Product Description

This book and 3 accompanying audio CDs is a compilation containing all the information and CDs found in the following books: Ear Training One Note Beginning, Ear Training One Note Intermediate and Ear Training One Note Advanced. The ear training method presented is a highly effective way to dramatically improve relative pitch skills. While it has been used with great success in classroom situations and in private study, it is equally rewarding and accessable for the self taught musician. Study can be accomplished (and is actually recommended) during spare time such as driving to work, riding on a train, or sitting in a waiting room. This compilation contains all three levels so that a student can steadily and methodically improve their ability over time. It is recommended primarily for beginning and intermediate students; more advanced students should purchase Ear Training One Note Advanced. The muse-eek.com website features a FAQ section where students can ask the author questions that may arise as they work. This book provides a solid basis for the development of good relative pitch and is the required text at both New York University and Princeton University.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #471485 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-01
• Released on: 2003-07-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 56 pages

About the Author
Guitarist Bruce Arnold has developed an extensive reputation as a composer educator and guitar virtuoso. He has created a unique signature sound that stems from his combination of jazz techniques and 20th Century compositional methods. He has played with such diverse musicians as Stuart Hamm, Peter Erskine, Joe Pass, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Stanley Clarke, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Arnold is also deeply devoted to music education and had written more than 60 music instruction. He heads the guitar departments at NYU and Princeton University and is the director of the New York University Summer Guitar Intensive He has taught at some of the most prestigious music schools in America, including the New England Conservatory of Music, Dartmouth College, Berklee College of Music, New School University, and City College of New York.

Customer Reviews

The first truly logical ear training method I have found
Bruce Arnold's series of books are designed to achieve one and only one purpose: to teach...and to teach each subject the right way and in the most rational manner. He makes mention in different books and interviews to the fact that most music books or methods are designed for students to get good grades in school (I can't see how this method could be easily grade-able) or to offer the consumer a quick fix of success to feel that the book has worked and they haven't wasted their money, while in fact they will not really retain much of the information at all in the long run and the whole experience will have been a waste of time and money. I personally in my quest for good books on the subject of music have found this to be true, and I think that most of these books are made solely for the purpose of generating money (as most things are these days) and not really achieving their true purpose...the ones that seem to try to go past this I have found to be filled with half baked ideas and hazy methods.

I am a professional jazz/classical saxophonist and an composer. I have a degree in music composition and performance and studied with some of the greatest teachers that I believe that are out there. For me, disappointment with music study books, whether they be for improvisation, ear training, composition, has been a normal experience and I have been mainly writing and inventing my own exercises,techniques, and practice routines for lack of finding anything that made any more sense from any "educational book". This ended when I found Bruce Arnold's series of books. I am in awe of the infallible logic behind every method in every book. I have been working out of many different books of his: the ear training books, the sight singing books, the Rhythm series, Big Metronome and Time Transformation, and they all WORK. I mean they really, REALLY work, as long as you follow the instructions and have patience and make up your mind before you start that you are going to stick with it. When I first found the books I instantly knew that I finally stumbled across something finally that made sense...but have refrained from writing a review anywhere until I thoroughly tested the products out. I believe that many of the more negative or indifferent reviews you will find here or on other sites are from recent buyers who have not yet started to see the results or are from people who have not made the decision to follow the directions and truly have the patience to follow through.

I have been working with the Ear Training Method for some time now and am in the Two Note Series now, and my ears are at a level that I never thought possible. The concept of relative pitch as opposed to interval training is dead-on and if you study the method diligently you will see why it makes so much more sense. I have been working from THE BIG METRONOME every day and going through the rhythm books...and I am feeling rhythm in a way that is so effortless. When I play or compose music now it becomes more of a joy every day rather than a strenuous effort.

If you want to learn music the right way, so that every aspect of music from theory to transcription to rhythm is like a second nature, then I recommend Bruce Arnold's books. As an added plus, you can (and are encouraged) to email him about any problems you are having or just even on your progress and he is very prompt and thorough in his responses. This is clearly a person who truly cares about what he is teaching and who has limitless integrity in his methods.

If you ask me, the series of Bruce Arnold's Books and CD's are a goldmine, priceless treasures that can be bought for an incredibly low price considering the immense benefit that can be reaped from them.

THE Way Forward
I have been working with Mr Arnold's ear training methods for just over two years now and would like to share with you some of my experiences over that time.

There is no other system of ear training i know that constantly pushes the boundaries of your aural perception. Working with his is as Mr Arnold reminds us a "lifetime's journey". Over the years i have steadily gained the ability to recognise any pitch in relation to a key center and sight-sing any required pitch readily (including chromatics). That is what one note complete and the fanatic's guide seeks to achieve.

The above lays the foundation for further development. In December of 2007 I finally completed key note recognition, that helps you to learn to adapt to various modes(major and minor) and recognise the key by listening to how notes function in relation. Now I am beginning work on two note that builds recognition for multiple notes and following complex modulations.

All this is impossible without dedication and an intense commitment to practice, practice,practice. As a guage i have worked at this at least an hour a day broken up into short sessions over the last two over years. And without keeping to this and really working at it, you won't be able to really understand what this method is all about. But IF you do, this will really change the way you are involved with music.

Just to describe a few simple experiences...

- Early on i began to gain a deeper sense of the music i was listening to. Suddenly everything opened up what can only be described as a kaleidoscope of colours.

- As an active musician, people began commenting on how musical and expressive my performances were getting and always "spot on" with pitching.

- Am now coming to grips with progressively more harmonically complex melodic forms such as modern jazz and funk.

I'm now embarking on the next phase in my ear training that is two note and beyond. I know it's going to be nothing short of gruelling, but with the positive changes that I have experienced in aural perception, I really can't wait to discover what else happens along the way.

Many thanks to Mr Arnold for his fantastic work, gift to aspiring musicians and continuing commitment to music education.

Not a quick fix
Bruce Arnold is a teacher, not a writer. Don't think of this as a book, or really even as a CD. Think of this product as an approach to training your ears. It's a discipline that will probably take me years of effort to see results, if I'm good and do it every day for 10 minutes or so at a time. I'm not sure what I expected, but I think this point should be right up front.

It is the opposite approach to that used in my college level skills class. At my school they used an interval approach. Sing a note and then sing the note a major 3rd above that. Now up a tritone, down a minor second, etc. Frankly, I was thrilled at my progress with this method, but at the same time, frustrated at what I couldn't do and felt that there was something not quite right about it. It felt artificial and limiting, and somehow disconnected with true music. I believe that this approach to ear training (though hard) is the right one, and will (eventually) bring me to the skill that I want to possess.

This part of his training method focuses on hearing what the fifth (for example) sounds like in a key, if I understand it right, not in relation to the tonic, but in relation to the whole context. Well, that "recognition" extends eventually to all 12 semitones within the context of the key. Establish a key in your head, then hear a note and realize that it is the raised fifth, or the 7th or whatever. All octaves, even ones that you cannot sing. You're not to recognize the note out of context...that would be more of a perfect pitch. Not by the physical feeling of the note as you try to sing it. Similar to how you see a color and learn that it is blue, you would hear a tone and learn that it is the raised 5th. I can imagine hearing a tune on the radio or something, and then knowing that the melody started on the 6th, or that this passage had a significant word on the 2nd. Also, I can imagine making up a melody, and realizing that this note "sounds like" a 3rd...therefore I would know the key of the melody much faster than any technique I might have used in the past to finally figure out the harmonic context of a melodic line.

He's got more method than just this, which also needs to be going on at the same time. The Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training (and be sure to get the CD that comes with this book--there are versions of the book available that don't include the CD. I suppose you could make your own). This is the other side of this coin. Given a key, produce (as opposed to recognize) this semitone and that semitone. This guide has exercizes that take you through collections of 2 semitones up to 6 semitones. Really, lots of exercizes there. My intuition tells me that producing and hearing the notes against the tonal center will complement the other book/CD where you're asked to recognized the isolated tone within it's context. He also recommends that you do these 2 exercises together for best progress.

Other books/CD's that he has are for later, so don't make the "mistake" that I made and buy those up front. You really have to master the basic levels before you'll be ready to tackle the more advanced phases of the method.