Ear Training News Vol. 9

Ear training news! We look at some new ear training apps, learn more about the state of musicianship training and music video games and announce our new eBook – available now on Amazon!

Contents:

Apps and more on Evolver.fm

The Echonest blog, Evolver.fm, is a great place to discover the latest music apps and sites. Here are a few of their recent posts which are relevant for ear training afficionados:

Tone Target app review: An innovative play-by-ear tutor which shows promise
Voice Builder app review: Develop your singing voice with this interactive tutor (designed by famed pop star vocal coach Gary Catona)
Rhism interview: Developer of Guitarism, an intuitive guitar instrument, talks about the state of music video games and music learning.

“Modern Ear Training” eBook launch!

We’re very excited to announce the launch of our first eBook for Amazon Kindle! It’s called “Modern Ear Training with Garageband, Audacity, and Noteflight”. Written by site author Sabrina Peña Young, it covers three essential tools for effective aural skills development using modern technology.

This simple guide will teach you how to:

1. Notate and transcribe rhythms using Apple’s GarageBand
2. Use Noteflight to create simple ear training exercises and original compositions easily and painlessly
3. Develop your listening skills by practicing intervals with your iPod and GarageBand
4. Develop your singing voice using basic music tools in Audacity
5. Learn about pitch and sound waves in Audacity
6. Use advanced techniques in Audacity to analyze your singing voice
7. Create easy rhythm charts for your band in GarageBand

Modern Ear Training with GarageBand, Audacity, and Noteflight includes helpful graphics, easy step-by-step instructions, and links to useful tools around the web, including music samples, free download sites, and tools like RelativePitch. This essential guide for the studio or classroom expands your ear training skills, pushing your musicianship to a new level.

It’s compatible with all Kindle eBook readers and available worldwide via the Amazon book store.

If you’re a fan of the content here on EasyEarTraining.com please pick up a copy, tell your friends, and (pretty please!) write a review on the Amazon website.

Modern Ear Training with Garageband, Audacity, and Noteflight (Illustrated)

Interactive Elements of Music

“A flash based mixing desk for experimentation with the elements of music.”
(found via @teachingmusicuk/teachingmusic.org.uk)

Here’s a fun new demo app developed by Martin Said and the team at his school in the UK. It’s designed to let students experiment with the basic components of music (timbre, dynamics, tempo, etc.) It’s an interactive player with a set of sliders, each of which controls one aspect of the music. As you drag sliders up and down the music being played changes.

This is a great way for beginners to get their ears around these concepts and what the terms mean! Here it is in action:

You can download a copy to try for yourself on the teachingmusic.org.uk website.

Read more about the background to the development of this app. We’d love to see this developed further!

Future of Musicianship guest blog

We recently mentioned the exciting new “Loving and Living Music” initiative in a previous ear training news post. Following their “Future of Musicianship” event they’ve been inviting the panellists and other music education professionals to weigh in on what the future of musicianship might entail. Easy Ear Training founder Christopher Sutton writes the latest in the series:

Until now, the act of music creation has required musical training. A student developed their musicianship and their skill with an instrument, and in the process became able to create music.

That’s changed.

Music creation (and not just toy-like, simplistic, robotic music creation; we’re talking sophisticated, expressive and interesting composition) is now in the hands of every man, woman, and (literally) child.

The only thing that’s required: your ears. If you can hear the difference between good musical sounds and terrible noise, you can start making music right now.

Read the full post on the Living & Loving Music blog – and be sure to add your opinion in the comments section there!

A history of modern music in 16 genres…

To wrap things up, here’s a fun video demonstrating the impact a song’s genre can have on its sound. Versatile music group cdza take “What a wonderful world” on a journey through music history:

I think I like “Metal” best.

Anything else?

Did we miss some exciting aural skills developments?

Give a shout in the comments below!