musicianship toolbox, part 1 building sightsinging fundamentals

musicianship toolbox part 1, building sightsinging fundamentals

so you want to improve your ears? what to do? where to start?

here is a simple exercise to get you started
the first skill you to develop is the ability to sing all the diatonic intervals
(2nds-8ths, ascending and descending)

by being able to sing these intervals you are building a foundation so that you will be able to identify them in later in music dictation and transcription exercises as well as play them by ear.

traditionally computer based eartraining programs are used to learn and drill intervals, but the main drawback is that students only passively respond by clicking on a button. by singing these interval patterns using solfege, a much stronger connection is created between the resulting melodic patterns and harmonic function. through repetition of these exercises you can then recall these intervals much easier in dictation and transcription exercises. also by memorizing these patterns on an instrument creates a very strong kinesthetic connection between the identification (harmonic and melodic) of these intervals and the physical aspects of playing and singing.

i have found that singing to a drone (5th, 8th combinations) help develop strong "ears"
by singing to a fixed pitch it allows you to "hear" the interval better and learn a muscle memory/kinesthetic response for each interval.

it works something like this

1. you sing an interval with solfege to a drone
   
2. your brain processes the sound, words (solfege), and symbol (interval pattern)
3. the processing works something like this;
1. your brain works to identify and store patterns
2. when you sing these interval patterns they are stored in your brain (like a computer hard drive) for retrieval
   
3. music is just like language, and you need the requisite amount of repetition for it to be properly imprinted (to learn how to speak and understand it)
4. to make this imprint "stick" a kinesthetic connection needs to be created
   
5. solfege is used to help make this connection sticky by associating the kinesthetic sound of the note you are singing to the drone to the harmonic function implied by the resulting solfege pattern
   
1. in essence when you sing do-mi, you are imprinting sound (M3) that is associated to solfege that implies harmonic function.
   
2. once you have sung this pattern enough it will be imprinted on your brain and you should be able to recall it in dictation and transcription
   

link to .pdf
other notes

1. sing in a full voice, you should be able to hear the interval resonate in your head
2. focus on singing in a pure just intonation (remove the beats)
   
3. 4ths and 5ths are usually the most difficult intervals to sing
   
4. descending intervals are harder to sing than than ascending
   
5. this exercise is also great for instrumentalists to work on intonation (by playing these patterns to a drone)
   
6. building the ears is more important than looking at a tuner