Customer Reviews

Ear Training: One Note Beginning Level

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mr. Arnold offers practical advice and information to the contemporary music student. His several books present methods for learning music in an efficient and enjoyable manner. The methods were developed and refined during his many years of teaching, and are well informed by his professional associations with many of the world's finest musicians.

I have taught music theory and aural comprehension to well over 1000 music students at New York University. These future performers and composers hail from a wide variety of musical backgrounds - classical, jazz, rock, music technology, and music theater - and I have instructed them in ear-training techniques that are similar in methodology to Mr. Arnold's. These techniques have caused dramatic improvement in almost all students that have applied themselves and allotted sufficient time for practice.

In the 10 years of our acquaintance, Bruce Arnold has consistently impressed me with his abilities as a performer, composer, and educator. I share his philosophy of ear-training instruction and feel that he has realized it in a highly functional and useful manner with his books and CDs. For these reasons, I especially recommend his materials to my students, as I recommend them to anyone with the desire to expend effective hard work in the pursuit of their musical aspirations.

Klaus Sinfelt, Assistant Director of Music Theory, Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, New York University

I was surprised when I got this book and CD. The book was only 6 pages long. But after reading it I realized that all the information I needed was there. Mr. Arnold obviously has taught this style of ear training a long time. He really anticipated a lot of my questions. This ear training method is quite different from learning intervals. This method has been a big switch for me but it's starting to work which is very exciting. I have to say I like the fact that I have this CD which I just stick in my CD player anytime and do ear training. Mr. Arnold says this is one of the secrets of quick development is to listen a lot for short periods of time. Well it's working folks. Anyway, thought I'd share my experience with this method.

I am an amateur guitarist that was looking to sharpen the ears, in order to take my playing to the next level. Since playing by ear has always been a difficult to impossible task, getting an ear training book and CD seemed like a good idea. Bruce Arnold's ear training system seemed like a perfect buy. The price, especially compared to competitors, made it attractive. Additionally, since my voice is so poor, doing ear training without singing was a plus. Opening the book, I was quite disappointed. There was really only one paragraph explaining how the system works. What am I supposed to be listening for? Should I be memorizing the pure tones? Should I be comparing the distance to C? If the latter is the case, why does he not say that, or at least hold C longer in the cadence? The FAQ was little guidance, and I don't want to waste time on the internet for help. There are two fundamental flaws I've found with the CD. One, some of the notes are out of tune. I view this as a huge problem. The high C is especially flat, it is actually B close to B flat, and this is detrimental to learning "against a key". The other problem with this book is that it is not a beginner's level, despite the title. Throwing in accidentals and the entire range of a piano is much too challenging for someone new to this sort of ear training. Once the notes within a key have been mastered, then it is time for accidentals. Otherwise, it is too overwhelming, as I have found. In the three weeks that I have diligently worked on this program, I have made very little to no progress on recognizing the pitches on the CD. I went from less than 5% recognition rate to a little more than 5%. At this rate I'll move to book two in about three years. Additionally I have made no progress in playing by ear. Eventually, I may make more progress, so I don't think this program is a total loss. Also, the method might be fundamentally sound, but the execution is quite poor. I could make a better CD than this. In fact, my next step is to record my own ear training CD to correct the glaring flaws of Mr. Arnold's. Despite its low cost, I would say the cons are strong enough to warrant a "don't buy". 2 stars.

This approach is highly effective and quite enjoyable to work with. And make no mistake, the perceptual skills it cultivates are not optional: every musician needs them, they are elemental to the musical ear. Sooner or later, every truly able/aware musician will wend his way upward into this refined aspect of musical hearing, but why not get there sooner if you can by taking an approach that systematically goes right for the 'jugular'? You won't mamby-pamby around in abstractions or plodding repetitions with this approach. Instead, right off the bat you will engage in a very well thought out kind of aural Kung-Fu. But not for the mere excitement of mastering exercises. The strength you build here applies directly to musical playing and composition. Go for this one.

I bought this used and it was sent without the CD. A waste of money on my part. An ear training book with no CD defeats the purpose.

...BR>If you don't really want to learn something, this will be useless to you. Mr. Arnold points out that this is hard. I've been working with the method for about 2 weeks now, and I'm here to tell you that it is DRIVING ME CRAZY. But the more I work with it, the more sense it makes, and the more it is rearranging my brain.
I have worked on eartraining for years, in college as a music major, and after college, ongoing for over 10 years. I could never get the traction I wanted, no matter how I worked. And really, I couldn't tell that anyone else had either.
Turns out that I had been trained in every counter-productive method Mr. Arnold mentions in his work. A lot of horrible habits, given to me by people I trusted...
Those habits are really, REALLY hard to break. But I now believe that it can be done. And after so much sweat over so much time, I'm now certain that the level of hearing I've wanted for so long really is possible. It's really HARD, and I expect to be working on this for years. But, hey... I also expect to be a musician until I die, so it's very much worth the work to do it right.
(One last note: when I first read Mr. Arnold's writing on this method I nearly cried. It was like he'd looked at everything I was doing wrong and all the time I'd wasted and said, very directly, "You should stop that. And you should grit your teeth and do this, if you really want to fix anything." Honestly, the man had my number. Maybe he has yours. You got the guts?)