Ear Training for Singers and Songwriters

I’ve composed a series of pieces, one for each interval starting with a 2nd and going all the way to an octave, as well as some exercises and warmups to begin training your ear for harmony. Listen to the videos and try the exercises with me. Then practice with the backing tracks at your own pace. The more you sing and listen to these pieces, the quicker you will develop a memory for each interval. The idea is to sing some of the exercises for a few minutes everyday, and eventually you will begin to develop a memory for the sounds of the intervals (and the various rhythms). Training your ear doesn’t happen over night, but with a little effort you will get better and better at hearing and reproducing the intervals. This will aid you in sight reading better, as well as figuring out the melodies you hear on the radio (and in your head as a songwriter). With a little practice and perseverance, you will soon be able to start identifying the intervals in those melodies, as well as the corresponding chords.

“Intervals” truly are the building blocks of melody and harmony, and once you can begin to understand their unique qualities and hear them internally, finding chords and harmonies will come more easily to you. This course is designed to get you seeing, hearing and singing intervals (the spaces between notes in the tunes we love) and then learn how they relate to chords and work together to create unforgettable songs and melodies. 

Learn how the scale and intervals work in a step by step process designed to get you internalizing pitch and harmony even when you are not singing or playing! Learn what bass clef chords look and sound like on the piano as well, and if you have a keyboard, try to play along on some of the pieces!

Disclaimer: for those of you who may have studied solfege, I have taught both “movable” and “fixed” solfege for 20+ years, but I prefer to teach with movable solfege for this series as it helps to develop a memory for patterns in melody and harmony no matter the key if you know that song from The Sound Of Music, “Do a Deer”, that’s based on the “solfege” scale).

I’ve included pdfs of the sheet music which can be downloaded and printed out to further aid your note reading skills. There are also many backing tracks for independent practice. Let’s start training your ear and developing your innate musical gifts! And as always, if you try the course and are confused in any way, please reach out to me with your questions and concerns.

Who this course is for:

• Singers and songwriters who want to learn more about how intervals and harmony works
• Music enthusiasts who want a deeper understanding of basic music theory
• Music students who would like to develop their understanding of harmony and practice hearing intervals
• Instrumentalists who are interested in developing their ear for intervals and harmony
• Anyone who would like to learn how to play chords on the piano
• Students who wish to practice sight reading