Big problem with melody dictation

[bla]

Hi

There's a big problem with melody dictation, in fact, it is so big, that I wonder why anybody has complained about it yet. I know this problem since I purchased EarMaster, but I've been to lazy to complain about it But now that melody dictation is my main exercise, it's becoming really annoying.

Is not actually a bug, but instead is more a missed user requirement.

I will try to explain it. I'm going to use four note scales for easier illustration, but it can be applied to 8 notes scales as well.

Look at this scales:

C D E F: This would give me a melody with a major sound.

C Db E F: This would give me a melody with a phrygian sound.

C D Eb F: This would give me a melody with a minor sound.

C D E F#: This would give me a melody with a lydian sound.

Now, where's the problem?

I start melody dictation, for the major scale and i get this:

C E D E C D

Ok, is a mayor melody.

Now I start the exercise with the lydian scal, and I get this:

D E C D E C

That's major too! EarMaster did well, it made a melody from the scales tones, but it failed in giving me a lydian melody!

Now I start the exercise for the minor scale:

C F D F D C

Major again!

And what about phrigian:

C F E E C F C

Another major melody.

How often does this happen? A lot!!! I practice with a 7 melody note, and I have this problem a lot of times.

With larger scales it gets even worse, sometimes I'm practicing with a major scale, and I get a melody that sounds like derived from a pentatonic scale!

So, in order to fix this, EarMaster scales, should have the concept of "key scale tones", that is, the tones that give a melody the sound of a particular scale. For instance, in the previous example, the scales would have this key tones:


C D Eb F: Eb

C D E F#: F#

C Db E F: Db

Major doesn't really need key tones, as any melody without Eb, F# or Db will sound like major. Now EarMaster will generate melodies that always have the key tones at last once (Notice that on 7 notes scales, the key tones will be more than one).

EarMaster let's you input your own scales, so the the key tones can't be harcoded. One should be able to enter an scale, and the key tones for that scale.

Problems don't stop here. Look at this melody


C F D A G E B

Now this can be a melody generated from either:

C major

D dorian

E phrygian

F lydian

G myxolidan

A minor

B locrian

Even with key tones it is not clear on wich scale is based, and the melody will probably sound like mayor, as is the thing the ear is more used to.

To fix this, an alternative, is to play a bass note with the root, that is, if E is played while you hear the melody, it will tend to a phrygian sound, if A is played, it would tend to a minor sound, and so on.

This two features combined (key notes, and bass root note), give an unambigous melody that clearly has the intended sound of a given scale.

And besides all this, there's actually a bug on the melody dictation exercise. I have added about 25 scales, but EarMaster only shows about 20 of them to choose in the exercise.

[Hans]

The Lydian and Major scales both contain 7 scale tones and 6 of them are the same. Therefore many melodies will sound like Major even though it is Lydian.

The melodic dictation exercise is made to identify tones, not to identify scales. Therefore it is not so important that all melodies can be clearly related to a specific scale.

I agree that EarMaster should allow the option to play the root tones before the question, which will make it more clear what scale is being used. This option is available in EarMaster but is currently disabled for the church modes. I believe this will be changed in a future update.

Best regards,
Hans Jakobsen
EarMaster

[bla]

The melodic dictation exercise is made to identify tones, not to identify scales. Therefore it is not so important that all melodies can be clearly related to a specific scale.

I stongly disagree with that, some respected ear training books (hearing and writing music, by Ron Gorow, and Essential Ear Training for Today's musician, from Berklee College of Music), point that it's very important to hear intervals in the context of a scale.

In real music, melodies are not random intervals. Melodies have a harmonic structure, and it can be heared clearly if a melody is major, minor, pentatonic, and so on. Anyone can check this. Simply play a melody while you hold some note on the bass. Then play the melody again with another bass note, and you can check how the the same melody has a different effect, that changes any time you use a different bass note.

I understand that is not possible for a company to include every possible feature and suggestion in a software product, but I ask you to please double check your decission with respected ear training teachers before totally discarding this feature

Thanks for your answer.

[Hans]

The tones in a melody phrase should be identified by their function in the key, i.e. relative to the root of the key. Therefore it is helpful if EarMaster is set to play the root tones before the melody phrase is played.

As one melody lesson can only base its questions on one scale at the time, it is much easier if you just remember what scale it is, or if you write tutors, just write in the lesson introduction what scale it is based on.

Your idea of "key tones" is not as simple as you present it. Let's say you want to make a melody based on the C-Dorian scale. To identify it from the major scale it must contain Eb, but how do the user know it is not a natural minor? Therefore we must also include an A in the melody.
How about melodic minor, it does also contain Eb and A? Then we also have to include a Bb. Now we already have a restriction that the melody must contain the tones Eb, A and Bb. Do you see where we are heading?

Best regards,
Hans Jakobsen
EarMaster

[bla]

I know that in real music, setting the sound of a scale, can be a complex thing (what chords are used, what tones are emphasized by rhythm and so on).

Trying to make EarMaster compose full musical pieces, would be asking too much, so Im trying to find out alternatives.

My point is that it doesn't have many sense,to be able to choose different scales in the exercise configuration, if the percived scale is always a random thing.


This is an excerpt from a theory document by Berklee College of music (http://akamai.www.berkleemusic.com/asse ... _modes.pdf)


Because our ears are more accustomed to hearing melodies in major, and to a lesser extent, "regular" minor, modal melodies have to work extra hard to promote their tonality and modality.

Keep these points in mind as we approach our assignment, in which you will write a four-measure melody in each of the modes:

1. Make use of all of the notes of the scale. In the following melody, scale degree 6 is not used, making it impossible to know if Dorian or Aeolian.

2. Make frequent use of the characteristic note of the scale. This melody could stand a few more F#s to ensure a Lydian sound.

3. Emphasize the tonic note by using it frequently and for notes of longer duration, especially those on strong beats. Assuming this melody is supposed to be in C Mixolydian, it needs more C notes—especially those of longer duration and falling on strong beats.


So i think that my suggestions are not so bad.

Notice that when I said that the root note should be played, I didn't mean that the root is to be played before the melody, the idea is to hear the root note of the scale on the bass while the melody is beeing played.

[tedclaymore]

Perhaps an optional weighting system for melodies would be an easy way to (almost) get what 'bla' is asking for.

e.g. For C Dorian one might specify C(4) D Eb(4) F G A(4) Bb, where the number in parens is the weight to be given a tone, so the tonic, minor third, and natural sixth are emphasized.