Ear Training Books

[tgfoo]

Hey guys, I'm trying to train my ear a little (ok, a lot) better. Can any of you recommend some good ear training books? Thanks.

[CString]

Hey guys, I'm trying to train my ear a little (ok, a lot) better. Can any of you recommend some good ear training books? Thanks.

Music for Sight Singing; Robert Ottman.

[Looper]

Hearing and Writing Music: Professional Training for Today's Musician by Ron Gorow

[Rodolfo]

Hi

Try the "Modus Novus" (Author:Lars Edlund). It has a wide array of XXth century examples for atonal singing. Have fun!

[Hardy Heern]

Could these books be used to train someone to enjoy normal/ popular music?........Just wondering.......

I was thinking of giving someone a free gift......

Frank

[BDoggWhite]

I have one...I'll bring it out of my office this week and let you know the title, author. Good luck!

[NeoDavinci]

If you really want to train your ear, the best way to do it is by transcribing. There are lots of devices/programs that will slow audio down for you without losing pitch. Start by transcribing the bass and work your way up.
There's a quick book for you. :)
Mark

[csduke]

As I remember back, I used the Bruce Benward ear training books, among others, at both the U of Miami and U of Wisconsin. I'm certain there are many good books available on the subject. Get a book that comes with an Audio CD or midi files since you will want to learn to sing from written music as well as transcibe, as Neo stated, from played music. Matching sound with music notation and notation concepts is a very usefull skill to have. Best of luck.

http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/music/benward/

[tgfoo]

Thanks for the replies guys. All of you pretty much recommended somethign different. Amazon also has a bunch of differen books. Guess I read all of the reviews and then try and choose one or two of them. Thanks.

[sirbellog]

If you really want to train your ear, the best way to do it is by transcribing. There are lots of devices/programs that will slow audio down for you without losing pitch. Start by transcribing the bass and work your way up.
There's a quick book for you. :)
Mark
------
I would not totally agree witht hat.
Transcribing is just ONE side of ear training, not the simplest, and it is not a METHOD of making your ear understand the sounds which dive into it.
I think the most useful starting question is : what do you want to specifically develop/enhance ? Rythm, harmony, melody ?
Transcribing a score is IMO trying to do all those at once which, based on your current level, may lead only to frustration and confusion.
So if I was you, I'd first askedmyself a few questions, like :
- Do I easily recognize the tone functions within a tonality ?
- Do I have you a hard time, when I listen to a rythmic pattern, trying to guess what duration values are involved ?
- Do I easily recognize a chord family, inversions, etc...
- Can I physically sing the intervals I theorically know ?
----
Depending on the answers, the areas to work, and the strategy may be different.
----
Personnaly, if melodic and harmonic training is the main target, I would direct you to a very affordable method, based on the moveable solfeg (Do Re Mi, etc...) which helped me improve a lot my ear (I confess that I started very very low).

http://www.harrisonmusic.com/book/earbook.html

The great advantage of this method IMO is that it gives you a base of thinking, a way to quickly see where you are weak, etc... And gives you the opportunity to create limitless exercises in the area you want to explore/improve.
It starts very basically, with simplke diatonic structure identification and builds on the concepts towards chromatic music.
I tried other books which did not help me at all, because it was just a long list of exercices without any logical link. With this one, I at last had a feeling that my ear discovered something.
Hope it helps.

[cunningham]

I like these two computer based training tools. Hook them up to your sampler for a good sound source....they cover rhythm, harmonies, intervals, etc. Earope is the better of the two, I think...but either one is better than most everything else available for quick structured ear training.

http://www.earmaster.com/index.htm
EarMagic

http://www.cope.dk/
Earope

[Styxx]

"The Ultimate Trainers Guide for The Untamed Ear" by SiegFried and Roy.
A Little Chair and tiny whip that will get those little buggers in shape! :D

[NeoDavinci]

------
I would not totally agree witht hat.
Transcribing is just ONE side of ear training, not the simplest, and it is not a METHOD of making your ear understand the sounds which dive into it.
I think the most useful starting question is : what do you want to specifically develop/enhance ? Rythm, harmony, melody ?
Transcribing a score is IMO trying to do all those at once which, based on your current level, may lead only to frustration and confusion.
So if I was you, I'd first askedmyself a few questions, like :
- Do I easily recognize the tone functions within a tonality ?
- Do I have you a hard time, when I listen to a rythmic pattern, trying to guess what duration values are involved ?
- Do I easily recognize a chord family, inversions, etc...
- Can I physically sing the intervals I theorically know ?
----
Depending on the answers, the areas to work, and the strategy may be different.
----
Personnaly, if melodic and harmonic training is the main target, I would direct you to a very affordable method, based on the moveable solfeg (Do Re Mi, etc...) which helped me improve a lot my ear (I confess that I started very very low).

http://www.harrisonmusic.com/book/earbook.html

The great advantage of this method IMO is that it gives you a base of thinking, a way to quickly see where you are weak, etc... And gives you the opportunity to create limitless exercises in the area you want to explore/improve.
It starts very basically, with simplke diatonic structure identification and builds on the concepts towards chromatic music.
I tried other books which did not help me at all, because it was just a long list of exercices without any logical link. With this one, I at last had a feeling that my ear discovered something.
Hope it helps.

First, I didn't say transcription was the "simplest" method. It definitely isn't.
However, it certainly is the most effective method of "making your ear understand the sounds which dive into it". If you can't write them down, you don't really understand them any more than you understand a word you can't define.
Of course you don't try to transcribe an orchestral score all at once on your first shot. You have to start at a level you can handle--simple pieces--with the playback at a speed you can handle. Ultimately, music is about sound. Ear training of any kind is about sound. Solfege is great (I teach it quite regularly), but it addresses only one of the areas you mentioned, which is fine for a singer, but lacking for a composer.
I would never tell anyone not to learn solfege, but it is no replacement for transcription.
Starting by transcribing bass lines trains your ear to listen in a more effective way, rather than simply locking into melodies like most people tend to do. Some programs have been designed to isolate the bass line, which helps train in this area.