Answering Your Ear Training Questions (Part 1) | Essential Fundamentals

[@maxkonyi]

Stay informed about my upcoming ear training app - Sonofield Ear Trainer: www.sonic-sorcery.com/set

[@StephenJamesBell]

As an older musician who has developed 'moderate+' ear skills, but only after decades of lacking them, and only after several failed efforts at obtaining them, I would like to chime in here to say that this young man is the only person I've encountered online who is cogently explaining aural skills development from a perspective that precisely matches my own experience. He doesn't need my validation but if you are someone viewing this video and reading its comments and you are wondering 'Is this correct?' and 'Does this guy know what he is talking about?', then I would say yes it is, and yes he does. I would also reinforce how useful this skillset is to almost anyone who wants to work with music. Even getting the basics down will likely do wonders for your confidence, for your ability to recover from error on the fly, and for your ability quickly transcribe, compose or improvise. About the only thing I have found similarly helpful in improving my musicianship is basso continuo training but that is not as broadly/immediately applicable.

[@maxkonyi]

Mcuh appreciated! Thanks for the comment and support.

[@madhurc]

As always, Your way of explaining something just cuts through any ambiguity. Love it!

[@JesseDanielSmith]

This approach is needed in the greater balance of musical conversation 🙏🙌💪

[@serirracional]

Great video and great channel. Manu thanks. Now, possible dumb question. How can I check if I’m singing the same note I just played on guitar? I’m afraid sometimes I might lie to myself, think I’m nailing it when it’s not the case 😂

[@maxkonyi]

There's a very particular quality that occurs when you match a pitch, especially when they are actually the same pitch, not in different octaves. The danger is that you mistake a harmony for a unison, which I used to do! A 5th can sound so smooth and clean that it's possible to mistake it for the same pitch if you're inexperienced. You may want to start like this: Play an ascending or descending major scale and try to sing along as you play. When you get back to the tonic at the end of the scale, hold that pitch with your voice and keep playing it on the guitar. Take notice of how that sounds and feels to match the pitch. Then, continue singing that pitch but play a different pitch which is a 5th above or below. Then compare and contrast the sensation of a 5th harmony vs the actual unison. You just need to gain familiarity with the sound of actually matching a pitch through little experiences like this. Soon enough, you will never mistake it again!

[@NouraEinstein]

​@maxkonyi I will practice it 💯 Thank you 🙏🥹

[@LocKLocK669]

I was wondering if you would do a video about ear training for rhythms. Great video btw. Thank you so much!

[@maxkonyi]

I will get there eventually! Glad you're enjoying the videos

[@kidd-goth]

Excited for that app!

[@mendes2228]

THANKS

[@sarpozdemiroglu]

I will definetely try your app because I have the six best ear training apps but none could improve my ears usually ended up with frustration, demoralization and losing my self confidence before seeing some real improment. I am a musician and a sound engineer. I know how harmony works. I have subjectively good ears, I have done lots of transcription of songs for cover artists, I can find the root and the harmony with try and error (take a long time), sing the melody, or if the pitch is off 5 cents, but suck at those apps. Usually %60 percent correct for interval recognition which 20 percent of these questions are easy unison or octave questions. Because of the permanent faliure I couldn't devote myself. Hope your app encourges me enough to continue my pursuit. Thanks Max.

[@AnnieTaylorChen]

Just curious, if you can get the jobs done, why do you still use those apps? Isn't ear training a "service" to eventually make/copy music?

[@maxkonyi]

I'll be curious to hear your experience with it! The app is entirely focused on learning scale degree qualities within a harmonic context. It does not train melodic intervals, although there is a way to do that within real musical contexts as well, which I can hopefully get around to making in the future.

[@sarpozdemiroglu]

@@AnnieTaylorChen well I get the job done with trial and error with my keyboard in front of me. I think everybody can do it with unlimited time. The point is I want to hear the harmonic structure of the music on fly without any assistance with in a small time window.

[@sarpozdemiroglu]

@@maxkonyi I think the problem for those apps is with every new interval question the key is changing and you have to adapt your brain for each while your brain still want to reference the previous question. I don’t say they are useless but those apps for experienced ears to test themselves not to improve average ear to begin with. Yes you have to able to hear the difference between p4 and p5 or maj/min with different keys each time but there has to be a different method for teaching because I am not that bad that I couldn’t improve my ears for 10 years with these apps.

[@AnnieTaylorChen]

@@sarpozdemiroglu Jaha I see. That's also my goal although I am an absolute beginner. I will get my piano next week so I look forward to the connection of playing, singing, hearing.

[@justinpeter5752]

Not sure if this is the right forum for asking you questions, but here goes. I'm having difficulty accurately perceiving my pitch while singing, especially within a range of ±25 cents. How can I improve my pitch accuracy without relying on visual aids like tuners? Specific Issues: 1. Struggle to hear if I'm slightly sharp or flat, even when singing with piano accompaniment. 2. Difficulty perceiving the fundamental frequency of notes, often focusing on overtones instead. 3. Challenges in maintaining pitch perception when switching between head and chest voice. 4. Easier pitch matching with instruments that have clear fundamental frequencies (e.g., organ pipes) compared to those with prominent overtones (e.g., guitars). Questions: 1. How can I train my ear to quickly identify fundamental frequencies? 2. What techniques can help me hit pitches accurately in a staccato manner? 3. How can I improve my ability to discern small pitch differences (down to 5 cents) while singing? 4. Are there specific ear training exercises for alternative tuning systems, such as the 72-ET system used in Byzantine chanting? 5. Would developing a custom ear training app for Byzantine chant be beneficial? I'm particularly interested in methods that don't rely on equal temperament and could be applied to the microtonal intervals used in Byzantine chant.

[@maxkonyi]

First off, singing is not my forte. I have taken lessons in the past and I sing all the time but my accuracy, especially for staccato notes, is not good. I did not start singing with any 'seriousness' or regularity until near the end of high school, so my brain and muscles did not develop towards accuracy during that crucial early time. Anyone who did not begin singing early will have a unique set of challenges to face and I'm not qualified or experienced enough to give meaningful suggestions unfortunately. What I can say is that my pitch has greatly improved via singing long, relaxed tones against a drone, similar to the Indian tradition (which my teacher was well versed in). Learning to sing and recognize perfect tuning (just intonation) against a drone was very eye opening - I finally realized what being in tune actually meant and could feel it. That being said, my immediate accuracy is still not great and I have a similar difficulty to you in changing between chest, head, and falsetto. That being said, I don't have any intention of performing or recording my singing so I don't take my practice that seriously. As for hearing fundamentals, gaining fine-grain pitch perception, and singing in alternate tuning systems, the method is the same - clear desire and intention, repetition, relaxation, and time. These things cannot be forced and everyone will take the time they do and there's no way to shortcut it. Our brain is incredible at dealing with these multi-layered, non-linear problems, we just need to give direction, input, and time. For the Byzantine stuff, it will be most important to listen to a ton of that music and attempt to sing along in a relaxed way. It would definitely be possible to develop ear training apps or exercises that focus in on particular aspects, though it is so niche that it would need to be something custom. Having a feedback system, something which can tell you if you're right or wrong, would be the most important thing to develop. Normally this would be a living teacher but otherwise we need something else. I wish I had a better suggestion for you!

[@jasensargent2245]

That was the coolest explanation of a key change ive ever heard

[@seanh3013]

Excited to try the app. Thank you Max :)

[@LostSoulAscension]

3:55 super fun, as you said to copy singing the notes you hear in any song. I decided to copy the pitch of your voice just now and that was kinda practical af 😂

[@maxkonyi]

lol nice. I often do the same when listening to people talk.

[@Hadi-v4p]

Dear Max, thank you so much for all this amazing content. Is there a specific place where one can leave questions for possible future q&a's?

[@maxkonyi]

Here works! Though there is a dedicated channel in the Discord server for exactly that as well.

[@rubenoliveira5305]

as always, great video.

[@davidsummerville351]

I'm new to your channel and have really enjoyed all that you offer.

[@maxkonyi]

That's great to hear! Let me know if there are video types or topics you'd like to see.

[@shawnie9472]

Thank you for the video

[@douglasmayersanchez2870]

Cant wait to buy it❤

[@maxkonyi]

🙌🙌🙌

[@119FU]

When you are hearing/thinking about the notes of a given chord/harmony are you thinking of all notes as relating to the key center (function). for example hearing and thinking of the notes in a major ii-V as 2461 of the key (for ii chord) and 5724 (for V chord) or is it more in line with chord scale way of thinking, where each chord is its own sort of tonal island. for example hearing and thinking of ii-V as 1 b3 5 b7 (for ii chord) and 1 3 5 b7 (for V chord)?

[@raybart5604]

Good question. I have been wrestling with this for years. Transcribing a melody I tend to hear in relation to the tonic. When improvising I tend hear the notes against the current chord. So my answer would be both depending on context.

[@maxkonyi]

Good question. To be clear, this will be unique to the person. There are amazing players who have vastly different ways of conceiving of this stuff, which means there is no best or right way. For me, I'm certainly thinking of or visualizing melody notes in relation to the current chord but am always aware of what they are in the key. If you stop me at any point and ask, I'll be able to tell you the degree in chord relation or key relation equally quickly. When playing over something non-diatonic, I'm very aware of which notes are chord tones, which are extensions and what they are, which are avoid tones, and how any of these relate to the current home key. This is something I've definitely spent a lot of time focusing on as I'm composing, playing, and improvising. Very useful!

[@jasensargent2245]

Great video!

[@_tylermc]

Thank you!

[@RoxiTube1]

❤ can you show a video of what to expect to see and how to the app basic level to advance ... look forward to it 🎉 thx 😊 Every failure is the path 😅 Like that 😂

[@maxkonyi]

Yes I'll have some videos out soon showing how the app works 🌞

[@Shane-tr1up]

i have a question is it okay to identify note from what it resolves to or what’s it’s next to for example in the major scale i can hear 7 because i know it’s next to 1? or is it just about getting more fine tuned

[@maxkonyi]

It's all ok! In the type of scale degree practice that I often speak about, it's more about hearing the quality of each individual note, not relying on resolutions or other methods. In real world applications, I use a mix of scale degree feelings, melodic intervals, and resolutions - whatever is needed to get the truth as fast as possible.

[@socialtomcat]

i dont know how much its helping me but whenever im near a humming electrical appliance ive started quietly humming a tritone over it to cause a sense of unease throughout the room

[@maxkonyi]

lol I don't normally hum tritones but I do harmonize with anything that hums - fridge, fans, engins, planes, etc.

[@traciehill7295]

😂😂😂 I love this

[@Miguell25]

I'm going through your secret of ear training video and I'm practicing the tonic chord part, but when I go to resolve the progression I'm often singing the top note of the tonic chord and not the bass, which is actually the tonic note. This just feels really confusing because I don't know if that means I got it wrong or right

[@maxkonyi]

Singing the top note is very common as it's the most obvious one. It's not even necessarily true that you should be singing the bass note of the last chord you heard, unless that chord was the tonic chord. The idea is to hear enough of the song that your mind instinctively comprehends the key, which happens very fast, then pause the song and focus on resolving everything as if you are ending the song on the most stable note. Take your time and focus on this quality of resolution, then try to sing that note. Whether you find this is easy or hard at first doesn't matter. Take your time and repeat the process with various songs and your own playing on your instrument. As I say in the video, you are already perceiving the tonic, it's just a matter of training your mind to focus in on that particular quality. It will come!

[@Miguell25]

@@maxkonyi Thank you!

[@jonathanwheeler5237]

For the record, if I think I see a snake in the dark, I’m not going to get closer 😅

[@maxkonyi]

lol