A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing (Spiral-bound)

by Bruce Arnold (Author) "We first need to understand how music is written down in order to present the basic concepts of music theory..." (more)
Key Phrases: Perfect Bound, Spiral Bound, Fanatic's Guide (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Fanatic's Guide differs from the myriad of other sight singing books in that it develops the ability to identify and name all twelve pitches within a key center. Through this method a student gains the ability to identify sound based on it's relationship to a key and not the relationship of one note to another i.e. interval training as commonly taught in many texts. All note groupings from one to six notes are presented giving the student a thesaurus of basic note combinations which develops sight singing and note recognition to a level unattainable before this Guide's existence.  This book is a required text at the New York University and Princeton University Music departments. Please note only the Spiral edition of this book contains a CD. With the perfect bound version you will need to purchase the CD separately. Mr. Arnold's new ear training course is a first of it's kind available. He has taken the time to give students a detailed explanation of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to ear training. This book is the sight singing part of a series of books which are meant to be used together. If you are serious about improving your aural perception and basic musicianship it is recommended that you work with this book in combination with the following: 1. EAR TRAINING: ONE NOTE This first level of ear training covers identifying single notes against a pitch center, and is divided into 3 levels Beginning: ISBN 1-890944-12-2 Intermediate: ISBN 1-890944-13-0 Advanced: ISBN 1-890944-14-9 or Ear Training One Note Complete ISBN 1890944475 This Complete edition contains all of the information in the Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced books. After completing the One Note books you would move on to the following books. 2. KEY NOTE RECOGNITION ISBN 1-890944-30-3 This ear training book covers identifying single notes against a key center which prepares the student for the two note ear training method. This course of study is recommended to all levels of students. 2a. CONTEXTUAL EAR TRAINING Memorizing Sound Through Singing. ISBN 9781594898839 Contextual Ear Training is a major expansion of the One Note exercise from the Fanatic s Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training. Much of the material from the first few chapters of Fanatics Guide is included in this book. This is because some students may be purchasing this book and not the Fanatic s Guide. It is recommend that you first work with the Fanatic s Guide before using this book, although you can certainly work with both simultaneously, to good effect. 3. EAR TRAINING: TWO NOTES This second level of ear training covers identifying two notes against a pitch center. The following volumes are currently available: Ear Training TWO NOTE: Beginning Level Volume One ISBN 1-890944-31-9 Volume One concentrates on 5ths. Prerequisite: a strong grasp of the One Note method. Ear Training TWO NOTE: Beginning Level Volume Two ISBN 1-890944-32-7 Volume Two concentrates on 3rds. Prerequisite: a strong grasp of the One Note method. Ear Training TWO NOTE: Beginning Level Volume Three ISBN 1-890944-33-5 Volume Three concentrates on 6ths. Prerequisite: a strong grasp of the One Note method. Ear Training TWO NOTE: Beginning Level Volume Four ISBN 1-890944-34-3 Volume Four concentrates on 4ths. Prerequisite: a strong grasp of the One Note method. Ear Training TWO NOTE: Beginning Level Volume Five ISBN 1-890944-35-1 Volume Five concentrates on 2nds. Prerequisite: a strong grasp of the One Note method. Ear Training TWO NOTE: Beginning Level Volume Six ISBN 1-890944-36-X Volume Six concentrates on 7ths. Prerequisite: a strong grasp of the One Note method.

From the Publisher
Mr. Arnold's new ear training course is a first of it's kind available. He has taken the time to give students a detailed explanation of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to ear training. This book is the sight singing part of a series of books which are meant to be used together. If you are serious about improving your aural perception and basic musicianship it is recommended that you work with this book in combination with the following:

1. EAR TRAINING: ONE NOTE This first level of ear training covers identifying single notes against a pitch center, and is divided into 3 levels Beginning: ISBN: 1-890944-12-2 Intermediate: ISBN: 1-890944-13-0 Advanced: ISBN: 1-890944-14-9

2. KEY NOTE RECOGNITION ISBN: 1-890944-30-3 This ear training book covers identifying single notes against a key center which prepares the student for the two note ear training method.

This course of study is recommended to all levels of students.

3. EAR TRAINING: TWO NOTES This second level of ear training covers identifying two notes against a pitch center. The following volumes are currently available:

Ear Training TWO NOTE: Beginning Level Volume One

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Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 102 pages
• Publisher: muse eek publishing; Book & CD edition (July 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189094419X
• ISBN-13: 978-1890944193
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #90,583 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Effective, March 30, 2001

By	KLAUS SINFELT (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

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

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard but worth the effort, March 31, 2001

By A Customer

I bought this book about 6 months ago. I have only been working on two of the exercises so far but even that has really turned my head around about how to hear sound. I basically have found that this book has started to change my perception of how to identify sound. Though I haven't mastered the ideas presented in this book I am starting to realize that you can indeed memorize the sound of each note within a key and use this as a method to identify pitches. My overall recommendation is not to get this book if you don't have a lot of dedication to practicing. I have found the exercises to very difficult and quite honestly was about to give up a few times. I suppose each person who might buy this book is coming from a different place so my comments may not pertain to everyone. For me, I just couldn't latch onto a method of ear training that worked for me. This method is no "walk in park" but it is working and that's what matters to me.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Experience, March 21, 2001

By A Customer

I recently purchased the Ear Training One Note Series and Fanatic's Guide by Mr. Arnold and thought I would share my experience. You can see my review of the Ear Training One Note Series under those book titles. First let's look at the positive things. I like the fact that this is a method and there are many levels and types of books in this series to help you develop at your own pace. I also like the fact that you can start with a level that is right for you and not have to purchase a book with a bunch of exercises that you already can do. But really the main thing that separates this method from any other method I read about or used is that you can contact the author through the muse-eek website if you don't understand something, need direction or just need encouragement. I had quite a few questions over the last couple of months and Mr. Arnold has responded with quite insightful responses. The author is obviously concerned for my development and helped me organize a way to work with this book and others in his series. My one main criticism of this book is that it's overwhelming. There are so many exercises and page after page of note combinations to sing that I was really confused where to start. Although for each exercise it was easy to understand what to do I just didn't know which one to do first and how to organize my practice time. I contacted Mr. Arnold about this and his explanation was that this book "is an overall encylopidia of exercises for students both beginning and advanced." Mr. Arnold directed me to the member's area of the Muse-eek website where book owners can download further information for free about this ear training method. There are lesson files for this book located there which for me really helped me organize my time and get on the road to improving. I think it's important to realize that this method of ear training is really quite different from other available methods. Mr. Arnold calls in "Contextual Ear Training" because you are always relating pitches to an underlying key or sense of key. I'm a giging musician and I've found that this type of ear training has really changed my perception over the last 6 months. Overall I have to say I'm happy with this book. For me being able to contact the author and all the help files on the publisher's website make this a great learning experience! I got the other members of my band working with this method too. In my band mate's humble opinion and mine, muse-eek has one of the best if not only distant learning place for music on the internet.