How to use Comparative Ear Training to build a huge library of stock musical ideas for performance… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…
Table of Contents
Lesson Goal
To understand how comparative ear training works and to be inspired to use it to build a library of stock musical ideas that enable you to speak the language of music with the same ease that you can read and speak these written words.
Prerequisites
LOVE of music and the discipline to study and practice the right things the right way.
Comparative Ear Training
We humans think about and sense very few things in absolute terms. While musical pitches can be thought about and experienced in absolute terms, most humans perceive music in relative terms (ref: Absolute Pitch & Relative Pitch).
And one way that we relate to musical sounds in a relative sense is by how they compare to each other… and compare to things we already know.
Some of these comparisons are a matter of degree: One sound may be louder/softer, higher/lower, brighter/darker, or more/less consonant/dissonant than another sound.
Other comparisons are a matter of type: Types of sounds include scales (major, minor, etc.), intervals (unison, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.), Soflege syllables, chords (major, minor, diminished, etc.), and chord progressions.
Comparisons of Degree
When it come to musical sounds, comparisons of degree are pretty straightforward, as you will hear for yourself in the following comparative ear training tests…
Which is Louder? Which is Softer?…
Which is Higher? Which is Lower?…
Which is Brighter? Which is Darker?…
Which is More Consonant? Which is More Dissonant?…
Do any other comparisons of degree come to mind? (Please share in the comments)
Comparisons of Type
Your musicianship really goes to the next level when you start to think about and perceive sounds by type. This means that you can recognize and distinguish one type of sound from another type of sound. A great way to illustrate this is by example in the audio where we compare two distinct sound types and give a name to each experience (in this case “major” and “minor”)…
Once you’ve internalized (*) a sound-feeling using all four musical intelligences, it can become a reference for comparing and internalizing new sound-feelings in an ever expanding process of building a library of internalized sound-feelings but relating new music to things your already know.
(*) Internalization is the process of storing a sound-feeling in long-term memory along with any other information that enables you to perform it or compare it to other sound-feelings: a scale type, solfege syllable, melodic fragment, interval type, chord type, chord progression, notes on a score, visuospatial layout of keys on the keyboard, or physical performance.
learn more… Ear Training Fundamentals
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