Improve Your Ear with Earmaster 5
When I was young I hated ear trainnig. Really.
I remember I spent three months studying only intervals recognition in order to pass an exam in conservatory and I didn’t enjoy the experience at all. Then I left classical music and I began playing jazz: there I understood the real value of ear training. Train your hear is important if you want to a) understand what you are playing and anticipate what you are about to play b) jam with other musicians c) transcribe melodies and chords by ear and d) add improvisation to your performance.
The problem was that, in order to train properly and efficiently, I needed another person playing notes and asking me questions. Needless to say, it was pretty hard to find this person and, in the long run, I stopped practicing.
Today I solved this problem with technology and Earmaster 5, a great interactive ear training software intended for all musicians, instrumentalists, singers and composers.
I can tell you, EarMaster is the perfect tool to train your ear and become a better musician. It covers all the significant areas of ear training: intervals, scales, chords, rhythms and melodies and it’s like having someone there 24/7 ready to help you out with your training. And like a real person, EarMaster is giving you interactive feedback and makes sure you are on the right track.
What I like more of Earmaster:
1) All the exercises you do will be tracked. This allows you to monitor your progress by simply viewing the statistic and identify the progress made. You can even realize whether it takes you shorter time to respond to the questions.
2) EarMaster Pro includes two advanced tutor programs that will increase the level of complexity as you improve. The standard tutor has 440 lessons which start out for complete beginners and progress right through advanced. The jazz tutor (my favourite one!) is for the jazz musician and adds an additional 211 lessons using swing rhythms and jazz chords ( you will be asked all sorts of jazz chording such as maj7#5, minormaj7, etc.etc.), really useful!
In sum, if you are serious about growing as a musician, this is an amazing product you need to look at. And remember: you won’t see results immediately, but only with a little practice everyday.
As an old Guinness advertising said: “Good things come to those who wait”.
