key-notes

Doe, a deer…

Solfège is a system for singing notes. If you’re familiar with the famous Rogers and Hammerstein song “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music, you already...

What exactly is "perfect pitch"? This lesson explains what it is, the difference between perfect pitch and relative pitch, and what you should pursue if you weren't blessed—or...

Question: Mr. Frantz,

First of all I’d like to thank you for your amazing site. Everything you wrote and explained there has served me considerably.

I am an 18-year-old girl who has decided...

There is one ear training skill that every musician and every music student, including absolute beginners, must develop. It should be done from the very beginning of music study and is a suitable...

Question: How can I readily identify any chord when played?

– Timothy (Nigeria)

Albert’s reply: The first step in chord ear training is to learn to identify the basic types of chords,...

Question: I know people usually say it depends on the person. Well, I want to know the average year of when a person who take lessons starts playing by ear. I know that some people don’t...

Question: I would like to know more about proper voice leading. I can hear each separate voice in a piece and I can hear chord progressions, but this seems like an either/or method for me. When...

Question: Thank you very much for this website – it has helped me tremendously. My question goes for the Intervals lesson, where you stated that to learn the intervals in a scale, one should...

Question: Hi Albert,

My name is Shane. I’ll keep this brief. I’m hunting around for different ear training methods. I’ve been through a bunch of stuff but it doesn’t stick....

Playing piano by ear is among the most essential of musical skills, yet it is generally looked down upon by teachers of traditional reading-based approaches (of which I am also one). In this...

Many piano teachers tend to look down upon efforts to play piano by ear. Yet music is sound, and the better our aural skills the better musicians we become. I believe we should encourage students...

Question: In my ear training exercises, I can currently hear every scale interval in my mind’s ear in every key. I am wondering about the minor intervals. I can hear them externally and...

Question: How can ear training help singers?

– Jojo (Fairfield, California, USA)

Albert’s reply: It is essential for all musicians to train their ear, since music is sound after all...

Question: Here’s one I can’t explain… in specific ear training where the student is asked to do chord identification (major/minor with inversion) using 4-note chords, the...

Question: One problem faced by my students in aural tests is memorizing a long melody. Any tips please? Thanks.

– Achilles (Malta)

Albert’s reply: The most important thing in learning...

Question: How can you learn to recognize intervals by ear?

Albert’s reply: There are several methods of interval ear training. The most common is to associate common melodies to each...

Question: Hi Albert, I have for a while now trained to develop relative pitch and now I can recognize every interval when I hear them but I have reached a dead end. Even though my interval...

Question: How is it possible to hear two or more voices at the same time, e.g. each voice in a fugue, with the so-called inner ear? I was once told that one can internally hear everything one can...

Question: I play the guitar which is a string instrument just like the piano, and I play in a little church band. Before I started going to this church I just played by myself, and now I have to...

Question: I am hard of hearing… not really bad… but enough that I cannot hear very high soft sounds. I really want to learn to play but everyone keeps telling me that it is...

Easy Ear Training is one of the web’s finest resources dedicated to ear training. They recently asked to interview me for their wonderful site. They asked detailed questions about the ear...

Is your musical brain “wired” backwards?

Our brains naturally navigate towards what we assume is the easiest way to accomplish any given task. But what if what might seem easiest right...

Question: For singing I do breathing exercises before bed. I believe in practising breathing and listening together because the listening helps to open the right spaces and even adjusts posture....

Question: Hello! What are your suggestions for how I could ear train during my daily piano regimen? Currently, I am simply memorizing the c4-c5 C major range on the piano, but as you could...

Question: Actually I am a dance student, but I know my inner ear could use training – just to be a better listener.

What kind of inner ear training exercises might I practice to start?...