Hey folks, this has been talked about before a million times but do read on.
I'm having a nightmare of a time trying to differentiate between p4th and p5th especially harmonically.
Somebody said it's because these intervals are inversions of each other.
When EM plays the interval and shows the bottom note I try to guess the top one. And I can hear instantly whether the note I played was right or wrong.
What's wrong with me then? Any ideas on why my brain is so stubborn?
And is anyone aware of any psychological or physical aspects of this issue?
Let's say I heard the "you need to practice" bit already.
And don't get me wrong, I know it takes time. I'm just looking to find the most efficient way to do this.
P 4ths and 5ths
Moderator: Quentin
Have you tried to use reference tunes as a mnemonic trick?
For example, if it sounds like the two first tones of:
- Amazing Grace, or the French national anthem, or 'Here Comes the Bride' then it is a P4
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Star Wars main theme or the theme from X-Files, then it's a P5.
You can create your own list of reference songs at www.earmaster.com/intervalsongs/
Hope that helps
For example, if it sounds like the two first tones of:
- Amazing Grace, or the French national anthem, or 'Here Comes the Bride' then it is a P4
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Star Wars main theme or the theme from X-Files, then it's a P5.
You can create your own list of reference songs at www.earmaster.com/intervalsongs/
Hope that helps
- Because in Music, We're All Ears... -
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Jamie Lang
- Ear training rookie
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Nov 19, 2012 3:22 pm
- Location: nashville
He said harmonically...I have the same issue. I blame it on my decades of playing rock/pop/sould guitar, where the two are utterly interchangeable...meaning, a typical comp over and Amin chord would involve every variation of A/E...E/A...C/G....G/C....
The melodic is where the song examples help. "Here comes the bride" being the one I use (for 4th)--if it's not a fourth, it's a fifth.
Something to try, and this helps me with all harmonic identification--play it with a better piano. I don't have one in Soundfont...but, with EM5, I sent it out to Gigastudio/GigaPiano--and magically, I could immediately score WAY better on harmonic tests. It's all about the overtone series and how it rings. I'd like to say I could hear a 1-3-5 notes in a chord, but I can't--I hear it as a jumble that rings a certain way--and the upper partials are important to that. Worth a shot if you have access to a more accurate piano sample.
The melodic is where the song examples help. "Here comes the bride" being the one I use (for 4th)--if it's not a fourth, it's a fifth.
Something to try, and this helps me with all harmonic identification--play it with a better piano. I don't have one in Soundfont...but, with EM5, I sent it out to Gigastudio/GigaPiano--and magically, I could immediately score WAY better on harmonic tests. It's all about the overtone series and how it rings. I'd like to say I could hear a 1-3-5 notes in a chord, but I can't--I hear it as a jumble that rings a certain way--and the upper partials are important to that. Worth a shot if you have access to a more accurate piano sample.
When i notice that i have a difficulty of confusing two intervals i make a custom exercise with only that two intervals and practise only that exercise with days even weeks until i get to a point when i'm not confusing them anymore. And always correct your error by taking time listening the right answer and the wrong answer (understand why you've made the mistake by comparing both). If you're not correcting your errors and say move on to the next example you're not making a progress.