Music Glossary: ear

Counting and feeling 8ths/16ths/tuplets against a click; use gap-clicks and off-beat metronome practice. more

Differentiate authentic, plagal, deceptive, half cadences by sound. more

Recognizing major/minor/diminished/augmented and seventh qualities by ear. more

Identifying major, minor, diminished, augmented, sus, and extended chords by ear, including color tones. more

Target 3rds/7ths by ear on strong beats; sing arpeggios through changes to outline harmony clearly. more

Identify 9ths/10ths/11ths etc.; relate to simple intervals plus octave. more

Apps and web tools that drill intervals, chords, progressions, and rhythm with spaced repetition and analytics. more

Mapping tonic, predominant, dominant functions in real time; listen for cadences and leading tones. more

Metronome mutes for bars to test internal time; aim to land on the click when it returns. more

Count chord-change rate independent of surface rhythm. more

Using familiar song openings to remember interval sounds (e.g., “Here Comes the Bride” = P4 ascending). more

Training to recognize the distance between two notes (melodic/harmonic). Start with perfects and majors/minors, then add tritones. more

Sing up/down specific intervals from a reference pitch to connect ear, voice, and instrument. more

Identify frequency masking pairs by ear (e.g., bass/kick, vocal/guitar). more

Detect pulse reinterpretations (eighth-note triplet → new quarter). more

Hearing common progressions (I–V–vi–IV, ii–V–I, blues forms) and predicting next chords by function. more

Relative pitch hears relationships; absolute (perfect pitch) identifies exact notes. Relative is trainable for everyone. more

Writing down clapped/spoken rhythms; practice with subdivisions, ties, syncopation, and mixed meters. more

Reading and singing notated melodies at first sight; builds intonation, rhythm, and interval accuracy. more

Fixed-do maps syllables to absolute pitches; movable-do maps to scale degrees. Movable-do helps functional hearing. more