[Feature Request] Custom Vocal Range, Interval Singing Pitch Curve et al.

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rmdeluca
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[Feature Request] Custom Vocal Range, Interval Singing Pitch Curve et al.

Post by rmdeluca » Sep 20, 2018 10:00 am

Greetings. I'd like to see a few improvements to the iPad EarMaster software:

1. The ability to specify a custom vocal range i.e. select the exact lowest and highest pitch that will be expected during singing exercises.

Reason: the Baritone (F-clef) vocal range option makes a significant portion of the "Melodic Sight Singing" modules nearly useless whenever a tonic of C4 is chosen by the software. It causes, on average, 50% of every early lesson to display only "Re" and "Do" note sequences such as:

Re, Do, Re, Do, Re, Do

or

Re, Re, Do, Do, Do, Re and so on.

Consequently, almost all of the work with syllables other than Re and Do ends up only occurring with C3 as the tonic. I might not be able to make beautiful tones above D4, but I can go much higher than "Re" when sight singing for ear training. Allowing me to work in both octaves will make it harder to simply memorize the pitches and further encourage proper usage of intervals and scale degrees.

2. Add the ability to display the pitch curve (available in the "Melodic Sight Singing" module) in the "Interval Singing" module as well.

Reason: this would make the "Interval Singing" module MUCH more useful for cracking down on bad intonation or excessive modulating into the correct pitch. Without this feature, I have to use a second app on my phone which is a hassle when I'm using a microphone plugged into my iPad.

3. Add a pure sine wave instrument.

Reason: pure sine waves are useful (occassionally) when working on intonation because the "beats" between two similar tones are much more prominent when one of the tones is pure and unclouded by strong harmonics/overtones.

4. Increase the maximum question limit in custom exercises from 50 to something higher (maybe 500?)

Reason: 50 questions is way too few once you have some familiarity with the material. In particular, interval recognition and interval singing. It's possible to complete 50 interval recognition questions in less than 2 minutes, making it a hassle to work for larger chunks of time such as 15 minutes.

5. Add the option to have a time limit as an alternative to a question limit in custom exercises.

Reason: this is related to #4. Again, some exercises are way too trivial for experienced users to end at only 50 questions. A time limit will help with blocking out chunks of practice time instead of having to use an independent time source and repeating the 50-question chunks over and over.


Thank you, this app has been a great tool so far.

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Quentin
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Re: [Feature Request] Custom Vocal Range, Interval Singing Pitch Curve et al.

Post by Quentin » Sep 24, 2018 3:04 am

Hi,

These are very good suggestions. The first suggestion is available on desktop and I'm sure it will be added to the iPad version soon. I have forwarded the rest to the dev team.
- Because in Music, We're All Ears... -

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rmdeluca
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Re: [Feature Request] Custom Vocal Range, Interval Singing Pitch Curve et al.

Post by rmdeluca » Oct 09, 2018 3:08 pm

Hello Quentin,

A few more suggestions:

1. Make the tempo setting for the Melodic Sight Singing and Rhythm Sight Reading modules "sticky." Having it reset to 120BPM every single time I start a new section or come back the next day is actually pretty annoying.

2. On the subject of tempo - 120BPM seems absurdly fast for a starting tempo in the sight singing course, especially once you reach quarter notes. From the perspective of a beginner, half that is probably more realistic. Then, the course should slowly ramp up the tempo before suggesting that I "move on to the next module." Likewise, it should slow down if my performance is abysmal.

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Quentin
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Re: [Feature Request] Custom Vocal Range, Interval Singing Pitch Curve et al.

Post by Quentin » Oct 10, 2018 12:56 am

In all training modes except "Customized Exercise", the tempo is set by the exercise itself. You are allowed to modify the tempo in most exercises, but it will be set to the lesson's default when you take a retake it. The reason for that, is that the tempo is considered a part of the pedagogical structure of the course. For example int he first lessons without note values, it's 120, then when note values come in, it goes down 90, then when it moves on to 6/8 it's another value, etc. Whether or not the values are perfect for everyone is of course very subjective and we're definitely open to suggestions.
- Because in Music, We're All Ears... -

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rmdeluca
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Re: [Feature Request] Custom Vocal Range, Interval Singing Pitch Curve et al.

Post by rmdeluca » Oct 11, 2018 11:48 am

"For example int he first lessons without note values, it's 120, then when note values come in, it goes down 90..."

I think I'm misunderstanding you here. I'm on section 5.16 in "Melodic Sight-Singing" (4-bar C-Major with quarter notes) and it's at 120BPM, not 90.

At my (beginner) level, 120BPM ranges from absurd to just "too fast" between problems depending on what note patterns the app generates. Note that I reached section 5.16 by following the app's prompts i.e. only advancing when told to, starting from the very beginning. I can readily score 96%+ on a 50-question custom "interval singing" exercise with all of these intervals (with a random tonic too). I can easily do the "Rhythm Sight-Reading" exercises at 120BPM with those same note durations. However, I have not reached the point where those individual skills are integrated/internalized such that I can consistently do both at that tempo.

Granted, I am one anecdote among many. I also fully understand and agree there should be a pedagogically determined tempo the app wants you to eventually perform at before you progress. However, without a dynamic tempo adjustment feature a beginner like myself will have to manually self-adjust the tempo hundreds if not thousands of times while progressing though the module over the course of a year or two. Or, will get frustrated singing "Do-Re-Do-Re-Mi" at 120BPM and then suddenly crashing and burning once some of the larger scale degrees are introduced. Especially because the difficulty of vocalizing intervals increases non-linearly with distance or with certain scale degree jumps (e.g. tritones).

If the program simply retained the user's previous tempo selection, yet prompted them to increase the tempo once they started scoring in the 95-98% range (or even prevented them from progressing until the tempo was high enough), that would be, IMHO, a huge Quality-of-Life improvement. Of course, go ahead and reset the tempo when a new time signature or note duration is reached.

Even better would be dynamic tempo adjustment :p

As always, these suggestions are not meant to be negative criticism. My standpoint is that EM is the greatest, most comprehensive ear training app available on mobile platforms, period. Especially for an autodidact. However, there are QoL tweaks that could make it much better in certain areas.

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