beginner's course: singing exercises

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psycotik
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beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by psycotik » Jan 29, 2021 4:44 am

Melody singback doesn't allow you to see the note you are singing until after you have completed the question and so you don't know how to adjust. It is also too quick to accept your answer, I would like the ability to try until I am able to sustain the correct answer for a small duration.

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Quentin
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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by Quentin » Feb 02, 2021 2:32 am

Hi

The singback exercises were made train your pitch memory and intonation. Having a visual cue while you are answering the exercises would be counterproductive, as you would not rely on your ears but on your eyes to reproduce the notes.

If you want to practice with visual aid, I would recommend the sight-singing exercises of EarMaster instead, which do exactly that.
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psycotik
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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by psycotik » Feb 02, 2021 4:28 am

fair.

if we assume and treat the voice as an instrument then should there not be some basic training included with the beginners course? it cannot be truly beginner if previous experience is required.

furthermore does the singback method not assume you have perfect pitch? just as i cannot pick up a guitar or piano/keyboard and play a note without a relative reference similarly i am unable to do that with my voice. is perfect pitch considered to be a beginner trait?

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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by Quentin » Feb 02, 2021 7:14 am

Perfect pitch is singing a tone out of the blue. Singback is echoing a note you just heard, i.e. a reference that you have to match with the same note. Those are 2 completely different tasks.

EarMaster can be used for perfect pitch testing if you set up a sight-singing exercise with only one note and no tonic before the question (and also just one question, because as soon as you have answered the first question, you already have a reference tone to sing the rest from...), but it's not something we focus on.

The beginner's course does not require prior training. The only issue here is that we don't all learn the same way. Even here at our office, some of us nail that exercise and other find it more challenging even though we are all musicians. The same can be said about pulse tapping. Some can hold a beat almost instinctively, others can't and need to work on that first. Ideally, EarMaster could take this into account and adapt the progression of the course to the user.

Please keep it mind that the Beginner's Course is not an exam, the pitch matching exercise is just a simple way to approach ear training in a sensory way instead of going straight to the theory, and the software lets you move on with the rest of the course even if you don't get a high score. The aim of the lesson in question is to introduce you to the notion of pitch and let you experience what it is, not that you get 100% right away (you will find Mastery Tests at the end of the course for that :) ) The focus switches rapidly to other areas so that you can explore other areas of ear training and music theory.
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psycotik
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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by psycotik » Feb 04, 2021 4:22 am

one more thing. when I (or anyone for that matter) record myself and listen back to the recording I don't perceive the recording to sound like how I hear me. I assume this is because the pitch is different to our ears based on the acoustics of our heads, do you know if that is true? does the acoustics of our head, in fact, change the timbre?

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psycotik
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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by psycotik » Feb 06, 2021 4:58 am

The problem with melodic sight-singing that im having is that the only way I am able to see the pitch curve is if im recording and i do not have control to adjust before the note ends. and i fail the question. could the questions allow you to adjust your pitch until you hold the correct note for a certain period of time? like some of the other exercises.

As you have previously stated it tests our eyes. what is the purpose of providing audio feedback establishing the key and pitches to reproduce?

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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by Quentin » Feb 18, 2021 6:23 am

That would indeed be a very improvement for the sight-singing exercises (and the pitch matching exercise as well, I guess)
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AbigailRoss
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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by AbigailRoss » May 07, 2021 7:03 am

Honestly, I didn't know it didn't allow you to see the note you're singing....thank you

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Quentin
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Re: beginner's course: singing exercises

Post by Quentin » May 07, 2021 7:28 am

Like mentionned in the first reply, this would defeat the whole idea of the singback exercises. But you do get to see the pitches you have sung after you have answered a question. You are also able to hear the correct answer and compare it with your answer :)

There are other exercises in EarMaster in which you can see your pitch on the screen while answering (sight-singing, interval singing, etc.)
- Because in Music, We're All Ears... -

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