IFR blog > Practice tips > Developing your ear > Understanding any piece of music by ear
Should I start IFR on the clarinet or the piano?

"I have more experience on the piano but now my main interest is the clarinet. Do you think I should practice your method on the clarinet, on the piano or both?"

How does the IFR method apply to the bass?

I am a bass player with about 15 years of rock band experience whose first love has always been smooth jazz. I want to know if your book would help this bass player realize his goals of being able to improvise at will and gather a much better musical understanding.

Should I start with the video course or the e-book?

I'm debating whether I should buy the IFR e-book or the Deep Foundations for Guitar video course. Can you tell me what is included in each one, and what are the pros and cons of each?

Which ear training course should I choose?

"I love the IFR approach to ear training! I would like to purchase one of your ear training video courses, but how can I decide which course might be more appropriate for me: Ear Training for Musical Creativity or Recognizing Chords by Ear? And can I take them both at once?"

Autumn Leaves ear training

This is a practice video for Improvise for Real students who are studying the song Autumn Leaves from IFR Standards Workout 1. In this video we will practice together the ear training exercise Melody Paths over the A section of Autumn Leaves.

IFR video lesson: How to master harmony

In this video I'll teach you an organized system for mastering harmony using our three integrated creative practices: improvising, composing and listening.

Am I ready for the IFR jam tracks?

I want to purchase IFR Jam Tracks Level 1 but I don't know if my current level of knowledge is enough to be able to use them. Right now I'm practicing IFR Exercise 2 and I'm in the Seven Worlds exercises. Do I need to go farther or is this enough to start improvising with the jam tracks?

Practice in all keys or master one at a time

Is it better to start each improvisation exercise from a random note on our instrument? Or is it better to stay in one key until we've mastered it?

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IFR Staircase exercise with half steps on tenor sax

In this video Miguel 'Pintxo' Villar demonstrates the IFR Staircase exercise on the tenor saxophone using the interval of the half step.