Ear training is the process by which a student can learn to differentiate between several periods, chords and rhythms. These aural skills are important for musicians as they permit them to transcribe, play by ear, and sight-read effectively, and even acquiring advantages in terms of composition (such as, having the capability to transfer the tune in your head to paper or your instrument), and more.
Aural skills must be learned by doing, thereby it is advisable to have effective exercises in order to improve them. To begin with, students can try plain call-and-response-type workouts such as reproducing single notes: you can use a recording, or have a buddy or instructor play one note, and then try to sing or carry out the same note. This referred to as an "absolute pitch" exercise, and it will produce a sense in the student for what a given note sounds like; if you're able to determine the note immediately, you may have excellent pitch. This kind of workout can also be carried out with various notes played in a series, becoming more and more complex, which will work on memory plus identification of notes.
Another significant section to pay attention to is the identification of intervals. Listen to two notes played one after another and try to figure out the interval between the two, starting with the fundamentals like octaves and perfect fifths before going to other intervals. Being able to thoroughly determine intervals indicates you have relative pitch, which is believed as an important talent for musicians. As soon as you can identify intervals, you can use that skill to distinguish guitar chords. Students might also think about using similar exercises with the purpose of differentiating instantly between minor and major chords. Moreover, once intervals have been perfected, students can proceed to exercises to distinguish between different types of scales.
