Essential Ear Training

If you’re new to ear training, there is one skill that would be a good idea to develop first. This skill makes other ear training possible and facilitates any work you may do with a music teacher. Learn more in this video!
Albert Frantz, piano
Hundreds of lessons available at www.key-notes.com
© 2024 key-notes LLC

[@Gabriel-mi9bz]

Just stumbled upon this and I appreciate the knowledge you shared with us! Liked and subbed.

[@spacebuddy5339]

Hello Good Sir, it would be benevolent of you to release a series of video on the introduction to music. I don't know if I said that right but I hope you see this. Thank you.

[@BranchBruh]

This video quality is crazy! Are you already experienced it making content like this? The editing and cameria angles are really cool! This makes me really want a piano.

[@key-notes]

Thank you so much! Upgrading my studio turned into quite a project over the holiday. I used to be one of those jerks who assumed that “photography isn’t a ‘real’ art because the camera does all the work”… until I had a very modest application of recording piano lesson videos for the internet. It’s the furthest thing from filming a Hollywood blockbuster, yet I managed to mess it up time and again! LOTS of trial and error, lighting and camera experiments later, hopefully the results are finally just right. Thanks so much for such a kind and encouraging comment. Sincerely appreciated! 🙏

[@user-yf1rn2dd2h]

Insightful video. I should have watched this before play the piano.

[@key-notes]

Thank you! Happy to hear it’s helpful to you!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I’ve been playing piano for two years and this is something I’ve been neglecting. I do have a psychological baggage that is quite large due to my musical education. I was the kid choir teachers told to move my lips and not make a sound. Once in University an opera singer friend encouraged me to at least develop a stage voice, so I signed up for beginner singing. I was devastated when the teacher asked me at the first lesson if it was too late to get my registration fee back. It was and I went to the second lesson where she apologised and tried to teach me the fundamentals. But the damage was done and I never practiced.
I guess I should start.

[@osirus211]

Awesome, thanks!

[@key-notes]

Thank you!

[@dutchyboy14]

I needed this video, it's knowledgeable and right to the point of what exercises can be down to improve the process of ear training, so thank you for uploading and sharing your knowledge!
.
.
.
This is a small part of the video, but it gave me pause and I'm looking for some clarity in it. You sang Do-Mi-La while playing the pitches C#-E-A. To my training I would use the solfege Mi-So-Do for these notes, assuming we're in the key of AMaj OR I would sing Do-Me-Le for this. Is there a different system of solfege I'm not used to using that makes do-mi-la make sense, or was this just a small mistake? Thank you again!

[@key-notes]

Good point. I use and recommend fixed do solfège. This is the original solfège and the international standard. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and si (not ti!) are simply the note names in French, Italian, and Spanish. Only these syllables are used, even for sharps and flats. This is ultimately a much simpler and easier method than the movable do method commonly used in the U.S., and I think it’s a more effective one as well.
Incidentally I originally trained in movable do. It’s effective in the very beginning, but as soon as there were transpositions, sequences, or any kind of harmonic ambiguity, our whole class spent all our time trying to figure out which syllables we were supposed to sing, even though we clearly heard the notes in our minds and could sing the pitches. It would have been far better just to learn fixed do from the beginning.
You might find this blog post and video explanation useful: key-notes.com/blog/solfege
Hope this helps!

[@MilAS829]

wondering if you can also whistle the notes instead of singing them? probably an odd question but very helpful and informative video nonetheless.

[@key-notes]

You could certainly whistle the notes, although it’s even better to use the solfège syllables (do re mi fa sol la si) if you can since they really do tend to help your pitch accuracy. In any case, whistling also allows you to externalize what you hear, so that would also work for this purpose. Good idea!

[@ryxsenl3018]

Great video (:

[@key-notes]

Thank you!