Remember our original definition of Ear Training, from the previous chapter? To:
- Learn to distinguish the different types of a musical element, and
- Learn what to call each type.
With Solfa, our goal is to hear one or more notes and be able to put the corresponding syllable name on each, based on their scale degree. For example, to hear a note and recognise “that’s do” or “that’s fa”.
With Intervals our goal is to hear two notes (simultaneously or one after the other) and name the interval, for example “that’s a major second” or “that’s a perfect fifth”.
With Chords our goal is to hear three or more notes together and name the type of chord created, for example “that’s a major triad” or “that’s a dominant seventh chord”. With Progressions it’s to hear a series of chords and recognise “that’s a I-IV-V-I progression” or “that goes ii-V7-I”.
This means the most basic practice exercise we could design would be:
- Hear an example
- Try to identify it
- Find out if you got it right or not
This is where traditional Ear Training methods often leave it. Many quizzes, apps, and courses consist solely of a set of exercises, each of which plays you various examples to try to identify.
But if that’s where we leave things, it means that in step 2, you’re really just guessing—and hoping that by sheer brute-force repetition, you’ll improve over time. That can work. But it’s far harder and slower than it needs to be.
For us, with an Integrated Ear Training approach, this “Basic Drill” is just our starting point.
In the chapters which follow we’ll equip you with a number of ways to recognise the different types, and a range of other exercises and activities you can do to improve your skills.
We introduce this exercise here as our “Basic Drill” not because it’s what you should spend most of your time doing (it isn’t!) but because it’s a very simple structure for an exercise which you can then extend and improve using all the other methods we’ll cover.
You can use this Basic Drill as a simple way to both:
- Assess your current skills. For example, it’s a clear way to pinpoint which types you tend to mix up or struggle to recognise.
- Improve your skills, in conjunction with all the other exercises and specific guidance covered in the subsequent chapters.
The examples you listen to in step 1 can come from one of four sources:
A. Pre-Made Audio Tracks
You can find pre-made audio tracks (e.g. MP3s) which play a series of examples, and may also announce the “answer” for each one after a short pause. You’ll find a range of these provided in the Additional Resources.
B. Interactive Apps
You can use interactive apps or quizzes which play an example and then invite you to press a button to give your answer. You’ll find suggestions for these provided in the Additional Resources.
C. Play It Yourself
You can play your own examples on an instrument. This has some limitations, but also huge advantages.
The main limitation is that you will normally need to “know the answer” in order to play an example. In most cases it’s hard to produce suitable examples by playing notes at random!
However, a considerable advantage is that you’re hands-on with your instrument, helping to forge that Hearing-to-Hands connection. It also gives you full, flexible control to explore and experiment e.g. playing the example again, adjusting the way you play it, comparing and contrasting with other examples to hear the differences, and so on.
For these reasons, this is something to consider doing alongside A or B rather than having it be your only source of practice examples.
There is one exception to that though: a powerful modification to the Basic Drill is to record yourself doing it. You can then use the recording as your own home-made practice audio track!
You can also choose to leave a pause before announcing the “answer” each time. In this way you can combine some time spent playing through examples and already knowing the “answers”, and time spent listening back to the recording and seeing if you can correctly guess each one.
This gives you full flexibility and develops your H4 musicality beautifully. So even if options A and B seem easier or more convenient, I would encourage you to try practicing this way too!
D. Trade Examples With A Friend
If you’re fortunate enough to have a musical buddy you can get together with who is also interested in Ear Training, getting together and exchanging examples is a fun and rewarding way to practice.
Simply take turns playing a series of examples for the other to guess, then swap roles. In this way, you get practice with both producing examples on your own instrument, and training and testing your ears. It will likely also naturally open up other interesting avenues for creativity and collaboration!
Using the Basic Drill
So to recap, our Basic Drill exercise is simply:
- Hear an example
- Try to identify it
- Find out if you got it right or not
You can use various sources of examples as outlined above, and leverage tips like recording yourself and the specific guidance in subsequent chapters, to enhance and extend the exercise. As we continue and explore each of our three sets of Pitch building blocks in turn, we’ll keep returning to this Basic Drill in a variety of forms, offering more detailed instructions and suggestions for how to use it for those building blocks, specifically.
Remember always that we want to follow an Integrated Ear Training approach—so however much you’re using some form of the Basic Drill, be sure to also make use of the “Applied Activities” recommended in each chapter too.
Also, keep in mind that even a “drill” exercise like this need not be dry and robotic! We want to bring our Head, Hands, Hearing and Heart to all our music-making. Most notably here, remembering to sing or play expressively. We aren’t just “giving answers”, we are making music with each and every note. And, not coincidentally, that will help you get the answers right more easily too.