CONTEMPORARY EARTRAINING LEVEL ONE - AUTHOR'S FOREWORD and TABLE OF CONTENTS
For your information we have included below the Author's Foreword and Table of Contents from the Contemporary Eartraining Level One Book.
This web page contains excerpts from the Contemporary Eartraining Level One Book ©1994 Mark Harrison. All rights reserved.
CONTEMPORARY EARTRAINING LEVEL ONE - AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
Welcome to Contemporary Eartraining Level 1. This book has been used by hundreds of students in Eartraining classes held at the former Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. As such it represents a proven and 'battle-tested' approach to the subject matter! The internationally-acclaimed Grove School provided a unique learning experience for the contemporary musician, and in this exciting environment I developed a complete Eartraining
syllabus which became a vital part of the school's musicianship instruction. I am delighted to now be making my Eartraining Level 1 & 2 courses available to a wider market of students and educators! This book is self-sufficient for teachers working in private lesson or classroom settings, and for students wishing to use it as a theory/conceptual review. However, teachers as well as students working on a self-study basis will be interested to know that cassette tapes of all the exercises in this book are available - please see page iv for further information.
Some of you may be thinking, "What is Eartraining and why do I need it?" - well, it's my belief that an educated ear is the foundation we need in order to compose, arrange or perform in contemporary styles. In other words - you won't be able to write or play anything that you can't hear! A main factor distinguishing top pro musicians from the rest, is their ability to 'hear ahead' - to know what something will sound like before it is written or played. This of course results in greater focus and accuracy in the musical end product. Also the ability to hear what other performers are doing, either live or transcribing from recordings, is a vital goal for a great many musicians! The bottom line is that the mastery of Eartraining skills will enable you to achieve these goals!
My Eartraining books & courses use a key-center based 'relative pitch' method. By this I mean that the ear first needs to identify where the tonic or 'home-base' of a given key is, and then to establish the 'active-to-resting' resolutions that occur within the key. There are two vital
consequences to this approach - firstly it empowers you to discard bad habits like 'singing up
the scale' to find out where you are, and secondly you will be identifying the 'resolutions' in
every key in exactly the same manner. In order to do this, we need a method of labelling the
scale degrees which will apply to all keys - my books use the 'SOLFEG' (short for 'solfeggio')
system. This simply entails calling the major scale degrees by their 'solfeg' names - DO, RE,
MI, FA, SO, LA, TI and back to DO. Famous 'solfeg' users include Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music!! The beauty of using this system is that 'DO' can be assigned to any key - the scale
resolutions will work in exactly the same manner! Indeed I believe that it is vital for the modern musician to be able to hear melody and harmony in the same way regardless of the actual key used - hence the problems with the so-called eartraining methods advocating 'perfect pitch' that I sometimes see advertised. The SOLFEG syllables and associated 'active & resting' qualities within the major scale, are reviewed for you in Chapter 1, page 7.
Here in Contemporary Eartraining Level 1 we will work on hearing and transcribing major scale resolutions and melodies, melodic and harmonic intervals, diatonic triads and bass lines. All intervals occurring within the scale are progressively studied and recognized during the course, both melodically (one note following another) and harmonically (two notes sounding simultaneously). Diatonic (meaning 'belonging to a key') triads are first studied and
recognized individually, and then combined in short progressions and used to harmonize simple melodies. Bass lines are introduced as melodies in the bass register, and also studied
from harmonic and root interval standpoints. Throughout the book, we are progressively working with different rhythms, beginning with whole, half and quarter notes (see Chapter 1
page 6) and gradually introducing eighth-note rhythmic figures and anticipations.
The book is divided into eight chapters, which are designed to be studied 'in sequence' and which progressively introduce and develop the areas outlined above. This organization is
appropriate for classroom situations as well as private study. At the Grove School, we were
running ten-week quarterly semesters, and in the class I would cover the first four chapters
prior to a mid-term test, and the remaining four chapters prior to a final test. The material can also be adapted for use within different length semesters/courses, at the discretion of the teacher. The cassette tapes available with the book contain practice material and homework assignments for each chapter.
Each chapter in this book consists of the following sections:-
explanation & illustration of the new music concepts presented in the chapter
summary of classroom and/or study activities required to learn the concepts
vocal drills (using SOLFEG syllables) and melodies, for practice purposes
summary of theory and eartraining assignments for the chapter
workbook questions (which can be filled out) and answers for verification.
Note to teachers - when using this book in private or group class situations, you can play from the 'Workbook Answers' section of each chapter when drilling your students - they can then fill out their answers in the corresponding 'Workbook Questions' section. For students wishing to drill the material on a self-study basis, you can listen to the cassette tapes which are available (see page iv) when filling out the Workbook Questions - this can be verified against
the Workbook Answers. (Also, teachers using this material may feel that it is productive for the students to be using the tapes between classes - this is certainly true in my own experience)!
Working on the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic concepts in this book is the perfect preparation for my Contemporary Eartraining Level 2 course, which deals extensively with
hearing 3- and 4-part chord progressions, as well as melodies across key changes and modal
scales. Good luck with Eartraining - and I hope it opens many doors for you as a musician!!
MARK HARRISON
Harrison Music Education Systems
Los Angeles, California
CONTEMPORARY EARTRAINING LEVEL ONE - TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Introduction: | - Summary of subject areas addressed in the book | Page 3 |
| Chapter One: | - Review of C, F & G major scales & key signatures | Page 5 |
| - Review of SOLFEG and major scale resolutions | |
| - Melodic dictation with whole/half/quarter notes | |
| Chapter Two: | - Diatonic major 3rd and minor 6th intervals | Page 17 |
| - Introduction of eighth-note rhythms in dictation | |
| Chapter Three: | - Diatonic minor 3rd and major 6th intervals | Page 35 |
| - Introduction of D major scale and resolutions | |
| - Diatonic triad recognition - beginning with I, IV & V | |
| Chapter Four: | - Diatonic triad harmonization of melody | Page 59 |
| - Diatonic triad 2- and 3-chord progressions | |
| Chapter Five: | - Diatonic 4th and 5th intervals | Page 71 |
| - Diatonic triads and progressions - add the VI minor | |
| - Bass line dictation with half & quarter notes | |
| Chapter Six: | - Diatonic major 2nd and minor 7th intervals | Page 111 |
| - Introduction of dotted quarter-eighth rhythms | |
| - Diatonic triads and progressions - add the III minor | |
| Chapter Seven: | - Diatonic minor 2nd and major 7th intervals | Page 145 |
| - Introduction of eighth-note rhythmic anticipations | |
| - Diatonic triads and progressions - add the II minor | |
| - Bass line dictation - add eighth notes & anticipations | |
| Chapter Eight: | - Review and further drill on all of the above areas | Page 179 |
| Supplementary Worksheets: | - Keys of C, G, F, D, and Bb | Page 193 |
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