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CRAZY QUESTION: Would it be fun to practice ear t CRAZY QUESTION: 
Would it be fun to practice ear training in this call and response way? I make a bunch of beats and melodies and them set them to randomly do their thing.

The process is simple for you:
1. Listen (figure it out, work it to solfege... or not)
2. Sing back.

Also simple for me, 
1. Listen while grooving on the keys.
2. Sing back in solfege while making chords that work with the new melody.

This can be done with any level of difficulty:
1. Memory: starting with 4 notes, going on up!
2. Length: starting with 4 beats, going on up!
3. Possibilities: starting with three notes (do-re-mi) going on up! 

The skies the limit!

Let me know what you think!

(THIS IS WHAT I CALL A LISTEN UP GAME!)

Do you use Ableton Live? If you dig this, I'll post the sets with audio and follow actions all set up for you. 

#eartraining #auralskills #abletonlive #musiceducation #callandresponse
The algorithm gawds say, “post every day”. And The algorithm gawds say, “post every day”. And I love giving you things to improve your ear understanding. But!
Here are the three kinds of minor sung for you in Here are the three kinds of minor sung for you in la-minor.

Notice what changes:

NATURAL:
la-ti-do-re-mi-fa-so-la

MELODIC:
la-ti-do-re-mi-fi-si-la

HARMONIC:
la-ti-do-re-mi-fa-si-la

Round up and cadential chords are:

for the fa-so-la (natural):
F - G - Ami

for the fi-si-la (melodic)
Bmi - E7 - Ami

for the fa-si-la (harmonic)
F - E7 - Ami

Get these in your ears before you make too much effort giving them names (like natural, melodic, and harmonic). 

Focus instead on the Round Up solfege and how it sounds, and how it feels.

#eartraining #auralskills #Kodàly #solfege #minorkeys
Here's an example of when to use la-minor. This "M Here's an example of when to use la-minor. This "Milonga del Angel" by Astor Piazzolla, which I'm arranging for @chameleonartsensemble, begins in a very clear minor key. But then, before you know it, it modulates to the relative major.

I COULD sing it in do-minor, but it would utterly unsatisfying to tonicize to "me" instead of do!

#eartraining #astorpiazzolla #auralskills
There was a great question is yesterday’s commen There was a great question is yesterday’s comments about singing in minor with “la” as the home note. Here’s a go at answer…
Do you know the three kinds of minor scale? Each h Do you know the three kinds of minor scale? Each has their unique quality and each is important to learn. 

This question confuses a lot of my students, so take a crack at learning them each just by sound and solfege... in music's own terms!

#eartraining #auralskills #musicalscales #musiceducation #solfege
As you train your ear and go through a musical lif As you train your ear and go through a musical life, you will encounter a debate... a question, really: "What is the difference between moveable do and fixed do and which should I use?"

Well, the answer is simple:
1. In moveable do, "do" (and all the other solfege syllables) change depending on what key you are in. (I worry that is an answer that begets another question, but I digress.)
2. You should use moveable do! It trains your ear to understand what you hear in music within the active key. (Also called a tonal framework.) 

This is much more effective when you are trying to learn music or play music by ear!

#eartraining #auralskills #Kodàlyc #musiceducation
If you responded to the survey "What Makes a Great If you responded to the survey "What Makes a Great Ear Training Course", Thank you!

If you haven't, there's still time to do so and claim your FREE COURSE COUPON!

Here's the link to the survey:
https://listenupgames.com/what-makes-a-great-ear-training-course/

We're getting some really helpful info from the first bunch of people to respond, feedback that's going right into the first few courses. 

Thank you!

#eartraining #auralskills
Here's a little aural skills practice for you. Yo Here's a little aural skills practice for you.

You'll hear a melody played by the piano. Challenge yourself to quickly memorize it and sing it back in solfège.

There are three melodies on this video. Can you memorize them all on the first try?

1. Listen
2. Echo back 
3. Listen again (while considering the solfege).
4. Echo back (in solfège).

Is this too easy? or... too difficult?

This practice session is limited to do, re, & mi and each melody has about 7 tones to remember.

#eartraining #melodic #auralskills #solfege
Have you often been confused by the terms "fixed d Have you often been confused by the terms "fixed do" and "moveable do"? If you have, then you've probably been through some music school ear training and sight singing class. 

We use moveable do at Listen Up Games and at the Osher School of Music for reasons which I'll get into later.

For now, here's an explanation of what FIXED DO is.

#solfege #musiceducation #eartraining #auralskills
This chord contains an E... 1. Listen to the E. 2 This chord contains an E...

1. Listen to the E.
2. Listen to the chord.
3. Determine whether the E is the root, the third, or the fifth.
4. Spell the rest of the chord, using your chord membership skills.

This is the kind of ear training you can do on your own, with a partner, or through these videos.

HEY! DO YOU WANT MORE CHALLENGING AURAL SKILLS DRILLS??

#eartraining #musictheory #musiceducation #boulanger
I'm taking my decades of teaching music in person I'm taking my decades of teaching music in person (other than the pandemic year, when I taught EVERYTHING online) and squeezing it into the online world, creating a number of courses focused on ear training.

I want to make these courses the best they can be and that means really understanding what you would like to get out of them. So, I've created a survey and I would really appreciate your taking a few minutes to share your thoughts and aspirations about music learning.

In return, I'll knock 25% off the price of the first course you take.

Please click this link to participate. Thank you so much!

https://listenupgames.com/what-makes-a-great-ear-training-course/

#musiceducation #eartraining #Kodàly #solfege
This chord contains a D... 1. Listen to the D. 2 This chord contains a D... 

1. Listen to the D.
2. Listen to the chord. 
3. Determine whether the D is the root, the third, or the fifth. 
4. Spell the rest of the chord, using your chord membership skills.

HEY! ARE THESE TOO HARD FOR YOU?

#eartraining #musictheory #musiceducation #boulanger
I took a couple days off there to recoup from the I took a couple days off there to recoup from the semester. But we're done! And I got some good downtime. (A little "The Last of Us" tbh)

But now I'm back at it. I've got a couple more of these name-the-chords things for you, so I'll push those your way while I work on some new things.

HEY! ARE THESE TOO EASY FOR YOU?

Hit me with an ear training exercise idea and I'll take a stab at it. 

#eartraining #musictheory #musiceducation #boulanger
In this ear training process, we use our voice to In this ear training process, we use our voice to refine our ability to identify chords by ear. We start with a fairly simple vocal exercise where we sing a single note that's in the middle of your vocal range. It should be a comfortable note for you to sing. 

If you want, you can find that note on an instrument like the guitar or the piano, any instrument that can sustain a tone while you sing. I'll like to sing over a drone like an organ sound so I can continue to improv my vocal intonation. (I'll always have something I'm working on improving and this bit here has gotten my attention since I started making videos!)

Now, here's where the advanced part comes in: You first imagine that the main note is the root of the chord and that the chord ascends above the main note. You sing, "1 - 3 - 5 - 3 - 1". To do this you will sing UP a MAJOR third, then UP a MINOR. third and back down.

Then comes the hard part, because you need to have a good grip on conjuring major and minor thirds. This is where the aural skill of being able to sing ascending and descending major and minor thirds is critical. Happily, this exercise will make you good at it! Unfortunately, if this is totally new to you, you might find yourself overchallenged. Remember, this is an advanced practice, and we've got lots of more foundation level things to help you improve your musical ear.

So, in this part, you'll imagine that the note you are singing is the third of a chord (in this case, it's a major triad). You'll sing like this: "3 - 1 - 3 - 5 - 3". So you'll sing down a MAJOR third and back, then up a MINOR third. (If you want to know more about the structure of major and minor triads as it relates to this exercise, comment below! I'm at your service.)

#eartraining #musiceducation #musictheory
Few things could be more foundational than the abi Few things could be more foundational than the ability to find "do" within a musical texture. When we say "what key is that piece in?" what we are really saying is "what note is 'do'?" 

When we listen deeply, we notice that the quality of a melody is determined by how all the tones flow in relation to each other and to their home tone or the "tonic".

When we play by ear, we anchor ourselves in a deep sense for the tonal center, the "do". It's like a sonic compass that points our ears in the right direction for every note choice.

So, here's a simple practice you can do to refine and deepen your tonal awareness, aka, your sense of "do".

Take a song that you know well – a song that you can sing by heart – and savor your way through the melody seeking notes that sound like the home note. Then replace the words for the notes that are sung on "do" with the word "do" and memorize that. Sing it!

For many of you, this is a challenge! So I offer you here a simple song, where I've done the work for you!

For many others, this is a walk in the park. So I challenge you folks to sing the whole song on solfege.

I'll post a video of me doing so before you know it!

#solfege #musiceducation #eartraining #folksongs
This MINOR chord contains a C. Listen to the C. Li This MINOR chord contains a C.
Listen to the C.
Listen to the chord.
Determine if the C is the root, the third, or the fifth of the chord.
Name the chord.

Check some of the other videos in my feed to get the technique for doing this. I'm going to try to do one of these each day, and they're going to get more and more difficult.

Do you want more than one at time? Let me know!

#eartraining #eartrainingchallenge #musictheory
Instagram post 17966204687455883 Instagram post 17966204687455883
listenupgames's profile picture What's Up with "Re listenupgames's profile picture
What's Up with "Relative Minor"?

Many music theory students get confused about the difference between relative minor and parallel minor, and that's totally reasonable. They're two different terms that refer to how you are going to find a minor scale given a major scale.

In my continued effort to make music theory audible, here's an extremely brief explanation for how you can remember what "relative minor" means...

"A relative is someone who has all the same family members."

That's it. Relative minor. Watch for a subsequent video about parallel minor.

#eartraining #eartrainingchallenge #musictheory #solfege #musiceducation
Listen to this B. Is it the root, the third, or th Listen to this B. Is it the root, the third, or the fifth of the chord I play?

The more you practice singing the pivot triad exercise, the easier it will become to determine where a note fits in the surrounding chord. Once you can do that, naming the chord is a matter of knowing your chord spellings!

#eartraining #musiceducation #chords
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