Notes, tips and advice on mastering the ear training portion on music exams

Posted by: clariniano on: September 14, 2009

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Intervals:

 

Above:

 

Minor 2^nd: Jaws

Major 2^nd: Silent Night

Minor 3^rd: O Canada, Greensleeves (What child is this?)

Major 3^rd: When the saints go marching in

Perfect 4^th: ‘Here comes the bride’

Augmented 4^th/Diminished 5^th: first two notes of ‘The Simpsons’ TV show theme

Perfect 5^th: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Theme from Star Wars

Minor 6^th: 1st big interval in Scott Joplin’s rag ‘The Entertainer’

Major 6^th: It came upon a midnight clear

Minor 7^th: Bali Hai from ‘South Pacific’

Major 7^th: ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story

Perfect octave: Over the Rainbow from ‘Wizard of Oz’

 

Below:

 

Minor 2^nd: Joy to the world

Major 2^nd: Mary had a little lamb

Minor 3^rd: Frosty the Snowman, Star Spangled Banner

Major 3^rd: Summertime (George Gershwin)

Perfect 4^th: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, O come all ye faithful (Adeste Fideles), I’ve Been Working on the Railroad

Augmented 4^th/Diminished 5^th: Blue Seven (Sonny Rollins)

Perfect 5^th: Theme from ‘The Flinstones’ also, Etude in F major (Grade 8 studies book, Celebration Series Perspectives)

Minor 6^th: Music of the Night (from Phantom of the Opera)

Major 6^th: Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen

Minor 7^th: An American in Paris

Major 7^th: “Hee Haw” From the Grand Canyon Suite (Grofe)

Perfect octave:

 

Chords:

 

Major root position: The traditional ‘Happy’ chord

Major 1^st inversion: Listen for the big space between the middle and top notes

Major 2^nd inversion: Listen for the the big space between the bottom and middle notes

 

Minor root position: The traditional ‘sad’ chord

Minor 1^st inversion: -repeating 1^st inversion chord in advanced piece (as in Tarenghi Dance of the Marionettes (Celebration Series Perspectives Studies, Level 8)

Minor 2^nd inversion: first three LH notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata

 

-listen for the spacing between the intervals, practice them in the sound solid and broken, broken up and down

 

Diminished 7^th: The ‘crunch’ or ugly chord of most conservatory exams

Dominant 7^th: Listen for a chord that sounds a little more coloured than the major chord, it’s often used as a way of changing keys in a musical composition.

 

Scales:

 

Major: most people recognize this…

Natural Minor: After learning the other two, this one will be easy to recognize; it’s the white keys on the piano from A to the next A

Harmonic Minor: Listen for the big space between the 6th and 7th notes

Melodic minor: 6th and 7th notes are different in both directions

 

-concentrate on only one form of the minor scale at a time in your practicing to reduce confusion between recognizing them if you have to learn multiple forms of minor scales

(why I think the pedagogy of other instruments is more sound, they don’t require multiple forms of minor scales until the intermediate levels)

Cadences:

 

Plagal: The ‘Amen’ Cadence

Perfect: ‘Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits’ (on Two Bits)

Imperfect: Kuhlau Sonatina, op. 55, no. 3 1^st movement: where it goes I –V-I-V-I

Deceptive: The bass part moves up by a minor second

 

Rhythm Dictation:

 

-practice composing melodies using note values you know

 

General hints:

-know your way around a piano, ideally at least to the point when dominant and dimished 7^th chords appear in the technical requirements

Listen as you practice: make notes of pieces where a particular interval, chord, or cadence intrigues you, and make your own notes (that’s how I wrote this blog and learned ine!)

-in mastering technical requirements, listen carefully to the sound and integrate sound, sight, and hearing,

-connect the feel of practicing the different types