Monday, February 29, 2016

Harmony Tip 4

A great way to practice ear training is to use our voices and bodies to feel the sound vibrations.

Here is an exercise I learned from my friend and bass player Andy Zadrozny, who also teaches ear training. Play a note on a keyboard using a sound that can be held with the sustain pedal, but has no reverb, delay, etc... Make it a pure tone. Then sing each interval within the octave over that pure tone. You can sing 'oooos', or 'aaahhhs', or 'eeeees'.

For example. Let's say you choose to play the note 'A' just below the middle 'C'. Sing in unison with that sound. Perceive how it feels in your body. Then proceed to singing the minor 2nd, which is 'Bb'. Now listen how the vibrations that were completely harmonious before, now sound like they are fighting with each other. Go back and forth between singing in unison with that pure tone, and singing a minor 2nd above.

Repeat the same process singing all the intervals within the octave against the pure tone of 'A' (or any tone that is comfortable for your voice). In time you will recognize the vibrations of each interval, both in your listening and in the feeling in your body. You will find that some intervals like the perfect 5th and the octave are very harmonious, whereas the minor 2nd and flat 5th are not. You might have heard the term 'interval of the devil', affectionally given by the church to this most infamous interval: flat 5th, the tritone! :)

Try it, it's fun!


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