Ear training or aural skills is a process by which musicians learn to identify intervals, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music. Singing plays an important part in ear training, since one must be able hear music in one's head and match pitch before it is possible to sing it reliably. One does not need absolute pitch to succeed at ear training; one goal of ear training is the development of relative pitch. A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Typical fingering for a second inversion C major chord on a guitar. ... For the popular Tamil film, see Rhythm (film) Rhythm (Greek = flow, or in Modern Greek, style) is the variation of the accentuation of sounds or other events over time. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with speech. ... Absolute pitch (AP), widely referred to as perfect pitch, refers to the ability to identify a note by name without the benefit of a reference note, or to be able to produce a note (as in singing) that is the correct pitch without reference. ... The term relative pitch may denote: the distance of a musical note from a set point of reference, e. ...

Ear training may also require differentiation of timbres. Some instruments allow for the same pitch to be generated with multiple timbres. Music which employs function through timbre as well as pitch requires ear training that addresses both aspects. In music, timbre, also timber (from Fr. ...

Interval recognition

Interval recognition is a crucial skill for musicians: in order to determine the notes in a melody, a musician must have some ability to recognize intervals. Some music teachers teach their students relative pitch by having them associate each possible interval with the first two notes of a popular song. Here are some examples for each interval, measured in half-steps (aka semi-tones) from zero (unison) to 12 (one complete octave), along with the name of each interval: Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

• 0: Unison: Happy Birthday To You (the two notes of "happy")
• 1: Minor second: Theme from Jaws, opening of Für Elise
• 2: Major second: Frere Jacques
• 3: Minor third: the Olympic Fanfare and Theme (heard as the first brass notes in the fanfare) which plays at the beginning of NBC Olympic broadcasts, Somewhere Out There, Greensleeves, O Canada,"Hey Jude"- The Beatles
• 4: Major third: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Summon the Heroes (the 1996 Olympic theme, heard on NBC during Olympic broadcasts), Kumbaya, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,
• 5: Perfect fourth: Auld Lang Syne ("Should Auld..."), the wedding song ("Here comes the bride"), The Eyes of Texas (University of Texas Alam Mater), O Christmas Tree
• 6: Tritone: "Maria" and "Cool", from West Side Story, theme from The Simpsons
• 7: Perfect fifth: Also sprach Zarathustra (Strauss) (Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey), Hey There, Georgie Girl, the theme from Chariots of Fire (before the main melody), the main theme from Star Wars [first two notes] or Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (between the first and second twinkles), the main theme from E.T.
• 8: Minor sixth: Scott Joplin's The Entertainer (Main theme after the intro), Across the Stars from Star Wars, Someday My Prince Will Come (when she sings some-day) or the theme from Love Story
• 9: Major sixth: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, or the NBC theme
• 10: Minor seventh: Somewhere, from West Side Story, Theme from Star Trek: The Original Series
• 11: Major seventh: a-Ha's Take On Me, or the first and third notes of Somewhere Over the Rainbow
• 12: Octave: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath

In addition, there are various systems (including solfege, sargam, and numerical sight-singing) that assign specific syllables to different notes of the scale. Among other things, this makes it easier to hear how intervals sound in different contexts, such as starting on different notes of the same scale. For other uses, see Unison (disambiguation). ... Happy Birthday to You is often sung when a birthday cake is brought to a party table. ... A minor second is the smallest of three commonly occuring musical intervals that span two diatonic scale degrees; the others being the major second and the augmented second, which are larger by one and two semitones respectively. ... Jaws is a 1975 horror–thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Peter Benchleys best-selling novel of the same name. ... Für Elise (German: For Elise) is the popular name of the Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59, a famous piece of music for solo piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, written in about 1810. ... A major second is one of three commonly occuring musical intervals that span two diatonic scale degrees; the others being the minor second, which is one semitone smaller, and the augmented second, which is one semitone larger. ... Frère Jacques is a well-known childrens song in French. ... A minor third is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees. ... The Olympic symbols are various logos, icons, flags and symbols used by the International Olympic Committee for various aspects related to the promotion of the Olympic Movement around the world. ... It has been suggested that NBC Radio City Studios, NBC Studios be merged into this article or section. ... Olympics redirects here. ... Somewhere Out There may refer to: A song from the film An American Tail. ... My Lady Greensleeves as depicted in an 1864 painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. ... O Canada is the national anthem of Canada. ... Hey Jude is a ballad recorded by The Beatles at Trident Studios. ... A major third is the larger of two commonly occuring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees. ... Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is a Christmas song written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. ... Summon the Heroes is an Olympic theme written by John Williams for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. ... Kumbaya (also spelled Kum Ba Yah) is a song claimed to have been composed by Reverend Marvin V. Frey (1918 – 1992) in the 1930s in New York City. ... Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is a Beatles song from double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). ... The perfect fourth or diatessaron, abbreviated P4, is one of two musical intervals that span four diatonic scale degrees; the other being the augmented fourth, which is one semitone larger. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Eyes of Texas is the alma mater of the University of Texas at Austin. ... O Tannenbaum, or, in its English version, O Christmas Tree is a Christmas carol of German origin. ... The augmented fourth between C and F# forms a tritone. ... West Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and was originally produced, choreographed, and directed by Jerome Robbins. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... The perfect fifth or diapente is one of three musical intervals that span five diatonic scale degrees; the others being the diminished fifth, which is one semitone smaller, and the augmented fifth, which is one semitone larger. ... Also sprach Zarathustra, op. ... This article is about the film. ... This article is about the series. ... Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is one of the most popular English nursery rhymes. ... ET (or et) is Latin for and; it can also refer to: Estonian language (ISO 639 alpha-2, et) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the 1982 film, or the related video game extraterrestrials in general Eastern Time, both in standard time and daylight time Entertainment Tonight engineering technology elapsed time... A minor sixth is the smaller of two commonly occuring musical intervals that span six diatonic scale degrees. ... Scott Joplin (born between June 1867 and January 1868[1] – died April 1, 1917) was a black musician and composer of ragtime music. ... The Entertainer is a 1902 piano rag by Scott Joplin which was later used as the theme music for the 1973 motion picture, The Sting. ... Across the Stars is the love theme from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. ... This article is about the series. ... Love Story is a 1970 romance motion picture drama based on the 1970 best-seller, written by Erich Segal, and directed by Arthur Hiller. ... The musical interval of a major sixth is the relationship between the first note (the root or tonic) and the sixth note in a Major scale. ... A traditional Scottish folk song. ... It has been suggested that NBC Radio City Studios, NBC Studios be merged into this article or section. ... The musical interval of a minor seventh the first note (the root or tonic) and the seventh in a minor scale. ... West Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and was originally produced, choreographed, and directed by Jerome Robbins. ... The musical interval of a Major seventh the first note (the root or tonic) and the seventh, the leading tone, in a major scale. ... . The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions. ... Take on Me is a song by the Norwegian band a-ha. ... Over the Rainbow, music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg, is one of the most famous songs of the late 1930s. ... In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ... Over the Rainbow, music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg, is one of the most famous songs of the late 1930s. ... Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham. ... Solfege table in an Irish classroom In music and sight singing solfege or solmization is a way of assigning syllables to degrees or steps of the diatonic scale. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Swara. ... An alternative to the solfege system of sight-singing, this musical notation system numbers the diatonic scale with the numbers one through eight (or, alternately, one to seven, with the octave again being one). ... In music, a scale is a set of musical notes that provides material for part or all of a musical work. ...

The essential goal for the advanced student of music is to gain a sense of each tone's place in the scale and its function in the key, learning to hear its position, tendency, and relationship to the other pitches with the "mind's ear." Solfege systems and mnemonic melodies are tools used to help realize this goal.

Functional pitch recognition

Functional pitch recognition involves identifying the function or role of a single pitch in the context of an established tonic. Once the tonic has been established, each subsequent pitch may then be recognized in isolation with no need for reference to accompanying pitches.

For example, once the tonic G has been established, the listener may recognize that the pitch D plays the role of the dominant in the key of G. No reference to any other pitch is required to establish this fact.

Pitches in the same pitch class have the same function. Each of the twelve pitch classes in the western pitch system has a unique function. Note that functional pitch recognition can be applied to non-Western pitch systems as well.

Note that functional pitch recognition should not be confused with the solfege symbols, Do, Re, Mi, etc.. Functional pitch recognition emphasizes the role of a pitch with respect to the tonic. In contrast, solfege symbols are simply labels. In the fixed Do solfege system the solfege symbols clearly do not describe the role of pitches relative to the tonic. In the moveable Do system, there happens to be a correspondence between the solfege symbol and a pitch's role, however there is no requirement that the musician associate the solfege symbol with the scale degree. In fact, a musician may utilize the moveable Do system to label pitches while mentally tracking intervals to determine the sequence of solfege symbols.

Functional pitch recognition has several strengths. Since a large body of music is tonal the listener will commonly be assured that a tonic will be established therefore the technique is widely applicable. Since reference pitches are not required, music may be broken up by complex and difficult to analyze pitch clusters (example: percussion sequence) and pitch analysis may resume immediately once an easier to identify pitch is played (example: trumpet solo) - no need to keep of the last note of the previous line or solo nor any need to keep track of a series of intervals going back all the way to the start of a piece. Since the function of pitch classes is a key element the problem of compound intervals with interval recognition is not an issue - whether the notes in a melody are played within a single octave or range over eight octaves is irrelevant.

Functional pitch recognition has some weaknesses. Music with no tonic or ambiguous tonality does not lend itself well to this type of analysis. Example: what are the function of first four pitches of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony when considered in isolation? Mediant, tonic, supertonic, subtonic? When dealing with key changes, the student must know how to account for pitch recognition after the key changes: retain the original tonic or change the frame of reference to the new tonic. This parallels one well-known problem with the moveable Do solfege system.

Chord recognition

Complementary to recognizing the melody of a song is hearing the harmonic structures that support it. Musicians often practice hearing different types of chords and their inversions out of context, just to hear the characteristic sound of the chord. They also learn chord progressions to hear how chords relate to each other in the context of a piece of music. In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. ... A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression or sequence), as its name implies, is a series of chords played in an order. ...

Rhythm recognition

One way musicians practice rhythms is by breaking them up into smaller, more easily identifiable sub-patterns. For example, one might start by learning the sound of all the combinations of four eighth notes and eighth rests, and then proceed to string different four-note patterns together. Figure 1. ...

Another way to practice rhythms is by muscle memory: basically teaching the rhythm to different muscles in the body. One may start by tapping a rhythm with the hands and feet individually, or singing a rhythm on a syllable (e.g "ta"). Later stages may combine keeping time with the hand, foot, or voice and simultaneously tapping out the rhythm, and beating out multiple overlapping rhythms. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Keeping accurate time is a crucial part of rhythmic training. For this task, a metronome is a valuable tool. A mechanical wind-up metronome in motion A digital metronome set to pulse at four beats per measure at a tempo of 130 BPM A metronome is a device that produces a regulated pulse, usually used to keep a beat steady in musical compositions. ...

Timbre recognition

Each type of musical instrument has a characteristic sound quality that is largely independent of pitch or loudness. Some instruments have more than one timbre, e.g. the sound of a plucked violin is different from the sound of a bowed violin. Some instruments employ multiple manual or embouchure techniques to achieve the same pitch through a variety of timbres. If these timbres are essential to the melody or function, as in shakuhachi music, then pitch training alone will not be enough to fully recognize the music. Learning to identify and differentiate various timbres is an important musical skill that can be acquired and improved by training. The embouchure is the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument. ... A shakuhachi flute, blowing edge up. ...

Transcription

Music teachers often recommend transcribing recorded music as a way to practice all of the above, including recognizing rhythm, melody and harmony. In music, transcription is the act of notating a piece or a sound which was previously unnotated. ...

See also

• Tonal memory

In music, tonal memory is the recollection of a previously sounded tone (Gorow 2002, p. ...

Further reading

• Essential Ear Training for the Contemporary Musician by Steve Prosser, ISBN 0-634-00640-1
• Ear Training for Twentieth-Century Music by Michael L. Friedmann, ISBN 0-300-04536-0

Ear training software

• GNU Solfege free ear training software, contains exercises to train chords, intervals, scales, rhythms and harmonic progressions.
• iwasdoingallright Free online ear training tools that include exercises for intervals, chords, random melodies, and playing simple songs by ear.
• Tete clean looking open source software implemented in Java. Identify intervals, chords, and scales.

External links

• Ear Training and Test Tone downloads at About.com.
• herken.sf.net list of all ear training material
• musictheory.net resource for interval training, chord recognition, scale recognition, and other tools
• Post-Ut ear training for the twenty-first century
• [1]contains exercises for chords, intervals, and scales