Matching pitch is the act of reproducing with your voice the pitch of a tone you hear. It is the most basic and most important ear training skill, and is therefore the starting point for virtually all ear training. You don't need to have a great singing voice, but you do need to be able to get the pitch or frequency of the tone right, without singing it too sharp or too flat.

When you hear somebody sing who is consistently way out of tune, it is usually because they have never mastered this basic skill. The term 'tone deaf' is often used to describe people who attempt to sing a melody without first having acquired the ability to match pitch. True 'tone deafness' is extremely rare, but off-key singing is surprisingly common. This can be improved considerably through ear training and practice.

In music, intonation refers to pitch accuracy - that is, whether a tone is played 'in tune' or not. A note that is sung or played on an instrument may be sharp (higher frequency than the target tone) or flat (lower frequency than the target tone). With fretless string instruments such as the violin or cello, intonation depends on the degree of precision in finding the exact spot to press on the fingerboard of the instrument. Guitarists who bend strings must also have a good sense of intonation in order to keep their bends in tune.

Tuning is the process of adjusting the pitch of a tone until it matches a reference tone, at which point the pitch is considered to be 'in tune'. When you do this with your voice, it is called 'matching pitch' and is one of the most basic skills of ear training. Tuning is often done by ear, playing two pitches and adjusting one of them to match the other. Guitarists and other string players must often tune 'on the fly' during a performance. In order to play or sing in tune with proper intonation, it is vitally important to have a keen sense of pitch differentiation. Our games Speed Pitch and Dango Brothers will give you excellent practice in this area.

Speed Pitch

The first step to developing a good ear for music is to be able to 'match pitch.' This means being able to accurately reproduce with your voice a tone you have just heard. To do this, you must be able to accurately compare the frequency (pitch) of two tones. Dramatically sharpen your sense of pitch with our new game Speed Pitch!

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Dango Brothers

Musicians often need to distinguish between subtle differences in pitch, and should also notice when someone is playing or singing out of tune. In particular, guitarists and other string players must often tune 'on the fly', making quick corrections to their tuning in the middle of a performance. Dango Brothers will help sharpen your ear for tuning and pitch.

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Musicians often develop a high capacity for keeping musical information in their memories, both short-term and long term. The most basic type of musical memory is called pitch memory. To give a simple example, when you play a tone on a pitch pipe in order to establish the key before singing a song, you are using your short-term pitch memory in order to store the starting tone in your mind before you start singing. In addition, if the song starts on a tone other than the "one" of the key, you must use your relative pitch skills to find and store the starting tone of the song.

With practice, most of this becomes automatic and is done without any conscious effort. Sometimes, you will need to keep a tone in your mind as other music is playing. You may also find that you need to translate a melody to your instrument that is sung or played on a different instrument. In these cases you must be able to distinguish and store the tonal information (that is the pitches used in the melody), independent of the instrument sound. The development of a strong memory for pitch regardless of timbre (instrument sound) is one of the first steps in building your general musical memory.

Tonal Recall will strengthen both your pitch memory and your relative pitch skills.

Tonal Recall

Do you ever have difficulty recalling a pitch or melodic phrase that you just heard? Musicians who can keep particular tones or phrases in their mind and recall them accurately as needed are said to have good 'pitch memory'. Tonal Recall will strengthen this key musical skill and challenge your powers of melodic retention.

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When a group of musicians play together, one of the most important components of their sound is the mix of their instruments, and the respective volume of each instrument in the mix. Most experienced musicians have trained their ears to pick up not only melody, harmony and rhythm, but also the subtle differences in volume levels and instrument sounds that make up the overall sound of a group. To develop a strong sense of instrumentation, dynamics and acoustics, practice listening to individual parts during a group performance, "zeroing in" on particular instruments. Learn the sounds of various different instruments, and how particular sets of instruments sound in combination.

Channel Scramble will train you to quickly catch small changes in the mix of a song. You will also begin to hear more clearly the sounds of individual instruments in various genres and styles.

Channel Scramble

Mixing the sound of a band is a vital part of both recording and live performance. Channel Scramble will make you faster and more accurate at noticing small changes in the mix of a song, as well as picking out individual instrument parts. You will also hear more clearly the sounds of individual instruments in different genres and styles.

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A vast array of audio effects are used in virtually all popular music today, both in studio and live settings. Effects can be used to add color to a sound, or to completely reshape it. If you play guitar or bass, you are probably already familiar with at least some of the effect pedals that can be used to alter your tone. Effects are also found frequently on amplifiers and PA mixers.

Here are some of the most widely used effects:

Equalizer (EQ) - Boosts or reduces specific frequencies in a signal. Adjusts the bass, mid-range and treble components of a sound. Frequently found on PA mixers, equalizers can also be used to reduce feedback.

Distortion/Overdrive - Creates a 'dirty' or 'fuzzy' sound by compressing the original signal and adding overtones to it.

Reverb - Simulates the effect of a room on the original signal, based on the echoes created when the signal bounces and reflects off the walls of the room.

Delay - Repeats the original signal after a specified unit of time.

Chorus - Thickens a sound by producing the illusion of multiple instances of the original signal.

Flanger/Phaser/Tremolo - Creates a 'whooshing' sound by mixing the original signal with another that has been 'phase-shifted'.

Regardless of your instrument or style, knowing the basic sounds produced by each of these effects will help make you a better musician. It will also help you to make better decisions about what kind of gear and settings to use. When you are sound checking for a live performance, you will be better able to explain to the engineer at the mixing board what kind of sound you want from the PA (especially regarding reverb and EQ).

Flash Effects

A wide range of effects are used in just about all styles of music, both in the studio and on stage. You will benefit greatly from having a good ear for effects and an understanding of how they can be used to enhance your instrument tone and the overall sound of a band. Flash Effects is the first in our series of enjoyable and challenging flashcard games.

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In music, instrumentation refers to the combination of instruments used to perform a song or piece, as well as the sound of each individual instrument. Musicians should be able to discern which instruments are playing at any given time. Songwriters and composers can greatly increase their creative choices by having a large mental vocabulary of instrument sounds at their disposal.

See also: Instrumentation (Wikipedia)

Band Match will train your ear to recognize the sound of many different instruments and instrument combinations.

Band Match

When you hear a live performance, can you quickly pick out which instruments are playing at any given time? Band Match will sharpen your ear for instrumentation as it challenges you to identify the instruments playing in a sound clip. You may also pick up some ideas for new sounds as you hear some of the more unusual and exotic instruments.

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Equalization is used to adjust the sound of an instrument so that certain frequencies are either accentuated or reduced. This is useful in both recording and live performance, and some form of equalizer (EQ) unit is used by all audio engineers. By adjusting its EQ, the engineer can change the timbre of an instrument, causing it to stand out prominently or pushing it into the background.

EQ units are also used to balance out peculiarities in the acoustics of a particular room or hall, especially in live settings. The simplest kind of equalizer is a tone control which adjusts the bass (low frequecies) or treble (high frequencies) of the audio signal. A typical graphic equalizer has slider controls for at least 5 frequency ranges (bands), allowing the gain for each frequency range to be boosted or cut. Many instrumentalists - especially guitarists and bassists - use graphic equalizer pedals among their effects in order to get better control over their tone.

See also: Equalization (Wikipedia)

EQ Match will train your ear to hear the different frequencies on a 5-band graphic equalizer, using a wide variety of instrument samples.

EQ Match

Have you ever wondered how the sliders work on an EQ (equalizer) unit? Before and during a live performance, most bands use EQ to adjust the tone of each instrument. EQ units are also used heavily in all kinds of recording. This game will help you to master basic EQ adjustments and recognize different settings by ear.

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