Imagine being able to listen to a song and recognize every note of the melody by ear. What would that do for your musical creativity and improvising? In this 10-week workshop you will learn how to develop this ability, adding a whole new creative dimension to your improvisation practice.
The workshop begins January 23, 2021 and we hope you'll join us! Through step-by-step creative exercises and my personal coaching, you'll learn to recognize the sounds in the music all around you and to play songs and melodies by ear. I believe that this course will be one of those "before and after" moments in your life, changing the way you think about music and opening many new doors for you creatively.
Open to everyone - Beginners welcome!
Everyone can learn to understand music by ear. You just need an organized path and the right coaching. The key to success with ear training is to study the sounds in a musical context, taking advantage of your own natural ability to feel and enjoy music. You don't need dry academic technical exercises. You just need the opportunity to get to know each sound of our musical system for yourself and discover its unique beauty. This is exactly what we do in this 10-week workshop.
Immediate benefits to your playing:
- Recognize melodies by ear and play them in any key on your instrument without having to fumble for the notes.
- Play along with friends at parties and jam sessions and find the notes of any song on your instrument.
- Play directly from your musical imagination when you are improvising, expressing the sounds you hear in your mind.
- Learn to orient yourself by ear in the key of the music when you are jamming with other musicians.
- Engage in a true dialogue with other soloists, responding to their musical ideas and interacting musically with them.
How is this course different from other ear training programs?
Experiencing the sounds as music. Every step of the way, you'll be hearing the sounds in the context of beautiful songs and melodies. So the connection to real music is very present right from the start. This is one of the biggest complaints that musicians have about other ear training programs. They get better at identifying random intervals in the context of a quiz, but they still can't recognize anything in the songs they hear on the radio. So we think it's very important to study and appreciate the beauty of the sounds every step of the way, and that means hearing all of the sounds in the context of actual music.
Using your own natural ability. It's not about developing "perfect pitch" or any other unusual ability. This is something everyone can do. If I were to sing the melody to your favorite song, you would recognize that melody right away. And if I were to sing a wrong note somewhere in that melody, you would recognize instantly that this isn't the note you were expecting. What this means is that you already feel the difference between the different notes of our musical system. All you need is an organized path that lets you clarify these sensations one by one so that you finally understand which note of our musical system produces each of those beautiful sensations that you already know and love.
Jamming with the sounds. In addition to the singing and listening exercises you'll also be improvising with the same sounds on your instrument over jam tracks that I will give you. So not only will you be learning to recognize the sounds by ear, but you'll also be playing by ear throughout the entire course. In this way you can develop a true mastery of the sounds which includes every aspect of your musical being (imagining, singing, listening, playing, recognizing by ear). From there we can expand outward until you've mastered our entire musical system.
Personal coaching. And finally, a huge difference with this course is that I'll be right there to help you you every step of the way. I'll be there to answer your questions, give you feedback on your practicing and guide you toward the musical discoveries you need to make.
10 weekly video lessons - Watch at your own convenience
Every week you'll receive a new video lesson that you can watch at your own convenience. We use video lessons instead of live sessions to make the course easily adaptable to your schedule. Each lesson will teach you the next level of our ear training practice. This progressive system is the key to your success because each lesson introduces just one new sound for you to enjoy and master. But these abilities stack up very quickly, and by the end of the course you'll be able to recognize all seven notes of our musical system by ear in the music all around you. And at the end of the course, you'll have the complete video series in your member's area at our website if you ever want to download them again.
Weekly audio lessons, practice tracks and self-tests
Each week I will also give you audio lessons (taken directly from my "Sing the Numbers" ear training course) for you to listen to during the week. You will also receive practice tracks so that you can practice singing the sounds of our musical system on your own. And there will be self-test audio tracks to test your ability to recognize the sounds by ear every step of the way. These practice tracks and self-tests were designed exclusively for this workshop and are not available anywhere else. Together they form a complete system for learning to recognize melodies by ear in a way that is easy, fun and progressive.
My own personal coaching and feedback
Throughout the entire course you'll be able to ask questions, discuss your challenges and even record videos of your practicing so that I can give you personal coaching and feedback. You can send me these videos privately if you don't want anyone else to see them. Or you can share them with the entire group so that you can also get feedback and ideas from other students in the course.
Community interaction, questions and support
We will also have a private Facebook Group where the entire community can get together to exchange ideas, ask questions and share videos of our practicing. If you don't have Facebook or you don't want to participate in the group that's fine. You can just work on the lessons at your own pace and I'll work with you individually to make sure you're successful. But if you do have Facebook and you want to participate in our group, I think you'll really enjoy the discussions and interactions with other students.
Testimonials from past students
"Truly, this course was transformational. I have received more musical growth from this course than any other book, course, or class I have ever taken. I now understand the way music WORKS in a very practical way. This has enabled me to play songs in ANY key and to be able to play songs without looking at the notes at all. It has cleared up pitch problems in my singing. When I say transformational, I do mean that! I give Mireia and this course the highest rating I could possibly give." - Karla Huntsman (voice and piano, United States)
"Mireia is a gifted teacher and has presented a very enjoyable and very useful course. I thoroughly recommend the course to anyone who is interested in exploring this exciting topic." - Craig L. (guitar, Australia)
"Mireia is an excellent teacher who makes ear training enjoyable, even fun! The material is superbly paced, with steady consolidation, reinforcement and development from multiple angles. This course has produced very noticeable improvements in my understanding and given me a real boost in confidence." - David Wright (guitar, Scotland)
Pricing and scheduling
- Course begins Saturday, January 23, 2021. (You don't have to be available on Saturday. You can watch the video lessons anytime and participate during the week.)
- 10-week online course from January 23 through March 27, 2021.
- Total cost = $300
- Includes the 10 lesson videos, audio lessons, practice tracks, self-tests and my personal coaching, plus unlimited access to our student community for group discussion and learning.
Just send me an e-mail at mireia@improviseforreal.com to reserve your place!
Thank you,
Mireia Clua