail, listen, try, fail...
Then, suddenly, I started to recognize the fourth. Wow! A beautiful feeling! I still got them all wrong, but when the fourth came, I always got it. Not for the beat, not for the the frequency... I simply recognized it. A magic sensation. Like when Peter Parker discovers he has superpowers. 🤣
Later I realized that i could "to place" the note.
In my head I would immediately hear, I don't know why, that it was a fourth but then ... then, like a kind of verification, it would automatically start a path that led home, to the first: like a melody I would hear the third , the second and the first, and I was home and so I was sure that note was a fourth.
I don't know if this is the correct way, but in a week (One or two hours a day: this stuff is addictive😅) I get the 90% right notes. Not so simple, ok: I had to warm up, then every key change the first two or three I get wrong, then I have to be totally focused okay...but then really I'm on 90 percent. Crazy stuff when I consider it hasn't been seven days since I started. Crazy stuff.
To close, I wrote this for two reasons. First to say thank you, so: thank you! 😄Second because if I had not read the positive comments I would have quit after the first hour of totally negative results, saying “same old shit.” And so it seemed only fair to give back some of what I got.
That's great! Nice work
@@maxkonyi He has a point - got the app ( congrats!!! ), went pro right away ( one time payment, thanks ), but the help/guide part is a bit terse - let the users know what to expect, even if they do have some skills already, give a timeframe, how long to practice and how to structure the sessions, etc. It is an ear training method so it needs a methodology. I know you have lots of videos about that, but the app is a separate entity. I'll wait for some minor bugs to get zapped from the iOS version and will post my 5 star review on the store - the app is great and the skill it teaches is invaluable! Thank you!
@@IvoYordanovBaritone Thanks! Yes, upgraded tutorials are coming soon, along with bug fixes.
Dave Lee Burgess' Perfect Pitch course works on similar principles.
I can't find anything about this person on UA-cam
@andrea-mj9ce Sorry, I spelt his name slightly incorrectly! Back in the early 90's, when I was firstly introduced to this course, everything was on cassette tape. But then a few months later my tape machine broke, and I never replaced it, and from then on my interests drifted elsewhere. Thus I only made it circa page 250.
@@monsterjazzlicks circa page 250?
@@andrea-mj9ce It means 'approximately'.
@@monsterjazzlicks Yes but I thought that the course was in audio format, not a book
Wow, I have difficulty recognizing 2! Interesting...
just because it’s the second one doesn’t mean it’s easy, this takes a little time to get used to start with 7 then find others that stand out more to you then work on more subtle ones
Can you make this and chromatic scale video available in youtube music, cause you can listen there with your screen off and audio only without premium. Thanks
Just hang tight for a week or so and you can get the app. It will let you do that plus much more with full customizability.
@@maxkonyicool ❤️
@@maxkonyi Eagerly anticipating the app. I downloaded the audio of the UA-cam as a local mp3 file so I can listen on my iPhone when walking without internet (cell data) required. The app will be better.
This is great, thank you for sharing!
And please, what is the drone chord you play on these vídeos? what notes does it have? is it just I's and V's?
The drone is primarily 1 with a touch of 5, structured as 1-5-1, like a power chord.
This is great for recognizing the scale degrees of a key. But for chords other than the one chord, I hear them as the scale degrees of the key itself rather than the scale degrees relative to that chord's root. Making it less useful in constructing chords. I suppose I could change the way I think about chords and play the minor 2 chord as the 2 4 6 1, for example.
The way you do it, hearing them from the key rather than the chords, is preferable in my opinion. Constructing chords, hearing chord tones and extensions is related, of course, but different for me. Many people have a hard time hearing melody notes in relation to the key.
This is great! I just have one recommendation: to not let it do the same scale degree twice in a row. Each time that happens it feels like "I just heard that note, so I know it's the same degree." Thank you for this!
That's actually by design! It won't play the same degree in the same octave in a row, but it will play it in different octaves since many people have trouble with this and it is one of the main points this method is trying to convey. I know for people who find it easy, it can be annoying though!
Gotcha. Thanks!
@@maxkonyiplaying same degree in different octave has actually been the most helpful. Can really “feel” the note without focusing so much on the sound.
Would you recommend focusing on this first before moving to minor version or is it good to do both at the same time? Well not at the same time but you know what I mean 🙂
I would focus on this first until you're quite familiar with them
Whats the best way to practice? Singin the Root or the Note played? or both? or not singin and just feeling? wanna know what you guys do.
Sing the tonic drone note at first, then sing along with the tones that are played, keeping the number in mind.
@@maxkonyi Thanks for the reply, i love the video. Singing with the octaves changing all the time feels extremly difficult for some reason. Some are so high pitched or low pitched that i cant seem to tune them properly, even if i try to stay in my octave it becomes harder for some reason.
I guess its just staying consistent and practicing.
@@fefewavv Yeah, doing octave gymnastics internally is a strange yet important skill!
Been practicing with the guitar and it makes the note identification process a lot easier for me
Been making good progress on the Function ear trainer app, but these synth sounds seem a bit harder to recognise on my first listen.
I was getting bored of hearing the same cadence every time, so thinking this drone might be a more efficient way to practice.
Interesting how the numbers are arranged in the circle of 5ths. Does that have any application? (I've only memorised the layout with C being at the top).
Indeed! If you check out my video "Feeling the Major Scale", I go into depth. The short answer is: Degrees which are close together on the circle sound/feel most harmonically similar to one another, whereas degrees which are diametrically opposed sound most different.
@@maxkonyi That makes sense. I'm already seeing the benefit of drone training, I suddenly got a reliable feeling for 6 yesterday (which I often used to confuse with 3). 1 & 5 still trip me up sometimes but I'll get there eventually.
Big fan of the channel & looking forward to the app release soon!
@@C4rps Nice! I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on it when it releases...
Constantly getting 2, 4, and 6 mixed up. 1, 3, 5, and 7 aren't bad though
One more question: Can we do this major scale training along with minor scale and chromatic scale, or would you suggest we do this training to some certain level before moving on?
You can definitely do them at the same time, if you like. In the app, there is a specific learning path which starts with major, moves to minor, then everything together.
Thank you so much Max. Looking forward to the App.
ill be trying to get better. ill track my progress month by month. so far i can only get the 1 right lmao. sometimes the 2 or 7.
starting date 01/13/25
I get every degree instantly almost 100% of the time, except 3 and 4. When 3 is played, i get confused between 3 or 4 a lot (when 4 is played, confusion is somewhat less). Is this because I'm not clear about the feeling of 3?
Going by the feeling, it makes no sense for me to confuse between them as they are almost opposite to each other on the circle, so they should should pretty different like 1 and 7.
Is there anything I can do except spend more time with them and practice both on sonofield custom :) ? It would be helpful if I can know what 3 and 4 feel like to others and how are they different to each other.
Interesting! That tells me there is some amount of pitch focus going on for you, as opposed to feeling focus. The only time I mistake 3 for 4 is when my ideas are running the show and I make assumptions instead of paying close attention to the actual feeling-states.
Some info:
3 is juicy and rich, 4 is pure, clean, somewhat sterile. As well, 4 has a very strong character compared to many other degrees since it is not present in the harmonic series of the tonic.
I suggest you spend time singing these degrees against the drone, holding long notes, slowly switching from 3 to 4 and back again, paying attention to the inner quality of each degree. Try to ignore pitch as much as possible.
@@maxkonyithanks a lot, i used to use resolutions to identify degrees earlier for about 2-3 months, I'm trying to let it go by focusing on the "feeling states" . Maybe my mind uses it for 3 and 4 nonetheless hence the pitch factor (maybe as my feeling of 3 or 4 is not well defined as of right now) Hopefully it goes away with more practice :)
Also is there any expected timeline when I will let go of this pitch factor that resolutions have left me with? I've been practicing this video with "feelings" in focus for about 2-3 weeks.
One more thing, how can I be sure that I'm training via feeling not pitch/scale degree distance from key centre, just by the fact that I dont sing resolutions in my mind now?
I have perfect pitch, but have a hard time with more than one note. For ex in this video, I instantly recognize the pitch, then think about the base note, and then figure out the interval. Is the key to recognizing chords quick, getting the feeling of the intervals, which i assume is training your relative pitch? So ignore the note I am hearing, and rather feel the disonnance/lack of disonnance I feel with each interval?
For me, chord types have their own wholistic feeling which is unique to them. I don't normally perceive the individual scale degrees or intervals within the chord but rather recognize the chord as a whole. All structures in music have this overall feeling-state which you learn to recognize. You can then break that down into it's component parts, but that is like breaking down a word you hear into component letters when you can simply just recognize the word without even considering letters at all.
Thank you 🙏
Should I keep repeating this until I got it all right without error befiore moving to next one?
You can definitely experiment with each of them at the same time. The app, when released, will walk you through all degrees in a helpful order.