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Understand Music Theory: Train your ear

by Margaret Richer

Ear training or aural training is instruction designed to develop the sense of hearing and listening skills in music. It includes recognition of pitch, intervals, chords, meter and rhythmic patterns, and may be taught in several ways.

Sight singing involves reading and singing a melody without rehearsal or preparation. Material should be graded so that the learner is able to study one problem at a time, progressing from an easy rhythm and melody to more complex music. The tunes used should be written in an easy singing range.

As in sight singing, sight reading usually refers to the performance of music on an instrument without practice. A finished result is not expected, the goal being to produce a general impression of the work. Both in singing and playing a melody on an instrument such as a flute or violin, the main knowledge required is the ability to recognize intervals and count rhythms.

For an instrument like the piano, the performer must be able to play without looking at the keyboard, as all attention will be needed to read the various pitches written on the grand staff.

Dictation is the recognition and identification of the different musical elements without the use of a score. The sounds are analyzed by hearing, not seeing. Practice in dictation appears in different ways. It could involve listening to a rhythm tapped, then writing it down in notation. Other exercises might require recognizing intervals, chord types or entire melodies, then notating what is heard.


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