stickista
Well-known member
I recently posted this under a thread in the General Chat topic, but it’s important enough that I’m reposting here where it deserves its own thread.
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I’ve always been blessed with ‘good ears’.
But a year ago I jumped into semester 2 of a 4 semester class at our local college on ear training and I’m about to start semester 4.
Never have I been so humbled. I had my small collection of common mnemonics (Rainbow for octave, Maria for tritone, etc, but had gaps I hadn’t thought of learning.
To begin with, the professor, a 37 year old PhD and concert pianist named Jim Stopher, is without question the most thorough teacher of any subject I’ve ever studied. Here’s a link to a few videos he did on basic interval theory.
https://youtu.be/G6YLBGTUpu4
His curriculum covers solfege (including chromatic), scales, modes, sight reading, intervals (all, not just common ones, up and down), conducting patterns, rhythm reading, complex time signatures, and dictation.
He composed 23 original mnemonics, sung in solfege, that cover every interval, extending to compound intervals.
I can now transcribe much more quickly, and I can essentially name every tone in complex chords with little effort.
It has been the single most productive study I have ever done.
Every school with a decent music program has something like this, and I HIGHLY recommend finding and taking one.
——————————
I’ve always been blessed with ‘good ears’.
But a year ago I jumped into semester 2 of a 4 semester class at our local college on ear training and I’m about to start semester 4.
Never have I been so humbled. I had my small collection of common mnemonics (Rainbow for octave, Maria for tritone, etc, but had gaps I hadn’t thought of learning.
To begin with, the professor, a 37 year old PhD and concert pianist named Jim Stopher, is without question the most thorough teacher of any subject I’ve ever studied. Here’s a link to a few videos he did on basic interval theory.
https://youtu.be/G6YLBGTUpu4
His curriculum covers solfege (including chromatic), scales, modes, sight reading, intervals (all, not just common ones, up and down), conducting patterns, rhythm reading, complex time signatures, and dictation.
He composed 23 original mnemonics, sung in solfege, that cover every interval, extending to compound intervals.
I can now transcribe much more quickly, and I can essentially name every tone in complex chords with little effort.
It has been the single most productive study I have ever done.
Every school with a decent music program has something like this, and I HIGHLY recommend finding and taking one.
