Singing intervals and compound meters

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bla

Singing intervals and compound meters

Post by bla »

Hi

I'm checking the evaluation version of EarMaster and I have some questions about it.

The first one is about singing intervals. I have seen that all the intervals you select, share the same configuratin for the first note. If you are singing only one interval in one direction, this is ok, but if you are singing it up and down, or you are singing mixed intervals, voice range becames a problem.

It is possible to choose a different first note configuration for each one of the intervals you have selected?


The other question is related to rythm exercises. When there is a compound meter (6/8, 9/8, 12/8 ), the metronome plays 6, 9 and 12 beats.

Well, what I know about compound meters, is that they have 2, 3 and 4 beats, but they are divided in three equal parts instead of two. That's the way I'm used to practice them. The mentronome in EarMaster plays the beats and the divisions in compound meters. It is possible to set the metronome to play only the beats?

This is also an issue with 5/8 and 7/8. The first one should have only two beats, one simple and one compund, and 7/8 should have 3 beats, two simple and one compund, instead of the 5 and 7 beats that the metronome plays.
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Hans
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Post by Hans »

Hi bla,

1) It is not possible to set the tone range individually for each interval, but your problem is solved in another way in EarMaster. In the "Exercise settings" menu there is a settings called "Answer identification". If you set it to "Any octave" you can sing the answer tone in any octave that fits your voice range.

2) If you mean that EarMaster should play only 3 beats in a 9/8 bar instead of 9, then it is not possible in EarMaster. We will consider that for a future version of EarMaster.

Best regards,
Hans Jakobsen
EarMaster
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vav
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Location: Colorado, USA, Front Range

Post by vav »

FWIW, for me it is better that the EarMaster metronome plays straight beats through the measure. I also like that I can pick the patches that it plays. In many modern compositions there are changing or overlapping "simple" and "compound" beats, so I prefer to be able to track these by tapping my feet or imagining rhythms inside as I play. In practicing real music I try to play the rhythms as neutrally as possible at first, tapping my feet or counting in many patterns to really understand the possibilities of the phrase.

A simple example --

|: 1 2 1 2 3 | 1 2 1 2 3 :|

may not fit what the whole ensemble is doing at all even if one is playing on the first and third beats, maybe a better way to count this for some particular phrase is

|: 1 & 2 & 3 | & 4 & 5 & :| Or maybe the left foot taps this and the right foot another pattern.
-- vav
Guest

Post by Guest »

I think it would be great if you add an option to choose if the metronome will play 2,3,4 beats or 6,9,12 beats in compound times.

About singing intervals, I don't think that singing in another octave is a good solution. Intervals are not a matter of two single notes, together they make a particular sound that is unique for each interval.

If you are asked to sing a perfect fifth up from G, and the C up is out of your range, in order to sing a C down you have to think in the sound of a perfect fourth, not in the sound of a perfect fifth.

It would be a nice thing if you could set the configuration for each interval, so you don't get questions out of your range.
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