Whether you’re an experienced or aspiring musician, identifying notes, chords, and intervals are all important skills to develop your musicianship.
If you’re looking to build a stronger musical ear, you don’t need to sit with your instrument and attempt to figure it out yourself. There are many tools to improve your aural skills and help you as an independent musician or as part of a band. Here are some of the best apps and websites to develop a strong musical ear.
1. Perfect Ear
If you’re looking for an ear training app for beginners, Perfect Ear will help you get started. It offers a variety of simple exercises to identify chords, scales, and musical intervals. You’ll also earn points and can set daily goals to boost your motivation.
TheEar Trainingtab features short exercises to help you improve your aural awareness. TheScale Identificationtab will help you identify major and minor scales by first listening and then picking from a list of multiple-choice options. You can also learn to hear and identify musical triads in theChord Identificationtab.
If music theory feels foreign to you, head to theGuided Coursestab to learn the foundations of music theory. You can also hit theTheorybutton beneath each exercise to discover more about the basics of music theory.
Download: Perfect Ear forAndroid|iOS(Free, in-app purchases available)
2. Relative Pitch
If you’d like to train your musical ear while playing games, Relative Pitch is a perfect choice. Relative pitch uses the solfege syllables (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, and ti) for note identification. There are 15 levels in total, increasing in difficulty. As you move to the next stage, the app introduces more notes of the scale.
The exercises are simple to follow—after hearing a note, hit the letter associated with the scale. Every correct answer gains you more points, and your turn is over when you give an incorrect answer. If you need to hear a note again, hit the sound icon in the top-right corner.
If you become an expert at identifying tones, the later exercises introduce semitones for an extra challenge. Relative Pitch is a simple, enjoyable app that adds fun to music theory.
Download: Relative Pitch forAndroid|iOS(Free)
Teoria is a website for building your aural skills at a pace that suits you. There are plenty of exercises to help you identify notes, chords, and musical intervals. There are also sight singing exercisesto improve your singing voice.
Teoria is highly-customizable, so you can practice listening skills your way. You can determine how long exercises are by setting a time limit or by setting a limit of questions. You can also sign in to save your score.
No matter what level you’re at, Teoria provides multiple options to create a personalized learning experience. On theChords Practicepage, you can select to include basic major and minor chords, or you can add diminished and augmented chords for a tougher aural challenge. To learn at a comfortable rate, you can limit what chords you hear by selecting certain musical keys only.
4.Theta Music Trainer
Theta Music Trainer is a comprehensive library of musical exercises to help you develop a good standard of musicianship. The site is easy to navigate, including sections on tonality, pitch, and harmony. You’ll also find aSoundcategory with exercises relating to music production if you arethinking of becoming an audio engineer.
TheIntroduction to Ear Trainingcourse will help you to identify instruments, compare pitches, and find the key to any song. If you’re an aspiring singer, you can also try theVocal Degreesexercise, where you must sing the scale degree note that is played. Before trying this exercise, it’s helpful tofind your vocal rangeso you don’t stretch beyond your vocal cords’ capacity.
You can apply aural skills to a real-life context in theTonalitytab, which features an exercise to listen to a song and determine its key. There are several levels of difficulty, ranging from basic to expert. You’ll also find an FAQ section on every exercise to view tips and hints.
5. EarMaster
EarMaster is the perfect tool for refining your musical ear, whatever type of musician you are. You can access general workshops, a beginner’s course, and a vocal trainer. There’s also a jazz workshop for identifying common chord progressions used in jazz.
Depending on what instrument you’re most comfortable with, EarMaster provides different ways to answer questions. you’re able to use the on-screen piano, guitar, or violin, or you can use your voice. When recognizing intervals, you can also choose which to include and exclude and determine a musical range that fits you best.
EarMaster is a perfect app choice for students studying for music exams. The app covers content across popular music exam boards, and it even has a dedicated Aural Trainer forABRSMexams.
Download: EarMaster forAndroid|iOS(Free, in-app purchases available)
6. Functional Ear Trainer
Functional Ear Trainer is based on the Alain Benbassat ear training method to identify tones within the context of a musical scale. The exercises are simple and intuitive and are aimed at musicians of all levels.
For each exercise, you’re able to choose whether to input answers using a piano keyboard or using interval buttons in the Settings cog at the top-right of the display. You can also hit theRepeatbutton to hear notes again before providing an answer.
In addition to the basic levels, you’re able to also create and save custom levels where you can modify the structure of the exercises. You can exclude certain tones, set a musical range, and choose whether to hear a cadence at the start for a little extra guidance.
Download: Functional Ear Trainer forAndroid|iOS(Free, in-app purchases available)
Build a Strong Musical Ear and Become a Better Musician
Like any skill, developing good aural skills does take time and patience. But these apps and websites will help you improve at your own pace and build better listening skills no matter what level you’re at. Try them out to build better musicianship skills and perform confidently.
