Ear Train

I’m using The Functional Ear Trainer (free) and Complete Ear Trainer ($5.99) Apps on iPhone.

They cover a combination of notes, scale degrees, intervals/chords, etc. very convenient to just pull them up on your phone when you have some free time.

I think this system (Earmaster) covers everything you’re looking for…

Yes, Earmaster is the one

Thank youuuuu!!! During my exploration of the ToneScholar app, I stumbled upon an article delving into functional ear training. Do you believe this method is as effective as the one you suggested? You can view the article by following this link: https://tonescholar.com/blog/functional-ear-training-explained.

invisiblewasp said:

Thank youuuuu!!! During my exploration of the ToneScholar app, I stumbled upon an article delving into functional ear training. Do you believe this method is as effective as the one you suggested? You can view the article by following this link: https://tonescholar.com/blog/functional-ear-training-explained.

Click to expand...

There is literally a phone app (Android/IOS) called Functional Ear Trainer, which is completely free. I think it's great, seems like it does the same thing as tone scholar at no cost and includes no ads.

To me the only downside after awhile is the fact this method relies on a tonal center to provide context. So every time it plays a root note, or a cadence, to establish the key, and any intervals are referenced from that. I believe this is great if you're just getting your feet wet; however it doesn't really train you what to do about interval recognition without the tonic or perfect cadence as a reference.

Recognizing the 6th interval in the key of C (A) after hearing C major played gets easy after awhile. But what about recognizing it still as the 6th interval in that key, after hearing Em? This is where it gets tricky! However I've never tried ToneScholar, so I have no idea if they address this or not.

EarMaster for PC,ANDROID AND IOS

My mind when I see “Ear Train:”

Having suffered through solfege and too many "ear trains" to count, my ear didn't start getting better until people started handing me songs on tape and asking me to write charts for them.

I honestly just think that beyond the basics of knowing the intervals all the fancy ear training for ear training sake is kind of moot. Best ear training is just sitting a keyboard or using your instrument and trying to figure out either music you like or your own music that you are hearing in your head. Best way to learn intervals is just sit at a piano and sing along playing intervals.

When I first started to compose I was immediately struck with the reality that the music I heard in my head there were actually no notes on the western keyboard that would make it. I'd hear it in between pitches, intervals slightly off, etc.... Slowly over time just from trial an error I developed the ability to just sit in front of paper and write music w/o a keyboard in front of me. But that didn't come from ear training. It came from music theory and just working to get what I had in my head out into the world.