Now break up the interval, by singing an in-between note (e.g. When you’re not sure what interval you’re hearing – here’s what I do: I’ve never used musical association to identify intervals, and I’m pretty sure no great musician ever did either. It’s hard to recall an unrelated melody while listening to music, and feels pretty unnatural to do. Many teachers will tell you to use ‘musical association’ – e.g. use the ‘lullaby’ melody to recall the minor 3rd, or the ‘bridal march’ melody to recall the 4th, etc.īut I don’t think this works very well. You don’t have to identify every interval in the entire melody – just 3 or 4 in a row will probably be enough. ‘ascending 5th’ – ‘descending whole-step’ – ‘ascending minor 3rd’ You don’t have to worry about note names yet – just figure out a few of the intervals alone – like this:
Take a section of the melody (usually the beginning) and identify several intervals in a row. There’s many ways you can transcribe music by ear – but the most appropriate technique I suggest for high school / university tests would be this: Ear training is largely a process of elimination. ‘F minor’), then there’s only 7 notes the melody can be – so each wrong answer is one less place to look. After all, if you’ve been told what key the music is in (e.g. If not – then do the same again – come up with a new theory.Īnd hopefully by the final playing, you have something that holds up – which can only be the right answer. And then test that theory during the next playing. If not – use the next rest period to come up with a new theory. I suggest that you come up with a theory during the first or second rest period – and then use the next playing to test your theory – does it sound right? Does it hold up? Most of the ‘transcribing work’ should be done in the rest period between playings – when the music isn’t being played. So just relax in the beginning, and listen. You can sing things back in your mind, and slow everything down. That way you’re not relying entirely on the instructor’s playing.
You need to be able to replay the music in your mind, during the rest time between playings. The first 1-2 playings should be spent listening only, and memorizing how the music sounds. So here’s how I recommend you approach a test like this: #1. Internalize the musicĭon’t start coming up with theories right away. – You write down your answer on manuscript paper, and hand it in. ‘This piece is in F minor’ – and you have to figure out the melody notes and maybe chords by ear. – All you’re told is which key the music is in – e.g. – Students sit at desks, in silence, away from any instrument. – The music is played 5 times, with a minute’s pause between each playing. – The teacher plays a piece of music – at the piano, or from a recording. So in this post I share my top 8 tips to dominate ear training tests – enjoy! The ‘Standard’ Ear Training Test But I also remember taking ear training tests before training my ear – and I remember these being the scariest type of test that could ever be invented. We had 3 ear training lessons a week (60 minutes each) and there would be an exam every few weeks.īy the time I was at university, I had already trained my ear to a high level, so ear training tests were very enjoyable – something I actually looked forward to (no exaggeration). While I was an undergraduate music student at college, I did a lot of ear training.
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