I’m super glad you see the value in ear training! Scales, modes, solfege, chords, etc are all excellent things to practice, especially on the road! But…if you take the wrong path, you could end up in danger of colossally wasting your time. I don’t want that to happen to you.

In this episode of “A Nuclear Survivor’s Guide to Music”:

(00:00:00) Our hero leaves work for the day and decides what podcast to listen to.

(00:02:05) Our hero decides to listen to “Busy Bards Ear Training” Again!

(00:03:44) The Host Introduces the “Ear Training IceBerg”

(00:06:15) Common Goal that wastes time: “I want to hear a song once and play it perfectly by ear like those tiktoks!”

(00:08:50) Common Goal that wastes time: “I want perfect pitch, so I can finally learn songs SUPER fast.”

(00:12:00) The realities of perfect pitch, and why you don’t need to stress about it.

(00:14:55) You can’t get perfect pitch / learn songs instantly by ear…If you can’t just learn songs by ear..at a normal pace.

(00:18:48) You’ll have a much easier time learning OTHER songs by ear, if you know how to compose, improvise, and arrange your OWN music.

(00:23:15) You can’t compose, improvise, or arrange your own music, if you don’t understand the EASIEST 20% of music theory.

(00:25:38) You can’t have a solid foundation of music theory, if you can’t even listen to WHAT makes you like a song.

(00:28:12) You can’t have an inquisitive ear, without hearing chord and melody interaction.

(00:30:38) You can’t hear chord melody, without being able to hear chords individually. Especially chord functions.

(00:32:20) You can’t use the functions of chords without briefly understanding the construction and intervals of chords.

(00:33:53) You can’t understand chords without understanding tension vs comfort (release). Which is not the same as consonance vs. Dissonance.

(00:36:15) Can’t understand chords without having a solid foundation of melody: the most recognizable part of music.

(00:37:44) You can’t make melodies if you don’t have a solid memory of scale degrees and the raw materials of the major scale.

(00:39:00) You won’t get too far with hearing scale degrees by ear if you can’t trace if the melody is ascending and descending.

(00:39:35) But you can’t melody trace, if you can’t even figure out the tonal center of the song by ear.

(00:41:05) Which you can’t do…if you can’t even learn by trial and error.

(00:42:32) You can’t even bother with ear training to pitches, if you can’t even repeat a rhythm.

(00:43:52) You can’t develop a sense of rhythm, if you can’t find and stay connected to the central beat of a song.

(00:44:55) Re-cap and Summary of the entire Ear Training Episode.

(00:48:25) We return to the perspective of our hero…you. Driving home. But…What was that flash?

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