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Ear Training Software Review

Kristin Ikeda, Kelly's Music & Computers Ear training software is a great tool to improve aural discrimination. It s a terrific way to practice and reinforce skills learned in class, and can give you extra practice in areas that you need the most help. I don t know of anyone who does ear training just for fun; most people I know try to avoid practicing ear training at all costs. Unfortunately, doing this doesn t help much when it s time for dictation. Ear training is often a frustrating experience, and programs that would be able to help increase aural discrimination without frustrating the user entirely would be really beneficial. The optimal ear training program, then, would ideally simulate an aural dictation. If the program did not cover the materials you are required to learn, unfortunately, I don t think many people would use these programs. It would be important for the software s exercises to model all the important exercises of a dictation, in order to be the most benefit to the user. Every dictation is different, but I ve included some of the most common features, and given you an overview of what each program does well, and some of its downfalls. The major areas of dictation I ve considered are: intervals, triads/seventh chords, scales, rhythmic dictation, melodic dictation, and harmonic dictation. One of the big limiting factors on identification in an aural dictation is the number of times you get to hear the dictation material. Test situations always have a limited number of hearings, so the ideal ear training program would also limit the number of times you hear the example. Unfortunately, none of the software programs I have tried are able to do this. It would be great if dictations were like these programs, and you could hear the example as many times as required in order to be sure you got it right. Then everyone would be getting perfect dictation scores imagine that! The only way to limit the number of hearings in these programs is by self control, a very difficult endeavor. Intervals: MusicLab Harmony progresses in a stepwise manner to include all the intervals in the octave, plus all compound intervals up to a perfect 12th. If you need to practice intervals beyond a perfect 12th, you ll have to look elsewhere. These intervals are also only presented to you harmonically; there is no random choice between harmonic and melodic intervals. It does play melodic intervals, but only after you ve gotten the question wrong two times. MusicLab Harmony also includes spelling exercises, so you can practice notating the intervals by ear or by name. Practica Musica includes all the intervals in the octave, but no compound intervals. The levels are broken down into well grouped sections; however, there are only a few preset levels. These

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intervals are played melodically, and harmonically after you ve answered. You also have the option of hearing the intervals either harmonically or melodically. After the interval is first played melodically, any in subsequent hearing you can choose to hear the interval harmonically or melodically with the click of a button. Practica Musica also has a spelling exercise, and a playing exercise, where you enter the interval on the piano keyboard or guitar fretboard. Earmaster includes all intervals within two octaves; however, the compound intervals are found only as they appear in a diatonic scale. The minor intervals greater than then octave are only played descending, and the major intervals greater than an octave are only played ascending. You can enter your answer on the piano keyboard, guitar fretboard, the grand staff, or by clicking a button with the interval s name. You will hear the interval you have selected, so you can guess until you find the interval that matches, making the exercise really easy. There is an interval comparison exercise in Earmaster, where you will distinguish whether an interval is bigger or smaller than another. Earmaster has different levels that drill melodic ascending, descending, and harmonic intervals separately. Auralia includes all the intervals up to a perfect 15. You get practice with all intervals within two octaves. In Auralia you can choose whether you hear your intervals harmonically or melodically ascending, descending or both. Unfortunately, you can t hear the intervals both harmonically and melodically in the same exercise. Auralia also has an interval comparison exercise, where you can distinguish which of two intervals is larger or smaller. A great thing about the interval training in Auralia is the ability to customize which intervals you would like to be tested for. This feature is perfect if you just want to practice certain intervals; for example, if you have trouble distinguishing M7, m7, M9 and m9, you could just select these four intervals, and drill them. Triads/Seventh Chords: MusicLab Harmony includes identification of all triads and seventh chords. Identification of inversions, however, is only required with the triads. Aural identifications of chords are of chords played in both open and closed positions. Spelling exercises also work on both closed and open spellings. Practica Musica includes identification of all triads except augmented, and all seventh chords. Inversions of all triads and inversions of all sevenths except for third inversion are included. There are also exercises in playing and spelling chords. Earmaster offers identification of all triads and seventh chords, and all inversions. Earmaster also has identification of added sixth chords and ninth chords. This is one area the program does well, and as in the other drills, you get to hear your selection. This feature is useful for practice when you are trying to distinguish between a MM6/5 and a mm6/5, but isn t as useful when trying to simulate a test.

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Auralia also includes identification of all triads and seventh chords, but does not include inversions of seventh chords. Auralia also includes a section on jazz chords. The seventh chords are included in this section. Having seventh chords included with the jazz chords is a little bit frustrating if you don t need to know these other chords. However, you can customize the drill so that you only practice the sevenths you need to learn, and it is a great tool for anyone wanting to learn jazz chords. Scales: MusicLab does not include scales in either the Harmony or the Melody programs. I think this is one of the downfalls of an otherwise great ear training program. Practica Musica includes drills on most of the traditional scales. It covers the major and all the minor (natural, harmonic and melodic) scales, as well as most of the church modes. It does not include practice with the Locrian mode, and in the exercise working with the modes, does not include Aeolian (natural minor) or Ionian (major) modes. Earmaster has a comprehensive scale component. It includes all the church modes, plus altered church modes, adding various raised and lowered scale degrees. Earmaster also includes both the pentatonic scales (major and minor) as well as the whole tone scale. As in the other sections of this program, you can hear the selection you choose, making it an easy guessing game to match the question s sound to the answer s sound. Auralia has the most comprehensive scale section of all the programs I ve looked at. It includes major and all the minor modes, all the church modes, as well as many jazz scales. The two pentatonic scales, the whole tone and the chromatic scales are also included. In the pre-defined levels the scales are introduced a couple at a time, making logical progressions, and you can customize which scales you would like to hear to make your own drill. Rhythmic Dictation: MusicLab Melody includes short rhythmic dictation 2 bars. The rhythms get increasingly more complex, and the most advanced levels include eighth note triplet dictation. Both simple and compound meters are used. Practica Musica has the same rhythmic dictation as melodic 8-9 beats. It includes eighth note triplet dictations, and both simple and compound meters. Earmaster does not include rhythmic dictation. Instead, there is rhythmic imitation, sight rhythms, and discrimination between the notated rhythm and the rhythm being played. The rhythms are up to six bars, and in the most advanced levels, quite difficult. Triplet eighths, sixteenths, and quarter notes are included. There are exercises in both simple and compound time, as well as in 5/4, 5/8, 7/8. Rhythms with eighth notes and half notes as the beat are also included.

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Auralia includes dictations of up to 4 bars, in both simple and compound meters. Auralia also includes triplet dictation: quarter note triplets as well as eighth note triplets. One thing that would be useful in the rhythmic dictation would be to have two-part dictations. Practica Musica comes close with a two-part rhythmic imitation section, but this section does not require accurate notation of the rhythm, just accurate imitation. Melodic Dictation: MusicLab Melody only does short melodic dictations 2 bars plus the downbeat of the third bar. Both the rhythms and the melodies get increasingly complex. Melodies are in the major and minor modes, and include accidentals (raised leading tones) and chromaticism. In the melodic dictations of MusicLab Melody, the melodies are broken down into two parts: rhythm and melody. You are not allowed to notate the pitches until you have the correct rhythm. This is a useful way to learn how to do dictations; however, not everybody likes to do them this way, which could be a source of frustration, especially if you ve already found another effective way of doing melodic dictations. Practica Musica has slightly longer dictations 8 or 9 beats (9 in 3/4 time, 8 in 2/4 and 4/4). There often doesn t seem like there s a specific tonality in the melodies; the melodies often end on a scale degree such as ti or fa, not resolving the tension found in these pitches. Practica Musica includes a section on 2-part melodic dictation, which none of the other programs have. Earmaster s melodic dictation is pitch dictation, with no rhythmic notation required. It includes a series of up to 11 pitches to notate. This section starts in major and minor tonalities, and eventually moves into whole tone and chromatic sequences, making it useful to practice atonal melodic dictations. Auralia has the longest melodies: up to 4 bars. One thing that was frustrating with Auralia was that it when it used chromaticism; it often required the enharmonic equivalent of the note. These equivalents did not make sense relative to their tonal function. Harmonic Dictation: MusicLab Harmony includes a great section on harmonic dictation. It includes practice on everything from identifying the function of a chord in a key to modulations to closely related keys and Augmented sixth chords. There is also practice in notating what you hear, and notating from chord symbols, with both exercises requiring correct voice leading. Voice leading errors are checked by the program, and any errors you ve made are marked as wrong. Practica Musica includes a section on harmonic dictation, although there is no harmonic analysis of what it heard. You are required to transcribe each of the voices of a 4-part chorale, which is very

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difficult, however, with Practica Musica you have the option of muting all the parts, so you can listen to one line at a time. Earmaster s harmonic dictation is a bit different than the other programs. In Earmaster, you are only required to identify the chord progression; however, many of the chord progression are not typical progressions you would learn in harmony class. These progressions involve a lot of seventh chords; there are many progressions where every chord is some sort of seventh. The voice leading in the examples is not very good either. There were some examples where there were very obvious parallel fifths and octaves. There is no opportunity for notating the progression. Auralia also includes harmonic analysis of chord progressions. It also gets quite advanced, including mixture chords, secondary dominants, and Augmented sixth chords. Auralia includes a section on cadence identification; however, this can be confusing if you are not using the same terminology as the program. Auralia does not let you notate the progressions, and does not show the correct notation when it gives the answer. The ability to create your own drills in ear training programs is a factor that I would consider important in an ear training program. The pre-defined levels do not always have exactly what you need to be practicing. Practica Musica, Auralia and Earmaster all have customizable features in them. In Practica Musica, however, I was not able to figure out how to create my own drill. This would take a long time to do, decreasing the limited time one usually spends on ear training. I don t feel that there is one best ear training program; they are all good programs. Some programs are better than others in some areas, but also lack in others. The best ear training program will depend upon your specific needs, and what you want to be able to accomplish with the program.
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