aural training

I’d just designed a learning programmed based on aural training and was thinking how to teach a person who does not have perfect pitch how to reconised intervals and chords. I’d really had to think about this, because for me, it’s as simple as knowing the notes that makes up a chord, knowing how a major minor or dimined chord is composed and then knowing what the chord is. It’s a logical thing for me. So how to teach some one who can’t tell what the notes are is something that’ll be interesting to try during my teaching.
I know that each chord has it’s own colour or sound to it. Major short are sharp and happy and bright, quite bouncy. Minor chords sound heavy, sad, and diminied chords sound incomplete and uncomplete. Intervals are similar in some ways. A perfect fifth or octave sounds quite hollow and naked, like there should be more. a major third sounds really close and pleasing to the ear, and a major sixth sounds pleasing but more spread out. Also intervals can be worked out from the chromatic scale, but unless you know the notes, that could be hard to work out.
For me though, it’s a highly logical process but I do use the above with out even I think.
On another note, I’d discovered that modern piano isn’t really my thing. I can get by if I need too, and I can play hymns etc in that style, and probably work out a modern christian song if I needed. But creating and imprvising in that context just isn’t me. It’s too lose for me, I need structure. Also, as far as emotions go, I am more in tune with classical music, such as Bach and Beethoven.

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Stephanie Mitchell is a passionate musician who loves classical music. She plays piano and also sings in her church choir and the Melbourne Synphonth chorus. Stephanie also works as a freelance writing providing web content and copywriting.

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