IFR blog > Practice tips > Developing your ear > Understanding any piece of music by ear
IFR video lesson: 'Follow your Voice' for horn players

The IFR exercise "Follow your Voice" is something we normally practice on a keyboard so that we can sing the notes as we play them. But in this video I'll show you a great variation on this exercise that you can practice with your saxophone.

IFR video lesson: How to study the modes

In this video I teach you how you can study the modes creatively and learn to make your own music with these beautiful sounds.

Best way to analyze standards in a minor key

I understand that you always want us to see where we are in the overall key of the music. So you have us think of the relative minor as note 6. But over the years I learned to think of the root of each harmonic environment as its own “note 1”. Do you think it's better to always connect back to the parent key?

How does IFR address pentatonic scales?

I enjoy the Improvise For Real method very much. Just wanted to ask, with pentatonic scales being so important in music around the world, and particularly loved by guitarists, how can we incorporate them into our practice?

Jeremy Chapman on musical creativity

This great Ted Talk by Jeremy Chapman offers many surprising insights about musical creativity. His talk includes improvisation with the audience and guest musicians, and he even mentions Improvise for Real about halfway through the talk.

How to build a strong sense of tonal orientation

"When I'm practicing Seven Worlds, sometimes I lose my orientation and I can't feel the tonal center anymore. So for example note 2 doesn't feel like home anymore. Instead my ear keeps wanting to resolve to note 1. Do you have any tips for this?"

IFR modal improvisation exercise demonstration 'Seven Worlds'

For IFR students practicing Exercise 2: Melody, this is a demonstration of the exercise Seven Worlds in the sixth harmonic environment. Miguel 'Pintxo' Villar explores the harmonic environment on tenor sax.

How to think about chord shapes

I'm confused about how to understand chord shapes in relation to the major scale. For example, the 3 chord would be notes 3, 5, 7, 2. In learning to see this as a minor chord shape, should I be able to think of this as 3, 5, 7, 2 and 1, b3, 5, b7 at the same time?

The IFR Tonal Map

In this free sample lesson from Deep Foundations for Guitar, you will learn how to build the notes of any key across the entire fretboard.

Piano for Non-Pianists 6

In this lesson we explore the sensations of tension and release in the second harmonic environment of the major scale.