Piano Diana Blog: Ear training

Showing posts with label Ear training. Show all posts

Piano By Ear Chart

I've posted about inversions many times... You know, a rearranging of the notes that make up a chord. With any note that involves 3 notes, the arrangement looks like this for a C chord.

CEG       EGC    GCE     CEG
1-3-5      3-5-1    5-3-1    1-3-5

I thought I'd share a chart with you that lists the Key (combination of chords used in a song), the name of sharps and flats (raising and lowering note 1/2 step), scale and chords (3 notes played together). I think it's important to know this information, especially if you want to be free of reading sheet music all the time! Look it over and let me know what you think.

KEY      NAME of #'s                 SCALE                                  CHORDS

C              0                                       C D E F G A B C                    C, F, G

G             F#                                       G A B C D E F# G                 G, C, D

D            F#, C#                                 D E F# G a B C# D                  D, G, A

A            C#, F#, G#                           A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A    A, D, E

E           F#, G#, C#, D#       E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E       E, A, B

B          C#, D#, F#, G#, A#              B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B      B, E, F

KEY    NAME of b's                          SCALE                                      CHORDS

F           Bb F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F F, Bb, C
Bb        Bb, Eb                                   Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb             Bb, Eb, F

Eb        Eb, Ab, Bb                            Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb            Eb, Ab, Bb

Ab       Ab, Bb, Db, Eb                     Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab          Ab, Db, Eb

Db       Db, Eb, Gb, Ab, Bb               Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db       Db, Gb, Ab

Gb       Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb         Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb     Gb, Cb, Eb

If you're interested in learning about chords, the type of chord and how to form it, here's the chart.

How To Make a Chord

CHORD TYPE                                FORM                                         SCALE DEGREES

Major Chord                                    1-3-5                                              1-3-5
Minor Chord                                     Flat the 3rd                                    1-3b-5
7th Chord                                          Flat the 7th                                    1-3-5-7b
Major 7th Chord                               Add the 7th                                    1-3-5-7
Augmented Chord (+)                    Sharp the 5th                                  1-3-5#
Diminished Chord                            Flat the 3rd 7 5th                            1-3b-5b
Diminished 7th Chord                      Flat the 3rd, 5th. bb the 7th            1-3b-5b-7bb
2nd Chord                                         Add the 2nd                                    1-2-3-5
6th Chord                                          Add the 6th                                     1-3-5-6
9th Chord                                          Add the 9th to the 7th chord           1-3-5-7b-9
Suspended Chord                              Drop the 3rd and add the 4th          1-4-5

Hope this helps! If you're looking for more information on chord theory, you may be interested in an audio series from Hear and Play called, Chord 101 & 102

"Jazz washes away the dust of every day life." -- Art Blakey

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Ear Training 101

Image by Ethan Hein via Flickr
There are 3 qualities that every good jazz musician must possess:

- a great ear, a strong sense of time, and a unique sound.

While there are many different ways to approach these skills, the first two always require a certain amount of drilling. The ear can be thought of as a muscle and to a certain degree must be trained like one. Improved ears will lead to better intonation, improvisation, ensemble playing and transcription skills. With that in mind, here are three great ways of dramatically improving your students' ears and, hopefully, their overall playing.

Are you familiar with the underlying scales and moveable "Do" solfege?

It's essential that you learn to sing a chromatic scale. As chromaticism is prevalent throughout modern jazz, this exercise will improve both intonation and students' understanding of the genre. When singing through the chromatic scale, remember to use sharps when ascending and flats when descending.

Chromatic Scale Ascending:

C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C
Do, Di, Re, Ri, Mi, Fa, Fi, Sol, Si, La, U, Ti, Do

Chromatic Scale Descending

C, B, Bb, A, Ab, G, Gb, F, E, Eb, D, Db, C
Do, Ti, Te, La, Le, Sol, Se, Fa, Mi, Me, Re, Ra, Do

Target Tones

Target tones are an essential part of any ear training regimen. They force students to hear not only chordd tones, but surrounding tones as well. Now, many students can correctly sing a major scale but they have some difficulty picking out specific intervals at random.

With respect to the scales and scale degrees, the best way to practice this is through the use of target tones. Here are a few exercises:

C, // C, D, C // E, D, C // F, E, D // C, G, A // B, C, A // B, C, B // C

"Improved ears will lead to better intonation, improvisation, ensemble playing and transcription skills."
-- Chaim Burstein

You might be interested in these resources:

Jazz101

Jazz201

Pitch Ear Training Software

Pitch By Ear

"Jazz washes away the dust of every day life." -- Art Blakey

How To Become A Better Musician

Image via Wikipedia

Have you thought about becoming a better musician but are wondering where to begin? Have you thought about the years you've invested in your piano playing but now want to take your piano playing to another level?

I wanted to share a practice plan with you that involves a pretty elementary approach to the piano. First you need to have either an ear for music, some theory or note reading background.

Technique:

This is the ability to execute chords, runs and licks with little or no thought. It is automatic because of all the time spent developing the skill. You can only develop this by lots and lots of practice. Practice scales and progressions, arpeggios and runs so it becomes automatic. You develop technique by doing the things over and over.
Everything that you utilize in your playing can be broken down into technique. Practice technique for 15-20 minutes!

Scales:

You will need a Hanon Exercise book or a good scales book. You can play major scales, minor scales, Arabic scales, blues scales, whole tone, chromatic, diminished. The idea is to get familiar with scales, move those fingers and listen to the sounds of each scale. Play scales in octaves, thirds and sixths. Bass lines are scales and runs done in your left hand. Practice scales for 15-20 minutes.

Theory:

The understanding of how music is made. How to create the sound you are looking for by using principles such as understanding progressions and the chords that make up the progressions and to be able to alter the sound by altering your chords. Understanding scale theory, chordal theory, improvisation, ear training and rhythm can only help you grow at a faster rate. Study theory books for 15-20 minutes.

Harmony:

Learn to harmonize the melody. Understand how to put together chords in their various scales. Learn to play melodies at first. If you don’t know how to solo, learn how to play the melody very well to every song you are learning and use this melody as a guide to assist your soloing.
Practice improvisation for 15-20 minutes.

Listen and Copy Your Favorite Artist:

Good musicians listen to their favorite artists because the artist does the same sort of thing over and over. So your growth will be faster if you study a particular artist at first. Also because you like him or her, you will be motivated to learn from that artist. Practice listening to other artists and playing along with the song for 15-20 minutes.

Getting better doesn't come over night but if you apply a disciplined practice time to your schedule, you will see new breakthroughs that you are becoming a better musician each and every day!