Ear training..?

[rayc]

I've known 2 poeple with perfect pitch.
One a high school music teacher/jazz perfromer/musical writer could give you the chord, any augmentation & placement on the piano keyboard at 20 paces with his back turned, eyes shut etc. He could do that with any even instrument I tried & the human voice. He thought it mildly amusing but didn't tell people about - I asked & tested him as he was my friend & asked me to keep it quiet. He did say that it took the enjoyment out of a lot of things for him as bum notes got to him. I tried to desensitize him with atonal music but he couldn't cope.
The 2nd was a fat head who thought he knew it all. He didn't approach the above fellow in finnesse BUT could tell a chord & augmentation on guitar without seeing it. He liked to brag about & be tested on this. Oarty trick - pretty thick.
There is an old Mac program that is very good for ear training - i can't recall the name though. There's really no recent option except Sony Sing Star. How about getting the vocalist to sing into a mic & use a software or hardware tuner to give you the pitch.
Cheers
rayC

 

[studiomaster]

How about getting the vocalist to sing into a mic & use a software or hardware tuner to give you the pitch.
Cheers
rayC

Man! thats the exact same thing i have been wondering! jokes aside...

my vocal tune is kind of poor so will it be fine if i hum the rhythm into the mic and get the pitch?

 

[junplugged]

it's a language and it takes time, practice and study, and immersion

 

[DavidK]

I've known 2 poeple with perfect pitch.

Well you know me a bit from the mp3 clinic so make that 3. I have perfect pitch.

Here's how I describe it: it's like being anti-colored blind. I can almost "see" the notes. An E is an E, it always will be. I cant be wrong, I always know what note or key it is.

Other than that, its no big deal. Yes, relative pitch is good and about as important. A good ear is a good ear. Its a learned skill ( to most) that gets better by doing it and by practicing it, just like any other skill.

Can I play out of tune? Oh Yeah It means I am not practicing enough. Pefect pitch doesnt mean you will be in tune, practicing does. To get a better ear, it takes practice just like everything else.

 

[rayc]

studiomaster,
It'll work if you can humm in tune but if you can hum it you SHOULD be able to sing it - there's an insecurity thing in this somewhere. Try anyway it'll be worth the effort to know. I'm serious about Sing Star - it isn't great but uni's have done some study & the visual cues of progs like it help people who can't do it naturally - there's a problem when the visual is taken away so it isn't THE answer just a step in the right direction.
DavidK,
Thanks, now I can make it a trinity - very Easter of you!!!! Yeah p/pitch isn't the key to brilliance in playing is it? Both the fellows I mentioned were very good. The pianist extremely so but he put the time in to keep it that way, his scratch arrangements for any ensemble being a great pointer. The guitarist was all about flash so the time wasn't as well used & he had probs. I always laugh when I remember he & I rehearsing in a scratch band - a Hendrix tune - Voodoo Chile S/R. He was on LEAD guitar (naturally) & I was on bass. He couldn't pull out the wah tag at the beginning & was wasting everone's time trying to get it. I just said "here like this..." & demoed it on bass - having a cloth ear I'd spent the time to listen & work it out. He was visibly shaken that a "lesser being" could do it. He had to take a break!!!
Mind you David, you do play very well indeed. I'm retraining my ear - since taking up an unfretted instrument - cello - I've actually had to listen. It can be torture BUT it also means, in my own horrid voice, I'm beginning to approach notes instead of waving to them on the highway.
Everyone else,
I allowed to say I know DavidK, a bit.
I did have a student 2 years ago that could see colours for notes - an 11 year old scarey!!!
Cheers
rayC