Perfect pitch. Musical ear: myths and reality Which presentation option to choose

Intervals Tritones Scales, modes Triads Inversions
characteristic triads
Referral intervals
dominant seventh chord Introductory
seventh chords All sections

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This simulator is designed to develop practical skills in auditory analysis of pure, small and large intervals of major, minor, augmented and diminished triads of inversions of major and minor triads of characteristic intervals of the dominant seventh chord and its inversions. Your task is to learn to identify them by ear.

To go to the next page, click "Next!". If you need to first repeat the theoretical material on the topic “Triad Intervals Characteristic Intervals Dominant Seventh Chord”, go to the section “A Little Theory A Little Theory A Little Theory A Little Theory”.

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The simulator is designed to develop practical skills in auditory analysis in the main areas used in music school. It is assumed that preliminary training has been completed on each topic.

This section is general in nature; some tasks are given in a compressed form.

Before you start, configure, select several items on the topics covered or the "All" button.

When answering each question, you must first determine the topic of the answer, and then select the correct option from the list that opens.

To go to the next page, click "Next!"

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What option presentation choose?

You can listen to tasks in two ways - in a harmonic presentation (both sounds are taken at the same time) and melodic (sounds are taken alternately). Usually, beginners choose a melodic sound, which helps to “sing” the sounds of the interval and determine the distance between notes. But the harmonic version is most often used. So if you have experience in guessing, choose the harmonic option.

Choose topic

Before starting your workout, select the desired section: Scales ( various types major and minor) or modes folk music(for high school students).

What option presentation choose?

Since some types of seventh chords can be identified by ear only by resolving into another chord, when selecting the “Without resolution” option, only the minor introductory and diminished introductory in the main form will be offered.

If you select resolution options, you will be able to listen to the inversions of the diminished leading seventh chord. A small introductory note is not offered in this case.

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Gar-mo-ni-ches-koe Me-lo-di-ches-koe Scales (modes) Modes of folk music Without permission With permission Without permission With permission With permission through appeals D7

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This simulator is designed to develop practical skills in auditory analysis of various scales of pure, small and large intervals. Your task is to learn to identify them by ear.

This simulator is designed to develop practical skills in auditory analysis of reduced introductory seventh chords.

Based on the resolution of a particular chord, it is necessary to determine the type of its inversion.

Before starting the training, configure its parameters: select several items on the topics covered or the “All” button (for beginners, the number of subsections should be small). Assignments will be given from the selected material.

To go to the next page, click "Next!". If you need to first repeat the theoretical material on the topic "Scales, modes Intervals Introductory seventh chords", go to the section "A little theory A little theory A little theory".

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Test or simulator?

If the task is to train auditory skills, select the “Trainer” mode. If you want to find out how well prepared you are, select “Test” (test of knowledge for assessment). We work in simulator mode until we get tired of it (and then press the “Finish” button). In test mode there is a limited number of tasks, based on the results of which a grade is given.

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It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to sing in a punk band, dream of stopping getting punched in the face at karaoke, or planning to serenade your beloved on her birthday, an ear for music is a very useful skill for any developed man. Let's figure out what it is, what exactly is its benefit, and what exercises can be used to drive a bear off your ear.

Do you love music as much as we love it at Men's Health? Surely yes, and that's wonderful. You and I have known for a long time that:

music can make physical work easier, be it rowing a galley or tending a huge lawn;
in the office, listening to your favorite music can reduce the fatigue that accumulates during working hours, calm nerves and relieve irritability;
music increases enthusiasm and helps you relax;
Music lessons help in learning foreign languages;
music strengthens the mind: as Italian scientists discovered, fast music causes an additional flow of blood to the brain compared to slower or quiet music;
Music has been proven to help runners and cyclists: the former feel that they spend less effort and their endurance increases by 15%, and the latter use less oxygen when pedaling to music;
pleasant music can effectively block the memory of failures, increasing overall efficiency athlete;
and finally, scientists have noted the effectiveness of music in reducing pain in cancer patients, improving the response of their immune system, reducing their anxiety and other psychological and physiological symptoms.

Do you remember how often you imagined yourself on stage with a microphone performing the hit of your favorite band? Some of us are downright delusional with this vision and strive to take every opportunity to realize it. But, alas, no matter how hard the would-be vocalists try, no matter how loudly they try to sing their favorite lines both in karaoke and in fun company, and even alone with the closest people, the most they get is sympathetic glances in which the plea is clearly read: “Dude, stop making these heartbreaking sounds with your mouth!” In particularly severe cases, bar vocalises ended in fights, after which the editorial singers, rubbing fresh bruises and abrasions, complained about universal misunderstanding and human insensitivity. To help them, we decided to figure out whether it is even possible to develop an ear for music. It turned out that it is very possible!

What is this anyway?

Musical ear- this is a person’s ability to fully perceive the musical palette of a work and comprehensively and adequately evaluate it, as well as reproduce it. Determining how developed your ear for music is is very simple.

Choose your favorite composition.
Listen to it once, and then try to sing the melody of the song on your own, a cappella (that is, without accompaniment), while maintaining the rhythm.
Are your neighbors banging on the water pipe madly? Sorry, it looks like your hearing is not good. Wait, or were you performing something from Napalm Death?

But don't be upset. An ear for music is either given to a person by nature, or it is developed over time through persistent training. As scientists have established, in the auditory zone of our brain there is a bundle of nerve endings responsible for musical hearing. And if it is regularly and correctly stimulated, then things will eventually improve.

In addition, if you haven’t completely distorted the melody, but are constantly falling out of rhythm and tempo, then you need to work on coordinating your auditory and vocal apparatus - yes, and this can be improved.

Types of musical hearing

Of the almost 20 types of musical hearing, we will highlight the 6 most important for us in this article.

Absolute pitch

A rather rare innate talent that gives its owner the ability to accurately determine the musical note (pitch) of absolutely any sound, without comparing it with a tuning fork (that is, a known ideal). With all its advantages, it can cause a decent amount of inconvenience, such as difficulties with learning foreign languages, and most importantly, it has nothing to do with musicality and does not guarantee the career of Svyatoslav Richter or Mstislav Rostropovich.

Inner hearing

But the ability to accurately imagine piece of music, its melody and the sound of individual instruments are much more important for your musical future. Let's say, if you suddenly (God forbid) go deaf, you will still be able to compose songs for your group, simply playing them in your head - remember our Ludwig van Beethoven.

Relative (interval) hearing

Ability to determine height musical sounds, comparing them with those already known, most successful musicians have, without having absolute pitch. And this is precisely the skill that can be developed.

Rhythmic hearing

In dry academic language, this is the ability to distinguish the duration of notes in their sequence, their strength and weakness, and also to feel the tempo, that is, the change in the speed of the music. But in fact, having a rhythmic ear means that you are able to catch the feeling that musicians call “kick” or “groove,” that is, feel the emotional expressiveness of a musical rhythm.

Pitch hearing

Having it means that you can hear the slightest difference in pitch: for example, the difference between adjacent piano keys or guitar frets. It is easily developed through training and will help you become, if not a musician, then a concert technician or piano tuner.

Melodic ear

The most important ability for perceiving the melody of your favorite song as a whole, with all its expressive changes during the course of the piece, and for assessing its expressiveness and intonation. As they say in solfeggio lessons, the melody either runs, then jumps, or freezes in place.

What to do to develop your ear for music?

We will not touch here on the countless applications and programs designed to help develop your hearing, learn to sing and master the basics of musical instruments. Let's talk about good old analog exercises.

Learn to listen to music

Yes, it's that simple. But now you won’t just mindlessly play your favorite tracks in a circle - you have to delve into them. Find out how many instruments sound in a particular composition, how the sound of electronic drums differs from real ones, what effects distort the sound of guitars, how intensely the bass player plays his part. We guarantee: once you master thoughtful listening to music, you will receive new and colossal pleasure.

By the way, direct and frequent listening to music is perhaps the main condition for the development of an ear for music and, importantly, musical taste. And here it is better to turn to boring audiophiles who love to tinker with high-quality equipment, rather than treat it with a disregard, since the price of the issue is your hearing. Inexpensive tweeter speakers (which sound engineers call “shit-control” - understandable, right?) and cheap in-ear headphones will easily knock out your musical bundle of neurons completely and are certainly unlikely to give you the opportunity to correctly sort the composition into instruments. Therefore, approach your choice of device for listening to music wisely - and this is especially true for headphones.

MN editor's choice: Audio-Technica ATH-DSR7BT headphones

This is exactly the one rare case, when almost everything about the headphones is perfect: sound quality, quality of materials, comfort and price. The ATH-DSR7BT over-ear wireless earbuds from legendary Japanese brand Audio-Technica feature Pure Digital Drive, which redefines wireless audio to deliver impressive sound quality without any of the consequences of digital-to-analog conversion. It works like this: the digital signal remains that way until it reaches the drivers. In most Bluetooth headphones, from this moment on, multi-stage signal processing begins, which ultimately often results in a noticeable deterioration in sound. At the same time, Pure Digital Drive eliminates strong signal processing, resulting in an ideal situation: no distortion or additional coloration of the sound.

Help you hear the instruments playing in your favorite song with the DSR7BT's 45mm True Motion digital-to-analog drivers, which recreate every detail of the recording for natural, balanced sound.

Although the headphones are wireless, they have a USB cable that supports audio when connected high resolution(up to 96kHz/24 bit). In addition, the headphones support latest version Bluetooth codec aptxHD, which provides wireless audio transmission without loss of quality.

Editorial tests - and we usually carry them out with all our hearts, to the maximum, often at the risk of simply breaking the device - have shown impressive results.

The headphones sit quite comfortably on the head and are able to adapt to any ears thanks to the ear pads with shape memory. They don’t slip off your head either when playing sports (boxing is an exception), or when energetically shaking your head to classic Metallica compositions. Although, of course, the natural conditions for the Audio-Technica ATH-DSR7BT are peaceful and quiet listening to music not only at home, but also at work. And since these are wireless Bluetooth headphones, you don’t have to be tied to the space at all.

Touch controls deserve special attention. To accept or complete phone call, as well as start a song, just touch a special point on the right earcup with your finger. And of course, thanks to various connection options, the headphones are ideal for a player, a smartphone, or a vinyl record player.

Scales

Yes, yes, just like in the movies. You go to the piano (okay, to the synthesizer), find the note C and play the C major scale from it - the familiar “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si”. And then you start singing each note. Ideally, you should get a clean scale on the first try.

Sounds

When getting ready for work in the morning, try to leave ten minutes early so that you have the opportunity to take your time and concentrate on distinguishing the sounds around you: the rustle of tires on the asphalt, the clicking of heels, the clicking of dog claws, scraps telephone conversations, zipper squealing and so on. Learn to separate sounds from general noise and remember them. Do the same while sitting at home: the apartment building is full of sounds that make up an incredibly interesting palette.

There are so many myths and misconceptions in the world! And in the musical field, they are a dime a dozen.

One of them is the myth of absolute pitch. More than once I had to explain, argue, prove. I'm tired of it, it's time to write about it, so as not to waste time later, but simply send it. Send follow the link and read the following.

This myth is so widespread that often people, wanting to give a compliment, ask with a breath: “You play so well. You probably have perfect pitch?”

It's time to set the record straight. Absolute pitch is a serious pathology. Usually found among pianists (I've come across some) who are constantly tied to 440 Hz. (If the adjusters work normally). :) This occupational disease, greatly complicating the life of its owner.

Much more often, musicians simply “show off”:
- “You know, I have an absolute one!”

Some even reach the point of complete, absolute insanity, claiming that they have “innate absolute pitch”!!!

To understand how ridiculous and ridiculous these statements are, it is enough to take into account just a couple of points:

historical moment - the note “A” 300 years ago sounded much lower, then it gradually rose;
the geographical moment - in some countries there is a different standard "A" - 435 Hz, and in some halls in America - pianos are set on the contrary, they are tuned higher.

Absolute hearing develops as a result of binding the sound-pitch system to a certain frequency - for example, 440 Hz. It is sometimes very difficult for its owners. When they find themselves in some school or club with an out of tune piano, they experience real physical torment. But, thank God, there are not so many such people. There are much more pontjars (-schits), following the lead of a common misconception, everywhere hastening to proudly declare - “I am an absolutist (-nitsa).”

It's simple. :)

A normal musician has relative pitch and is able to instantly build a pitch system from any “A” and feel comfortable in this system. That's it. The rest is from you know who...

There are people who well remember the pitch of the note “A”, accepted in their place and time of residence. But if at the same time they can easily accept a different pitch “A” - this is not absolute pitch, this is frequency memory, the ability to remember a certain pitch. Almost all musicians have this ability to one degree or another, but it does not interfere in any way in those cases in which real absolute players feel terrible discomfort.

There are also harmonic, melodic, and other types of hearing - but these are other, really serious and large topics, which are unrealistic to cover in this small text. But in order for everything to become clear with the “absoluteists”, the above is enough. ;-)

It is difficult to imagine a good athlete without strong muscles and excellent physical training, a good speaker without the ability to speak beautifully and speak fluently in front of an audience. Yes and good musician is unthinkable without a developed ear for music, which includes a whole range of abilities necessary for successful composition, expressive performance and active perception of music.

Depending on musical characteristics exist different types musical ear. For example, pitch, timbre, modal, internal, harmonic, melodic, intervallic, rhythmic, etc. But one of the most inexplicable is still absolute pitch. Let's figure out what this mysterious phenomenon is.

The name of this type of hearing comes from the Latin word absolutus, which translated means “unconditional, independent, unlimited, perfect.” Absolute pitch refers to “the ability to determine the exact pitch of a sound without relating it to another sound whose pitch is known” (Grove Dictionary). That is, absolute pitch allows, without adjustment, without comparison with any “standard” of height, to instantly, and most importantly, accurately recognize and name the pitch of audible sounds.

Interestingly, the concept of absolute pitch appeared only in the second half of the 19th century. And since that time, scientific minds have been trying to find an answer to the question: “Where does a person get such a unique ability?” Researchers have put forward a variety of hypotheses regarding the origin of absolute pitch. However, there is no clear answer to this question today so no. Some scientists consider it an innate (and also inherited) acoustic-physiological ability, which depends on the anatomical features of the hearing system (more precisely, the structure of the inner ear). Others associate absolute pitch with special mechanisms of the brain, in the cortex of which there are special formant detectors. Still others suggest that absolute pitch is formed due to strong sound impressions in very early childhood and well-developed “photographic” figurative-auditory memory, especially in childhood.

Absolute pitch is a fairly rare phenomenon even among professional musicians, not to mention ordinary connoisseurs musical art who may not even know that nature has awarded them with this rare gift. Determining whether you have absolute pitch or not is quite simple. To “diagnose” this ability, experts use a piano, on which you will be asked to identify and name a particular sound. But to cope with this task, you need to at least know the names of the notes themselves and how they sound. Therefore, as a rule, absolute pitch is detected in early childhood: in children at about 3-5 years of age, usually after becoming familiar with the names of musical sounds.

Absolute pitch is especially important for such musical professions as conductor, composer, and performer on instruments with non-fixed tuning (for example, string instruments), since it allows you to more subtly perceive the pitch of the sound and more accurately control the tuning. And having perfect pitch won’t do any harm to an amateur musician: choosing chords for familiar melodies is, of course, much easier for those with perfect pitch.

But along with undeniable advantages (primarily for professional musicians), this unique ability also has its disadvantages. In certain cases, absolute pitch can become a real challenge, especially for those who are familiar with the basics of musical literacy. For example, you are sitting in a restaurant during a romantic date. And instead of enjoying the conversation or the aroma delicious dishes Under the quiet background of playing music, treasured notes periodically “float” in your mind: “la, fa, mi, re, mi, sol, do...”. Not everyone in such a situation is able to “switch off” and focus their attention on the interlocutor.

In addition, it is difficult to find a worse torture for an absolute student than listening to an even inspired performance of a work by those who are “absolutely deaf.” Indeed, with such abilities, a person not only hears the exact pitch of the sound, but also absolutely accurately determines falseness, the slightest deviations from the correct reference sound. One can only sincerely sympathize with the absolutist during the concert sound of the joint playing of poorly tuned instruments (especially strings) or uncoordinated “dirty” ensemble singing.

By and large, it is not so important whether you have absolute pitch or not. But if you decide to devote yourself to music, and maybe even become a first-class professional musician, then a good ear for music is vital for you. Its development should henceforth become a purposeful and regular action for you. Classes in a special discipline - solfeggio - can help in this difficult matter. But the ear for music develops especially actively in the process musical activity: during singing, playing an instrument, selecting by ear, improvising, composing music.

And most importantly, friends, learn to listen and understand music! Listen to every sound with love and reverence, sincerely enjoy the beauty of every consonance, in order to further give happiness and joy from communicating with music to your grateful listeners!!!

Surely many have heard the expression “absolute pitch”. In everyday life, it is often attributed to people who are well versed in music, musical notation, and who have extraordinary vocal abilities. However, being a highly skilled musician does not automatically mean you have perfect pitch. Moreover, only a few percent of the world's population can boast of this gift.

Mysterious phenomenon

Absolute ear for music is a rare phenomenon whose status is difficult to even determine. Is it the result of certain natural factors or a physiological (hereditary) feature? The result of a unique personality development or a consequence of the influence of the social environment (family, society)? Or a complex combination of all factors? This mystery, even after centuries of study, is shrouded in darkness.

Presumably, most babies have this gift, but it is quickly “overshadowed” by other skills that are more important for survival. The main question, thanks to which an element of mystery arises, is the following: why in the same environment of upbringing, under the same conditions for musical development, one of the children develops absolute pitch, and the other does not?

Statistics

Over the years of in-depth research, scientists have accumulated rich statistical material. It turned out that absolute pitch is formed exclusively in childhood, moreover, precisely in preschool, during the period of dominance of involuntary acquisition of skills. This fact is unanimously confirmed by all researchers of absolute pitch. At the same time, the formation of a rare skill requires, as a prerequisite, the presence of a child in the family musical instrument, whose pitch is fixed. For example, keyboards, a number of wind instruments (accordion, accordion) and others. The reasons for this, presumably, lie not so much in the field of psychology of human abilities, but in the psychology of individual differences (differential psychology).

Absolute musical ear steadily retains its status as a phenomenon as an outstanding, exceptional phenomenon in a certain respect. This is due to its relatively low prevalence. According to researchers, 6-7% of professional musicians and no more than 1% of all music listeners have absolute pitch.

Definition

Absolute pitch is the ability of people to determine “by ear” the absolute height of sounds. Musicians with this gift remember the scale absolute altitudes 12 semitone octave scale. They are able to accurately determine the pitch of any sound without outside help. In turn, absolute pitch is divided into:

Passive - the ability to match the pitch of an audible sound.
Active - the ability to reproduce a given sound with the voice (the owners of “active hearing” are an absolute minority).

There is also the concept of relative hearing - not an innate, but a learned skill, when people are able to correctly determine the pitch of a sound using “cues” (a comparison object, such as a tuning fork).

Development of absolute pitch: pros and cons

For more than a century, there has been debate about whether this rare natural ability can be developed and trained. Theoretically, this is possible, because under the influence of some factors it is formed in children. However, critics of teaching methods argue that there is no mass “influx” of musicians trained in absolute musical ear.

IN different times different people Methods for artificially acquiring absolute pitch were invented, but they were not widely used in practice for a very simple reason: they were not in demand among professional musicians. According to the general opinion, absolute pitch, although it significantly facilitates the implementation of musical activity, does not guarantee its success, and sometimes even complicates it. In addition, numerous reliable facts indicating that not all famous musicians had absolute pitch confirm the thesis that this ability is not obligatory or decisive.

Moral aspect

And yet, the problem of absolute pitch claims to be an eternal one, since it consists in dividing all participants in the musical community into two “camps”: people who have the gift and those who do not. This confrontation cannot be avoided.

In other words, the possession of absolute pitch is not a matter of conscious choice, but of some kind of “blessing from above.” At first glance, people with relative hearing seem to be disadvantaged: in comparison with “absolute listeners,” they need the help of a tuning fork or any other source of sound standards. In addition, when performing one or another operation related to determining the pitch of sounds, “absolute speakers” demonstrate unconditional superiority, which cannot but affect the self-esteem of those with relative hearing.

The most striking consequence of this situation is the formation of a unique complex of professional inferiority in persons with relative hearing. This happens despite the widespread assertion that highly developed relative hearing is quite adequate, and sometimes even more effective, when performing musical activities.

Scientific approach

Musical hearing today is considered differentiated in the following gradation of levels: melodic, harmonic, tonal, polytonal, modal, internal, orchestral, polyphonic, rhythmic, physical (natural), singing-intonation, subtle, sharp, absolute, choral, operatic, ballet, dramatic. , stylistic, polystylistic, poetic, ethnic and multiethnic (absolute pitch).

It is possessed by composers, conductors, folklorists, the first violinist of an orchestra, arrangers, piano and organ tuners. Many researchers agree that absolute musical ear is a product concentrated on the basis of diverse natural phenomena and human genetics. It should be developed by capturing the voices of nature, birdsong, animal cries and even man-made (industrial) sounds.

How to develop absolute pitch

Whether it is possible to develop 100% hearing through training is a controversial issue. Usually people seeking good results, are called owners of pseudo-absolute pitch. It is advisable to develop talent in preschool children if they are capable of music. It has been proven that the most favorable time for a full perception of music is childhood, when the family learns the basics from the parents. musical culture, the ability to perceive, understand, feel, and experience musical images is cultivated.

Models of development of absolute pitch

Several development models are practiced in Russia. They are based on two principles for controlling intonation and hearing:

oral (by text);
associative (by notes).

The process of mastering comes down to the fact that at each lesson the entire scale with words is sung, then each student sings it during breaks, on the way home, after completing homework, at your leisure. He has it constantly in his head. When basically the text of the model is fixed in memory, which is not difficult by analogy with poetic texts songs, the text is sung in breakdowns in the most various options. In the future, the key should be changed and try to sing the text in a new key, as a result of which the student begins to operate and modulate in any key.

Regular singing exercises develop an internal ear for music. The student begins to hear and determine what sound is being made - mi, sol, fa, la, etc. By analogy with what composers, folklorists, ethnographers, and conductors with absolute pitch have learned.

History lessons

What can a person with perfect pitch do? There is a famous incident in history that happened to the great L. Beethoven. It so happened that his physical hearing disappeared while conducting a piece at a concert, but his absolute, internal musical ear helped, helping the composer to conduct symphony orchestra(310 participating musicians).

Physical deafness did not prevent another opera composer - N. S. Dagirov (the operas “Aigazi”, “Irchi-Cossack”, “Khochbar” in collaboration with G. A. Gasanov, the ballet “PartuPatima”), who had not heard the production of his monumental works, but felt and perceived them with inner absolute pitch. With the loss of the physical, the inner hearing does not disappear. A person with absolute pitch will be able to syntonize quite accurately, display, and beat out the rhythm closest to what was heard.

Conclusion

Seeing, remembering, recording, learning to catch and hear the music living around us is the goal and task of the model for the development of absolute pitch, first in preschool, then in school upbringing and education. The development of musical hearing into an absolute one leads to a differentiated perception of the timbres-voices of folk, symphonic, jazz and other groups. After all, the main goal of human society on Earth is to study and improve the surrounding life in space and time on a new turn of the spiral of evolution.