Ear Training

Thanks Luke. Really good references which I am in the process of subscribing to Earmaster and have a couple of questions into them. Reason I am going the subscription route is because I can access on my multiple devices. They also offer a free trial.
In addition I have bought online two books by Hal Leonard that has a link into online learning so the audible sounds are real.
Thanks for the follow up, it’s oroven to be very useful.

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Good job you weren’t brushing your hair at the same time. :rofl::rofl:

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@craiginker good for you for digging into this stuff man! It WILL pay off BIG TIME!

@toogdog I want to encourage you to stop saying “I’m tone deaf!” You’re not. I’d prefer you say “I have a trouble distinguishing notes.” Because ANYBODY can learn to recognize tones and match pitch. (By “match pitch” I mean being able to play a key on the piano and sing the same pitch.) It just it harder and longer road for some of us than others. But IT IS POSSIBLE to learn!!! I wanted to clarify, are you using EarMaster?

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+1 to that.
For nearly 60 years I believed what my early teachers told me about being tone deaf.

Then I discovered they must
have been wrong.

Real tone deafness is a rare medical condition (the proper name is ‘amusia’), & if you have that you don’t like music because it doesn’t seem to make any sense - it’s just an annoying noise.

When I discovered that I knew I wasn’t really tone deaf because I’ve always loved music!

It turned out the problem was that I’d never picked up how to pitch match. I thought singing in tune was a thing that ‘just happened’ (to other people), not a thing that could be learned (& presumably those teachers of mine thought the same!).

I found & joined Musical-U, started working on ear training & have not looked back since. I can now sing well enough that it doesn’t annoy my wife, and I’ve taken up several instruments.

With ears that had got away with being lazy about pitch for nearly 60 years ear training has been (& still is) hard work, but it’s been well worth while & I’m gradually getting better. :smiley:

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I was using Earmaster. It is great. I am just working too much to fit everything in. I’ll go back to it when I can. Thanks for the encouragement.
Ttfn Doh Re Meeee.

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My understanding is diatonic harps cannot do augmented?

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THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS @DavidW!!! :raised_hands:t3:

Did you hear that @toogdog???

I’m the same way! My wife and daughter both have such good ears - I’m very envious of them! They can hear a melody once, and just sing right back.

Not me! I’ve had to fight tooth and nail to develop my ears.

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On a C harmonica you can play a G augmented arpeggio in the bottom octave:

-1 -2’ -3’

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Luke

I use an I Pod by placing one ear piece in and leave the broken on out. I have several songs I want to learn on it. Seems to help with tone, tempo and what notes are seemingly skipped by the pros. It also magnifies mistakes and helps to slow me down as playing fast is a fault I must break. Another ? When playing draw 6-10 notes do you find using your diaphragm is the best way to get a great note?

Also what are some day to day ways to clean any dried saliva out of the reeds. I notice mine are not as sharp and easy to play after a day or two. Dry mouth is my problem but sticky lips make sliding the harp easily a problem. What is the best thing I can use to keep the lip plates easy to move?

Scott

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Hey @Scott yes diaphragmatic breathing ALL THE HOLES baby!

There are lots of posts on hear about cleaning harps if you just type it into search box. But I just run it under hot tap water in both directions and then blow/draw and tap against palm to dry it out. But reeds shouldn’t get impaired that quickly.

Just wipe down the cover plates with a clean soft cloth. You can wear lip balm if needed. Are you using the deep relaxed mouth position? The moist inner-portion of your lips should be in contact with the harmonica.

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There is a former college music instructor, music producer, and now youtube teacher named Rick Beato. He offers courses from beginner guitar to advanced theory. One of the courses is ear training. I have this material. The Beato book is way over my head. I use it for guitar and ear training.

Luke

I was planning to do jus that but the Hohner rep said this is not good for the harp. If you think some hot water, a tap out and then playing some to dry out everything is fine let me know. This is how I was cleaning an old harp I had and it worked great.

Scott4

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Luke Yes to your question on mouth position. Thing are getting better but I wanted to tackle the toughest part asap. Play slow songs reall helps.

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@scott4 sorry I’m not seeing what model of harp you’re playing? Also who is the Hohner rep who said that?

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Luke I have Crossover 20 ( 3). I saw this watching the Hohner tour on U Tube.

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Yeah triple-lacquered bamboo comb - it’ll be fine to wash it out - I do it with mine! Just make sure it dries completely before putting it back in the case. :+1:t3:

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Maybe if you keep on playing it’ll fully comeback. By the way did you also stop playing the accordion?

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I quit playing the Accordion when I left home. My older sister made a GREAT living playing the Accordion, my younger sister was also an accordionist. The females, in my opinion, were more in demand to play at cocktail parties and such than a male. My older sister owned two Excelsior Accordions, and I played one of them. My younger sister was very eager for me to leave home and leave the accordion behind.
I didn’t realize how much I would miss ‘making music’, so a few years after I left home I was offered a job ‘managing’ a Wurlitzer Organ Store. It turned out that the Wurlitzer Organ Store was obtained by the owner of the Hammond Organ Studio so they would be able to sell Wurlitzer Pianos, so the job sucked, but I adapted my ‘musical talent’ to playing the Organ. In fact, I met my wife (of 58 years) while I was demonstrating a Wurlitzer Organ at the Denver Auto Show - She was there with her Fiance!. We got married 6 months later, and I purchased the Organ (on time) because the factory gave me a special price. My back is still bad, and I cannot practice very long, but I am doing a pretty fair job of playing an Electronic Piano (The big thing is learning new left hand skills.) On the Organ, I used the pedals to play the bass notes, and played the chords all within just about one octave, so I wasn’t really moving my left hand, just changing finger position, to play the chords, and sometimes a counter melody or whatever. I finally missed my music so much that I started playing again. Unfortunately, the organ is about 57 years old, and was not used for about 20 years. Apparently the tone generator for the pedals has failed, and dust has taken it’s toll on the other tone generators and the revolving speakers, so it doesn’t work as well as before. (some of the ‘stops’ cut in and out and also produce some static.)

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Thank you for sharing your wonderful story. I hope you and your instrument get in better shape.

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I appreciate that…I am really old guy and enjoy sharing with folks like you. I am limited to the time I spend on the EP also, but just by my back. I recover more quickly, and have a good office chair at the right height to play longer with less pain! I love the harp, but I love the harmonies that great music writers put in so many beautiful songs with their chord progressions, which is probably my REAL love of music. An Augmented or Diminished placed in the proper progression just chills my soul! As my mother used to say when I played “Make it Hurt” !
God Bless You!

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