Ear Training

Your Sax teacher has what is referred to as Perfect Pitch. Very rare.
My older sister had a even rarer talent called Absolute Pitch. If you asked her to sing or hum a note she could do it with 100% accuracy. She could tune a guitar by ear. She could listen to several bars of a record and write them out with ease. I try to sound out the notes from a record and have to listen to them over and over and over. Tabbing a song for a harp from a recording takes me HOURS, then I listen to it over and over correcting error after error!

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Wow, i wish I was like her, Itā€™s amazing how some people are so talented ,keep up your own efforts too. and i will keep on ā€˜struggling, haā€™

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Iā€™m with you @Poppo, everything has been a slow grind for me!

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I admire your patience Poppo! Thatā€™s a skill in itself :heart_eyes:

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Thank you Thank you Thank you. You tell us in beginning lessons to try and figure out the notes to play(4, 6 -6, 6, -5) etc. I didnā€™t have a clue, I can tell intervals , and rhythm , but that was about it. Now I have another goal to learn how to ā€œhearā€ the music!

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I know what you are sayingā€¦I tabbed a tune I fell in love with watching a movie. Other than sitting down and writing out the musical score, which I have only done a few times, mostly over 60 years ago, I donā€™t know what to tell someone other than slow or fast, 3/4 or 4/4 timeā€¦

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Sometimes it was a pain. I would be in the back ā€˜bedroomā€™ practicing the accordion. I would play a couple measures, then hear my sister holler from the front room "that is an e FLATā€™! when she was 5 our folks bought her a piano, as she was doing so well. They delivered the piano, had it tuned and M came home from school, squealed and ran to the piano. She played 2 notes and declared ā€œI canā€™t play this, it is out of tuneā€. My folks got mad and told her to play the piano, she started crying and said ā€˜it hurtsā€™. They called her teacher who said ā€œIf M says it is out of tune, it is out of tune and she cannot rationalize that the note she plays is not the right noteā€. They called the tuner, and he said, he tuned the piano 1/2 note low because he was afraid of breaking the wires because the piano was so old. Folks had to send the piano back and get another oneā€¦

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What a great gift she has and a great musical future, I wish her much luck.

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She played for Myron Florenā€™s wedding, played a spontaneous duet with him when he did a concert in Denver, She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Concert Accordion. She was Guest Soloist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra. She did 6 USO overseas shows with Buddy Rogers and over 250 local USO shows at Lowry AFB and Fitzsimmons Army Hospital. She was as comfortable with western music as she was with classical or popular. Charles Magnate called her the best female Accordionist he ever heard. She played on the ā€œSaturday Nite Barn Danceā€ on Channel 9 for approximately 5 years. She raised 4 wonderful boys. She died in January, 2000. We miss her great talent.

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I actually had almost no exposure to commercial harp music before deciding to play one. My great uncle used to play one to me as a kid so I would dance. His wife taught ballet. They were a funny couple in many ways but thats a really long story.
I wanted to play because its portable and feels like singing and reminds me of darling uncle George. I REALLY cant sing and Iā€™m a bit deaf. Probably from shot guns and loud dance music.
I have taught a few people to speak English. A couple who didnā€™t speak a word. One thing I repeatedly tell them to do is leave the radio on the news channel. You wonā€™t understand much but you will absorb the internation and words little by little. Exposure is the key.
I donā€™t know why I never thought of practising what I preach. I am forcing myself to listen to a lot more music that features harmonica. I am slowly starting to think as I listen. Is that note up or down from the last? Is that a draw or blow? How are they getting that effect?
Exposure. Thatā€™s my tip to beginners who donā€™t already have an appreciation of the instrument.
The app earmaster you recommend is also fantastic. I use it to cheat a bit when trying to suss out a melody.
Thereā€™s my two bobā€™s worth on ear training.
Nita

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Hello @toogdog,
I could use good tips and English lessons and music theoryā€¦
I donā€™t know why, but in theory I have a whole forest in front of my head. Iā€™ve tried different things, I canā€™t implement it. I donā€™t know anything else like thatā€¦ :slightly_frowning_face: I didnā€™t know the app yet, but Iā€™ll definitely try it out. Maybe then Iā€™ll get a :bulb:. Greetings from Astrid :woman_in_lotus_position:

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Quick tip. You are using Google translate. Keep your sentences REALLY short. No commas. No questions. Vert short statements with one subject. It canā€™t translate complex statements. It canā€™t translate inference or qualoquelism. Keep trying to write it yourself. Check out the meaning on translate. Then try to write it yourself in English.

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Yes @toogdog, that is often difficult here. Itā€™s complex. When I first had to translate Luke at BTB, Google Translater did it very well. I understand a lot, but there are special ones. Itā€™s gotten a lot better.
Since I play more English songs now, I donā€™t just write down the tabs. I also write down the text. If I understand the content, I can play with the corresponding emotions.
Thats fun!
I used to learn this so-called Oxford English. It was optional instruction and therefore little. This English is stiff and not modern. You feel like the older English nobility. :smiley:

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Yes Oxford English is optional. There is the argument. Do you need theory? Some say in oder to do something you need to understand it. You can just play harmonica. If you understand music you will probably play it better. Oxford is the theory of English.

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@toogdog, thatā€™s the strange thing, I can already implement a lot when playing the harp. I also do that by thinking and testing, rather a feeling? But if I work through the theory, I read it, but I canā€™t implement it. Itā€™s too much information. And what I couldnā€™t / wasnā€™t allowed to learn before, I hardly catch up now.
Many feel the same way about using PCs and mobile phones these days. I was there from the start and today I can also quickly implement new things. Our generation can no longer avoid it.

You know, in the former GDR we major in the Russian language. I can still speak, read and write today.
Depending on the school, English or French could be chosen as the second language. For me it was English, but few teachers. It was the English they had picked up themselves in captivity.
We live here in the Ruhr area with many nations. But my mixture of the two foreign languages ā€‹ā€‹is quite good.

I find all of this very interesting because you learn a lot about nations, ways of life and of course people themselves. :smiley:

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So true. So true. You are very wise.

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Oh no @toogdog,
my grandma was wise! I only make distinctions between the useful important things in my life. Set priorities.:wink:

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Hello @toogdog,
I have just looked more closely at the EarMaster app. It doesnā€™t work that well on the tablet, but it does on my smartphone.
The first lessons with singing the tones have been completed very well.
You seem to have been using the app for a while. Have you already used the small purchases for this? Or do you only use the free lessons? Would the app also help me when I practice bending with the Harp? Would the piano setting be correct?
Thank you for your support!

Best regards from Astrid :woman_in_lotus_position:

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I donā€™t know if bending is in the lessons for earmaster. It should as it has all notes. I think it works well for piano. I am Really bad at it because I am tone deaf. So I pay the subscription. It is helping me.

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The EarMaster doesnā€™t help you with the TECHNIQUE of bending (itā€™s not harmonica specific.)

But it helps you with hearing and recognizing intervals, which will in the long run improve your bending. Iā€™ve paid thousands of dollars to music conservatories to teach me what EarMaster can teach you with a small monthly payment.

Well worth it if you can commit to 5min/day in my opinion. Like anything there will be growth, plateau, frustration, breakthrough cycles!

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