You've answered your own question already - the training you're receiving is helping you in ways you're aware of, and probably in ways you're not aware of as well. Trust the people who designed your program, complete it to the best of your ability, and go out into the world and practice your craft. You will have a lifetime to practice but only these few years to lay a solid foundation of musiciaship on which you will build for, we hope, decades to come.
I admit my bias here - I am a former teacher of theory, ear-training, and related subjects at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. -S- > -----Original Message----- > From: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > du] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 10:58 AM > To: horn@music.memphis.edu > Subject: [Hornlist] College Ear Training & Sight Singing > > hello all- > > I've got some stuff about ear-training, and a question about > general music training vs. practicing. > > At my university, ALL music majors are required to take 5 > terms (trimesters) of very intense ear-training, sight > singing, and theory and analysis (7 term of theory actually). > I don't know if this is true at every music program, and I > am hoping current students and music school graduates will > let me know. I think it is great training, but more on that later. > > We have an "Aural Skills" class which is mostly written > dictation of chord progressions (quite involved I might say), > two part melodies (Bach inventions and such), single voice > melodies, 7th chord and inversion identification, scalar > modes, rhythm, chord voicing... We also take a Solfege-based > Sight Singing course, which is quite difficult -especially > since I have no voice training experience before. We > sight-read chromatic melodies, voice duets, and lots of > four-part chorals, and do a bit of vocal improvising over > chord progressions. We also do a lot of rhythm exercises, > some as silly as marching around the room tapping different > rhythms while singing others, but we also have a weekly > digest of two line rhythms which must be tapped in separate > hands while counting out loud. These are very difficult and > require hours of practice. > All of this in done a class of peers, and everything we do is > graded. For many of us this is a bit nerve-racking, to have > to sight sing and improvise in-front of 20 people all the > time, but it is FANTASTIC performance training. If you can > get up and sing sight read solfege with a professor marking > every mistake you make and 20 people staring at you, merely > playing the Horn is easy! > > Now I get to the point. I have found this training > unbelievably helpful. My intonation and pitch accuracy are > unimaginably better than before. I try to sing everything > before I ever play it, and this really helps. Also, now that > I am fluent with solfege, I say the syllables along when I > play, this always, always helps. I think this is different > and perhaps better than "singing along in you head," or > trying to sing in the horn. If you have learned solfege, try > at first writing all the syllables along in your part and > just reading them, and be sure to hear them as you play. > Makes a huge difference I promise! > > Now, as to how to learn this. I was required to learn this > stuff, so I can't offer too much advise one teaching > yourself. Actually when I started I thought it was a waste > of time, now I realize how foolish I was. Unforunately I > don't really know to advise someone on how to learn solfege, > I was taught in a class. Maybe, if you are looking to train > you ears, you should find a good voice teacher and take > solfege lessons. Try to get familiar with it if you aren't > and then try to think along when you play. Start simple with > scales, arpeggios (Do Mi Sol Do), even long tones. I have > found a simple etude book by G. Concone (an Italian voice > teacher) which is transcribed for Trumpet or Horn a good next > step. These voice etudes are great on the horn, and simple > enough to really concentrate on hearing solfege. Also try > plinking out familiar tunes on the horn of the piano without > looking. Also try writing them down. I find learning > dictation really helps the ear because to write something > down you have to know what the notes are. You might be able > to buzz something on the mouthpiece but not able to > transcribe it. Being able to transcribe it forces one to > grasp all of the pitches and rhythms accurately. > One other thing- Hearing solfege when you play is a great > way to distract yourself from getting nervous in a > performance or audition. If you start to feel the nerve > kicking in, immediately start singing along. You can't make > yourself "un-nervous" by telling yourself not to get scared. > The best thing to do is find something else to concentrate > on, and what better than solfege? > > Now to my question, and this is more a question for current > music school students and graduates, but I welcome any relpy. > In addition to the almost two years of intense Aural and > Sight-Singing training, my University has one of the most > involved general music theory requirements of any school I've > looked at, including Eastman, C.I.M., Northwestern, > Cincinnati... We spend several hours a day doing harmonic and > formal analysis of everything from Bach chorals and cello > suites to Wagner opera and romantic symphonies -next year is > 20th century harmony and analysis- in addition to a lot of > 4-part embellished choral writing, and arranging things for > various instrumentation. > My question is this. I know how wonderfully good all of this > training is, and I am aware that most music school and > conservatories require a lot of this, but at what point is > trade-off of this and practice time passed? I think I would > have substantially more time to practice outside of > rehearsals if I didn't have to do all this other stuff, and > given how competitive and technically demanding the > performance world is today, is this going to hurt me? > Sometimes I only have time to do a good warm-up and a basic > chop-maintenance routine and then go to rehearsals because of > all the other classes. (part of this is that I am > double-majoring in a non-music field too) Or should I have > gone to a full-time conservatory if I wanted to practice all > day long? Input from people greatly appreciated, > > Thanks a lot, > Dave Meichle > Lawrence University > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > __________ > Try Juno Platinum for Free! Then, only $9.95/month! > Unlimited Internet Access with 1GB of Email Storage. > Visit http://www.juno.com/value to sign up today! > > > _______________________________________________ > post: horn@music.memphis.edu > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/steve%40fridays > computer.com > _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
