Last year, I saw an announcement from Dave Douglas, mentioning some of the classes he was going to teach at the 2007 Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. One of the classes, "Ear Training for Improvisers" really piqued my interest. Not only was it an ear training class specifically geared toward improvisation, but it was also being taught by one of my favorite jazz musicians on the scene today.

Real quick, for those who are less familiar with Dave Douglas, here's a (very) brief bio: Dave Douglas is a two-time grammy-nominated jazz trumpet player, composer, and educator who has recorded over twenty-five albums as a leader and he's appeared on over one hundred recordings as a sideman. In addition to leading his own band, Dave Douglas is well known for his work with John Zorn's Masada group and more recently as a member of the SFJazz Collective. Dave Douglas also started his own independent record label, Greenleaf Music. Here's an even shorter bio: Dave Douglas is a bad ass! For more information, read Dave Douglas' official bio.

Since I knew I couldn't attend Dave Douglas' ear training class in person, I sent him an email hoping to learn more about the class and possibly his thoughts about ear training in general. We exchanged a couple of messages after my initial inquiry, and Dave graciously agreed to write an article about ear training for his GreenleafMusic.com blog. He did warn me, however, that it would probably take several months due to his busy playing and touring schedule. And boy has he been busy. Since that first email Dave Douglas toured around the world with the SFJazz Collective and separately with his own band, he composed a 75-minute suite for big band and quartet, and he recorded and released a new live album with his Keystone band. Oh, and don't forget all the other requests he has to contend with from demanding fans like me!

Given Dave Douglas' hectic schedule, I wasn't expecting him to send me anything more than a few paragraphs about ear training. And honestly, I would have been thrilled just to get that. So, you can imagine my surprise and delight when Dave recently sent me six pages worth of ear training exercises and valuable insight!

Below, I'll highlight a few sections of Dave Douglas' ear training article. I encourage you to read the entire article at the GreenleafMusic.com blog.

IS EAR TRAINING IMPORTANT?

If you've read any of my ear training articles, you already know my answer to the above question (hint: my answer rhymes with "chess"). While I'm absolutely confident in my beliefs about ear training, it certainly helps to have some supporting evidence about the importance of ear training, especially when that evidence comes from professional musicians.

I think the following paragraph from Dave Douglas says it all:

Ear training is the most valuable training for any musician, and maybe most of all for an improviser. Improvisation puts a musician on the spot in unpredictable ways -- you have only your ears to help you learn what's going on and decide how to respond to events or initiate them. Basically ear training underlies anything a musician does: melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, form, density, community (who you are playing with), legacy (how you choose to deal, or not deal, with the traditions of music). You name it -- to be handled fully it has got to be heard deeply and accurately.

IS EAR TRAINING QUICK AND EASY?

If you've searched around for ear training materials, you've probably seen at least one of those ear training programs boasting super fast results. Some even go so far as to suggest that you can develop perfect pitch within a few weeks. I fell for one of these programs myself, many years ago (it was a waste of money). Unfortunately, I've yet to find a "silver bullet" for ear training. It's much more realistic to say that while most methods of ear training will improve your aural skills, the results come slowly, and only through practice and perseverance. Ear training can also be very humbling when you realize you can't play simple things accurately by ear. Dave Douglas echoes these sentiments in the following statement:

Ear training takes a lot of time to master, and it seems like the more you work on it the more you see your own shortcomings. It's slow going...

I don't know about you, but I certainly feel a lot better about my own progress with ear training now that I know a fantastic jazz musician like Dave Douglas can relate to the slow (and frustrating) process of ear training.

EAR TRAINING EXERCISES

In his ear training article, Dave Douglas describes several exercises which became part of his practice routine at one time or another. There's a lot of great detail in this section, so be sure to check out the original article for more information. Following are some highlights from Dave Douglas' ear training exercises:

Practice With A Metronome

Dave Douglas illustrates several different ways to practice with a metronome, including everything from playing along to clicks on 2 and 4, to subdividing individual beats so each metronome click represents dotted quarter and dotted half notes. He even goes on to explain how you can use the metronome to practice over tricky meters like 7/8 and 9/8. As Dave states, "These exercises are about developing a solid time feel. Part of my motivation stems from the philosophy that each musician in an ensemble should be equally responsible for the time."

I occasionally practice with a metronome on 2 and 4, but I hadn't even thought about some of these more advanced ideas. I'll definitely give some of them a try, but I probably won't spend too much time with the 7/8 and 9/8 stuff. I'll leave that to the pro's ;-).

Seeing Structures

Dave Douglas' structure exercises involve taking a section, or cell, of music and using that section as source material for improvisation. The improvised material should be the same length as the source material, should sound at least somewhat similar, and should be followed by a repetition of the original source material. For example, let's say you begin with a melody that's two measures long. You'd start out by playing that two-measure melody at a steady tempo (this is a good time to use that metronome). After playing the original melody, you'd improvise for two measures, keeping your improvisation faithful to the original melody. You might stick to the same notes, the same rhythms, the same dynamics, the same general form, whatever. The main point is that the improvised section should be derivative of the original melody and it should be two measures long. After those two improvised measures you'd replay the original two-measure section followed by another two measures of improvisation and so on.

I currently practice a variation of Dave's structure exercises when practicing licks from jazz transcriptions. I'll pick a measure or two that I really like from a transcription and I'll use that lick as the inspiration for my improvisation, occasionally returning to the original lick. If the lick has lot of interval leaps, I'll have a lot of leaps in my solo. If it's bluesy, I'll also try to play bluesy. You get the idea. I don't, however, obey such a regimented structure where I improvise for the same length of the original lick nor do I repeat the original lick after each improvised section. I'm definitely going to spend some quality time doing this exercise as Dave Douglas describes to see where it leads me.

Playing In All Keys

Dave Douglas' final ear training recommendation involves playing music without written materials, in every key. As Dave states, "It should be obvious that this skill is important in improvisation because it entails, essentially, the removal of barriers between the musical imagination and the musical instrument." In other words, the ability to play equally well in any key, and actually without even thinking about key, frees you to play any musical idea that pops into your mind. Dave recommends taking a familiar tune and playing it without written material in each of the twelve keys. You'll only use your ears to guide you from one note to the next.

If you've tried either of my ear training tools, you know that I've got several different exercises to help you play melodies by ear in every key. My simple song randomizer will give you random tune names and starting notes and my ear training applet has random melodies, simple songs, and jazz licks, all of which can be sequenced and modulated. You can even modulate the melodies over the complete cycle of 5th (and 4ths).

A side note... As you probably noticed, Dave Douglas doesn't like to use the term "playing by ear" to specifically mean playing without written materials. In his mind, all music is played "by ear" even when reading from written music, since we're always using our ears to guide us on some level. For instance, even if you're reading from written music, your ears are still able to tell you whether or not you hit a wrong note or whether or not you're out of tune. So, to Dave, there's always a "by ear" element to playing music. I definitely see where Dave is coming from on this and he obviously sees where I, and others, are coming from when we talk about playing (exclusively) by ear. We simply have a different default definition of the phrase "playing by ear". Just thought I'd address that in case anyone was confused, since I use the phrase "playing by ear" throughout this site.

THANK YOU DAVE DOUGLAS!

Dave posted his ear training article to his GreenleafMusic.com blog a few days ago and I've already seen it re-posted on a couple of jazz message boards (TrumpetMaster, TalkBass). No doubt, his article will inspire and motivate more people to spend time with ear training in their daily practice routines. I, for one, am extremely grateful to him for taking the time to share his thoughts about ear training.

If you haven't heard much of Dave Douglas' music, I'd recommend starting with his "Live at the Jazz Standard" recording, which was released in 2007. The interplay between Dave and saxophonist, Donny McCaslin, is crazy good. It's an excellent example of what you can do with strong aural skills!

ADDITIONAL READING

• In April, 2012 I attended a Dave Douglas master class that discussed composition and ear training.

A few months ago I was introduced to the director of jazz studies at one of the local Atlanta universities. For the sake of anonymity, let's call him Joshua. The person making the introduction told Joshua that I have a website featuring Atlanta jazz musicians, Atlanta jazz clubs, and Atlanta jazz concerts. Joshua asked me for the name of my site, but when I told him the name he didn't recognize it. I then told him that I had written about several jazz events at his school and that he's probably seen my site when he does online searches for "Atlanta Jazz" topics. Once again, he said he wasn't familiar with my site. I certainly wasn't offended that Joshua didn't know about my site, after all there are lots of jazz-related sites out there and I don't expect everyone to know about mine. In fact, I probably wouldn't have given any more thought to our conversation until Joshua said, "You know, I never do any searches for jazz on the Web."

The more I think about Joshua's comment, the more it concerns me. As the director of a university jazz studies program, it's Joshua's duty to prepare his students for a career as jazz musicians. That responsibility shouldn't be limited to teaching them how to play music. For his students to succeed as professional musicians, they need to learn as much as possible about their local jazz scene, including the local musicians, clubs, and events. And most importantly, they need to learn how to promote themselves and their music. In today's world, the Web is unquestionably the most effective medium for accomplishing these goals. And certainly, it's becoming more important every day. I can't help but think that if Joshua isn't actively using the Web to find and disseminate information about jazz, there's a good chance his students aren't either.

I can't speak for other cities, but in Atlanta there aren't any printed publications that cover all of the local jazz musicians, clubs, and concerts. At best, newspapers simply announce national touring acts and a few local events. To truly know what's happening in the Atlanta jazz scene, you have to go online. And even there, you can't simply rely on a single website to tell you all there is to know. You have to continually search for information. Since Joshua isn't searching for jazz online, he and his students are probably out of touch with what's happening in the local jazz community.

Sure, some students will turn to the Web for information on their own, but I don't think their initiative should be taken for granted. As with all of the other important aspects of the jazz curriculum, jazz educators should take the lead when it comes to teaching students about the local jazz scene. Educators should give students a list of websites that feature local musicians, clubs, and events and they should continually search for new online resources so that list doesn't become stale. If you leave it to the students to find this information on their own, there's always the possibility that they'll miss some valuable piece of information and/or fail to make a connection that can help them in their careers.

A major part of your success or failure as a jazz musician stems from your ability to promote yourself and your music. I don't know what Joshua covers on the subject of promotion, but I'm fairly certain there's little discussion of online promotion. I base this on the fact that several of his graduates don't have any web presence at all (not even MySpace pages). Even though I see them play around town, I can't find any information about them online so I don't know where or when they'll be playing next. Consequently, there's a good chance I'll miss their next gig. Their lack of Web presence is odd to me since all of these graduates are young, having grown up in the Internet age. You'd think it would be natural for them to get online and at least create a MySpace page. But in most cases there's nothing. I can't help but think this is because Joshua and the other educators at his school never mentioned anything about online promotion. BTW, for more ideas on jazz promotion, check out my Atlanta jazz - promotion ideas article.

I know there are several music school students who read my jazz blog and use my ear training tools. Perhaps you could shed some light on this subject. What role does the Web have in your jazz education? Do your teachers refer to the Web as a place to learn about jazz in your community? Do they give you lists of musicians, clubs, and event-tracking websites? Is online promotion included in our jazz curriculum? If somehow the Web isn't a integral part of your jazz education, I encourage you to start a dialog with your teachers on this subject. Maybe you can school them for a change!

ONE MORE THING

This is a bit of digression, but somewhat related... Jazz students should regularly attend local jazz concerts (not simply national acts). I'd go so far as to say it should be a REQUIRED part of your jazz studies. I attend at least one or two Atlanta jazz concerts each week that feature local Atlanta jazz musicians and I rarely see students at these events. When I was their age I also didn't attend many local jazz concerts. It didn't seem that important to me at the time so I didn't bother. Looking back, I can see how foolish that mentality was. Attending local jazz concerts is a fantastic way to see what life will be like as a working jazz musician and it's a great opportunity to start networking with local musicians. Any one of them might be the source of future gigs and likewise you may need to call upon those local musicians someday to play at one of your gigs. Start learning about your local jazz scene today. See live jazz!

Emilio Solla, a jazz pianist from Argentina who currently resides in Brooklyn, was in Atlanta recently for a concert with the Emory University Big Band. While in town, Emilio joined Gary Motley, Emory's director of jazz studies, to host a jazz improvisation master class at Emory University.

I've attended a dozen or so master classes during the past few years, and while I've enjoyed all of them, most aren't especially educational. The guest artists typically answer audience questions, and they might make a few suggestions to the students about their playing (assuming the students play something), but there typically isn't a lot of actual teaching in these "classes."

On one level, I don't really care if there's any educational merit to master classes. The opportunity to hear master musicians play jazz in an intimate setting is enough of a draw for me. Throw in some interesting stories the golden years of jazz (e.g. Benny Golson's master class) and I'm thrilled just to be there. Obviously, though, the students at these master classes can really benefit from the educational aspect. Ideally, they'd come away from a master class with a new exercise, a new method of playing, or a new approach to music that propels them to a higher level in their own playing.

From an educational standpoint, I'd have to say that Emilio Solla's master class was one of the best master classes I've attended thus far. It was not only rich in content, but he really gave the students a workout that forced them to confront their own limitations. Here are some of the key points from Emlio Solla's master class:

THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL FOR JAZZ IMPROVISATION

Early on, Emilio Solla asked the students to tell him the single most important skill they need in order to improvise. The students responded with predictable answers like "know your scales" and "learn the chord progressions." But none of these responses were what Emilio was looking for. In fairness to the students, this is a tricky question with a variety of answers. In fact, I was at a master class no too long ago where the guest artist asked a similar question and "know your scales" was the "correct" response.

When the students failed to provide Emilio's intended answer, Emilio told them that the most important skill for jazz improvisation is the ability to hear. Specifically, you need to be able to hear and identify what those around you are playing (if you're improvising with a group), and you need to be able to hear what you're going to play before you play it. In other words, you need strong aural skills. While the importance of strong aural skills is regularly discussed on this website, this was the first master class that I've attended where the message was really driven home. Ideally, every master class would have a discussion about ear training.

HEAR FIRST, THEN PLAY

Emilio Solla continued his discussion about the importance of aural skills by saying you need to hear first, then play. In other words, anything that you play should first be heard in your head so you know what it will sound like before you play it. Emilio went on to describe how most educational programs produce students who have this order reversed. They play first and then they hear. When I was a music student in college, I was one of these students myself. I was just rambling through pre-learned licks and so-called "safe" notes. I didn't even know what those notes would sound like until they came out of my horn. To truly make music, however, I needed to be able to hear the ideas in my head and I needed the ability to play those ideas by ear on my instrument. Again, strong aural skills are the key.

SINGING CHORD CHANGES

After the discussion about hearing, Emilio Solla put the students through their paces by having them sing through the chord changes to "What Is This Thing Called Love," a tune which the students had already been working on. They began by singing the root note to each chord change. It was pretty obvious that the students hadn't tried this before because they had a hard time moving from one pitch to another. As if singing the roots wasn't hard enough on the students, Emilio next asked them take turns singing the chord tones (1,3,5,7) for each chord.

Singing through the chords like this has (at least) two important benefits. First, it's great ear training practice. By training yourself to hear and sing the sounds of each interval and chord, you're internalizing the pitches and the sounds of jazz. This familiarity will improve your ability to hear and play the ideas in your head. Incidentally, my ear training tool has a "Sing: No Play" mode which allows you to sight sing all of the exercises.

The second important benefit of singing through chord changes is the familiarity you'll develop with a tune. When learning a new tune, Emilio Solla always starts by singing through each of the chord changes. Next he sings the melody. By the time he's finished, he has a much deeper connection with the tune than if he simply sat down and read through the changes. This deeper connection may very well be the difference between playing a boring solo and creating spectacular music.

NOTE-LIMITING SOLOS

After the students sang through the chord changes, Emlio Solla asked them to play solos using just the chord tones (1,3,5,7). Note limiting exercises like this can be very liberating and challenging at the same time. The liberating part comes from the fact that you don't have to worry about selecting from all 12 notes. With only 4 notes to choose from (over each chord change) you can focus more on making music and less about note choice. This can be rather challenging for some people, though, especially if you normally play a lot of pre-learned licks and patterns in your solos. You'll actually have to come up with some new ideas for once!

RESIST THE URGE TO SHOW OFF

Throughout the master class, Emilio Solla stressed the importance of creating music in our solos. He's very critical of players who show up to gigs with an arsenal of pre-learned licks and patterns. While these players might sound impressive to some, they're rarely saying anything worthwhile in their solos. To caution us from becoming one of these jazz robots, Emilio made the interesting suggestion of using restraint over our "easy" chords. For example, if you're really strong in the key of C Major and you see that chord change coming up, don't view it as an opportunity to show off. Most likely, that showoff portion of your solo won't fit in with the rest of your solo and you'll end up with an incoherent mess. Instead, make sure that whatever you play augments the rest of your solo, elevating the overall musicality. And remember, sometimes the best thing to play is nothing at all.

PIANO DUET

At the end of the master class, Emilio Solla and Atlanta jazz pianist, Gary Motley, treated us to a wonderful mini-concert. Here's a video clip of them performing "Stella By Starlight." Enjoy!

A couple of days ago, I watched the HBO documentary, "The Leopards Take Manhattan: The Little Band That Roared." The documentary follows the Louisville Leopard Percussionists from their rehearsals in Louisville, Kentucky, to their performance at the 2006 International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) conference in New York, where they opened for Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette. Opening for Chick Corea at the IAJE conference would be an outstanding accomplishment for anyone, but it's even more remarkable when you consider that the Leopards are all children, ages 7-12!

Led by the award-winning elementary school teacher Diane Downs, the Louisville Leopard Percussionists group is comprised of about 45 children who perform jazz tunes on a variety of instruments including the marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, drum set, timbale, conga, bongo and piano. Before you read any further, listen to this audio clip of the Leopards playing Caravan iwasdoingallright - audio clip. Pretty good, eh? You might be thinking this is a super group of especially gifted children, but it isn't. They're just average kids with normal backgrounds, yet they've come together to create exceptional music thanks to the superb tutelage of Diane Downs.

The most fascinating part of the documentary, for me at least, wasn't what these children could play, but rather how they learned to play it. Following are some key points:

LISTEN FIRST

In the documentary, we watch as the students learn the swing classic, "Sing, Sing, Sing." Before doing anything, they sat down together and listened to a recording of the tune. This might not sound like a big deal to some of my readers, but it's definitely a big deal to me. In the eight years that I spent in middle school, high school, and college bands, I don't recall ever listening to a recording of a tune before trying to play it. And if it did happen, it certainly didn't happen more than once or twice.

Why is listening to a recording so important? It's simple: you can't capture music on paper. Take a swing rhythm, for example. Think of all the complex phrasing, accents, inflections, and other stylistic elements that go into a swing rhythm. You could try to squeeze all of that stuff onto a piece of paper, but if the person reading it hasn't ever heard a swing rhythm it won't sound right at all.

Since the Leopards always listen before trying to play music, they begin with a firm understanding of how the music should sound.

LEARNING BY EAR

The Louisville Leopard Percussionists don't use any written music. That's right, all of the music they play is learned by ear. In the documentary, Diane Downs echoes Suzuki's argument for learning by ear. The saying goes: just as people learn to talk before they learn to read, they should learn to play music (by ear) before they learn to read music. I certainly agree with this statement. I also believe that mainstream music education is teaching people how to read INSTEAD of teaching them how to play music, since most music students can't play anything unless it's written down. I don't want to get too carried away on that subject (read this ear training article for more), but I did find it refreshing to hear that the Leopards are learning music by ear. I think the result of that training speaks for itself.

EMPHASIS ON RHYTHM AND PHRASING

In my Learning to Improvise series, I discuss the importance of rhythm and phrasing in jazz improvisation. In short, without good rhythm and phrasing, any group of notes will sound boring and lifeless. While it might seem natural that a percussion group would have a better grasp on rhythm than your average middle or high school band, I believe the Leopards have a leg up due to the way that they learn rhythms. When learning rhythms, the Leopards sing their rhythms aloud, adding words to the rhythms so they internalize both the rhythm and the phrasing of those rhythms. Since they've all practiced the same rhythm and phrasing, they are more cohesive when it comes to group performance. Their emphasis on rhythm and phrasing also carries over to their improvised jazz solos. These young children have a better grasp on rhythm and phrasing than many of the students I've heard in college jazz programs!

PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP AND TEAMWORK

As stated on Diane's page of their website, Diane lets the children experiment and come up with their own parts. This gives them ownership of the music, which in turn helps them to care more about the program and each other. For instance, if one child is having trouble learning something, another will gladly help them to learn the part, offering positive reinforcement along the way. The children know that as a band, they're all in it together and every member is as important as the next. Clearly these children aren't just learning about music, they're also learning tremendously valuable lessons that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

I definitely encourage you to watch this documentary the next time it's aired, especially if you're involved in music education. With music programs shutting down left and right, it's inspiring to see what can still be done.

VIDEO CLIPS

These clips aren't from the documentary, but they do give you some greater insight into the program.

The above clip is a promotional video for the Louisville Leopard Percussionists group.

This clip was shot by one of the Leopards' parents during their 2006 IAJE performance.

This post lists all of the updates I've made to the latest version of my ear training tool. The ear training tool is free to use and contains exercises for intervals, chords, random melodies, call-and-response, jazz improvisation, and more!

TRY MY EAR TRAINING TOOL!

If you'd like to learn more about the importance of ear training, especially for jazz improvisers, please read my Learning To Improvise - Introduction and Learning To Improvise - Ear Training articles. Also, the ear trainer itself contains a lot more information.

RECENT UPDATES

UPDATE 3/10/13 - Random melodies now includes diminished and altered scale options.

UPDATE 10/25/12 - The ear training tool now saves most (if not all) of the settings from your previous session, so you won't have to re-check your interval, chord, etc options every time you use the ear trainer. Also, Mac users with Java version 7 or above will now use a higher-quality MIDI soundbank.

UPDATE 1/24/12 - Random melodies no longer repeat notes sequentially unless you only have two notes to choose from. I added dozens of scale patterns to the random melody feature. There's a new jazz blues progression on the RSection tab and you can now generate random chord progressions of mixed chord types. For example, if you select one of the "Mixed..." options under the RSection "Randomization" menu, it will generate a single sequence that includes random keys and progression types like "C7 Eb-7 F Bb-7b5" etc. I also tried to fix some of the Mac OSX audio issues, but my research and tinkering suggests that the Java runtime's MIDI sequencer isn't reliable on Macs right now, especially with the long sequences generated by the RSection tab.

UPDATE 4/10/10 - My iPhone ear training application, Play By Ear, saves the various settings after you use the ear trainer. I've become used to that and whenever I return to my online ear training application, it feels tedious to always have to set the key center, the play mode, and some of the other basic options. Well, as of today that's no longer the case! The main options that you set every time are now stored in a cookie so I can recover them on your next visit. I also added some new keyboard commands so you can now press ">" to play the next exercise, "<" to stop, "m" to do a melodic repeat, and "n" to do a harmonic repeat. That was requested in the comments by Sam.

UPDATE 9/12/09 - Thanks to a suggestion from Jean-Francois, the starting cadence now has a "Follow Exercise Key" option. When selected, the ear training tool will play a major cadence in whatever key the next exercise is about to use.

UPDATE 7/26/09 - I added "drop 2" to the inversions shown on the chords tab thanks to the suggestion from a guitarist named Rod. Drop 2 chords move the second highest note of 4-note chords to bottom of the chord voicing.

UPDATE 5/10/09 - I added some new modulation options to the ear training tool's Advanced tab. The new random cycle feature works like the existing Circle of Fourths & Fifths features, however you now have random movement and a shorter 3-time option. I also added a few more tunes to the "Simple Song" option under the Melodies tab.

UPDATE 4/28/09 - The RSection's chord progressions now include Randomization within a single exercise. For example, you could setup randomization so every 4 measures the key changes randomly to one of your selected "Keys To Play." This is a great workout for your ears as you try to improvise over randomly changing chords.

UPDATE 3/15/09 - The ear training tool's Random Melody feature now includes a chromatic scale option which includes more note options (higher and lower notes) than if you select individual notes.

UPDATE 2/6/09 - I added "Cherokee" to the RSection's list of chord progressions.

UPDATE 1/2/09 - I've had several requests for altered chords and finally got around to adding some to the ear trainer. You'll find the new ones on the online version of the ear trainer, on the "Chords" tab.

UPDATE 6/1/08 - As requested by Svetlana, the ear trainer's interval and chord samples now obey your "Root Note" settings. This allows you to specify a specific root note for all of the samples, or you can have random root notes if you select the "Any" option.

UPDATE 5/25/08 - Thanks to a suggestion from George, you can now click on interval and chord names to play a sample. Each sample will adhere the settings you specified in the ear training tool options. For example, if you click on "Perfect 5th" and you have the "Sequence Type" set to "Harmonic" the ear trainer will play the interval harmonically (both notes at the same time).

UPDATE 3/2/08 - I just added cycle-based modulation to my ear training tool. Cycle-based modulation will play the existing exercise over and over again, changing keys through the cycle of 4th's or 5th's. I recommend that you try this with random melodies, jazz licks, and simple song exercises (all under the Melodies tab). By playing the same exercise through a circle of 4th's/5th's, you're challenging yourself to play something by ear, but you're also giving your ears a chance to become familiar with the new melody, thus making the exercise a little easier. You'll find the new cycle-based modulation option on the Advanced tab of the ear training tool.

UPDATE 1/27/08 - I've been meaning to add compound intervals to the ear training tool for a while now, but George's comment today finally made it happen. You'll now see a new "Compound" checkbox on the intervals page!

UPDATE 1/26/08 - I added a "Starting Cadence" feature to my ear training tool (online version only for the time being). Several people have asked for this feature because it gives a reference point from which other notes can be identified. It also allows you to hear intervals, melodies, etc, within a key. You'll see the "Starting Cadence" dropdown on the "Controls" panel. If you don't want to use the cadence, simply set it to None.

ARCHIVED UPDATES

UPDATE 12/25/07 - I added about a dozen more simple songs to the ear training tool's random melody feature. That makes a total of 72 different simple song melodies! You can access these by selecting "Key for simple song" under the "Each box is a..." dropdown on the "melodies" tab.

UPDATE 11/4/07 - Version v2_22 introduces simple song melody exercises to my ear training tool. Right now there are about 25 different simple song melodies that will randomly play, but it's my goal to eventually have over 100! You'll find the new simple song melody option in the "Each box is a..." dropdown located on the Melodies tab. I'll update the offline version of the ear trainer once this new version has had a few solid days of testing.

UPDATE 9/8/07 - Version v2_21 of the ear training tool adds three new features. The first new feature is the ability to change the octave range of the exercises. The new octave options appear in the "Key Center" drop-down. This is particularly useful for bass players and other people wishing to expand the lower (or higher) ranges of their ear training. The second new feature is the ability to toggle between treble and bass clef in the staff. To do so, click on the little blue arrow icon located near the treble/bass clefs. When necessary, "8va" or "8vb" will display beneath the clefs. This lets you know that the notes shown on the staff are being played one or more octaves higher (8va) or lower (8vb) than the staff notation. The third new feature is the addition of Major7th jazz licks for call-and-response exercises.

UPDATE 7/8/07 - Version v2_20 of the ear training tool includes Major7th jazz licks as well as a few more Dominant 7th jazz licks.

UPDATE 6/25/07 - Version v2_19 of the ear trainer contains a lot of little updates and one big update. The little updates are mostly GUI-related, so you'll probably find them on your own. The big update is the introduction of jazz licks to both random melodies and the rhythm section's call-and-response feature. Also, you can now select between a short and long call-and-respnose phrase. So far I've only got Dominant 7th jazz licks going, but I'm definitely going to add licks to Major, Minor, Half-Diminished, and Diminished chord types. This will be an ongoing process, so you can expect a lot of "jazz lick" updates in the coming months.

If you've got some jazz licks handy, feel free to send them over. If I think they're suitable for the ear training tool and for the audience of this site, I'll definitely put them in. For inclusion with the ear training tool, they should be 2 measures of eigth notes followed by a single note and the key should be clearly labeled. Also, the lick shouldn't be over a progression, but rather a single chord type (one of the following: CMaj7, C7, CMin7, C7b5, CDim). Here's an example of what I'm looking for (I used finale notepad for this):

UPDATE 5/19/07 - I added interaction between a computer keyboard and the ear trainer's piano. The various keys to press are now shown on the ear trainer's piano. If for some reason you want to disable keyboard interaction, you can do so under the ear trainer's advanced tab.

UPDATE 4/8/07 - I made a few changes to the ear trainer's rhythm section feature today, including a slightly modified layout and some new chord/progression types. New chord/progression types include Half-Diminished 7th, Diminished 7th, Minor II-V7-I, and Minor Blues. Some of these additions are in response to visitor requests, so thank you to all who have helped improve the tool. I haven't had much time to test yet, so please let me know if you run into any problems.

UPDATE 1/24/07 - This past weekend I added a new call and response feature to my ear trainer. I've been using it for a couple of days now and I think it's worth sharing with all of you...

The new feature offers note-limiting call and response with randomly generated rhythms and melodies (there's a new drop-down menu on the RSection tab). When I get a chance, I'll record a clip or two of me practicing along with it, but for now you can listen to examples of similar call and response exercieses in my LEARNING TO IMPROVISE - RHYTHM article. Those clips are done by me with an Aebersold, but they should give you a general idea of how to practice with this new feature.

I have a lot more planned for these sorts of call and response activities. So much so that I'll probably end up creating a new tab just to contain it all. I'll also make it easier to use and control.

UPDATE 1/14/07 - Fixed issue where random melodies were playing notes outside of selected scales. The online and offline versions has been updated with this latest version.

UPDATE 12/5/06 - Fixed issue where Root Note option no longer worked for intervals and chords.

UPDATE 12/2/06 - I've had a few people ask if they can download and run the ear trainer when they're offline. As of today, the answer is YES! Just DOWNLOAD THIS FILE, then unzip and open home.htm.

UPDATE 11/19/06 - Fixed several more bugs, including issues where wide modulations went too high or low. I've now successfully tested the new ear trainer in Firefox 1.0.x (Linux), Firefox 1.5.x (Win, OSX, Linux), Firefox 2.0 (Win), Opera 8.5. (Win), Safari, IE6 (Win), IE7 (Win). Please let me know if you have any problems with different (yet still widely-used) browsers.

UPDATE 11/19/06 - I just added some audio files to my ear trainer 2.0 page. The audio files were recorded during various parts of my daily ear training routine. Hopefully they'll give you a better idea of how I use the ear trainer to practice. Additionally, there are some new auto-configure links next to each audio file which will setup the ear trainer to play the same exercise you hear in the clip.

Also worth mentioning is the new ear training home page. I created it for anyone who wants to link to my ear training tools. On the landing page, you'll see links to both ear training tools, descriptions of each tool, and some background information about ear training.

UPDATE 11/11/06 - Fixed a couple of bugs and added II-V7-I progressions to the rhythm section feature.

UPDATE 10/28/06 - I fixed a couple stability problems that occur when the applet first loads. I can't say for certain, but it might even fix the problem with Firefox 1.0.x. I've also noticed that the rhythm section feature seems a lot smoother under version 1.5.x of the Java JRE than it sounds in 1.4.x. 1.4.x may sound a little choppy...

UPDATE 10/10/06 - A few people have reported that it does in fact work in Firefox on OSX, at least with Firefox 1.5.x. The one instance where it didn't work in Firefox and OSX, the person was using Firefox 1.0.3, so maybe it was just an issue with that early version of Firefox.

UPDATE 10/4/06 - I've heard from a few people that the new ear trainer does work properly with Safari browsers. Apparently there is an issue with Firefox on OSX, however. If you happen to have OSX and a Firefox browser, please give it a try and let me know how it works.

Tonight I also added blues and rhythm changes! I still need to work on the piano part to get it smoother for rhythm changes (especially with leaps in range), but I think the bass is sounding pretty good...

10/1/06 - Today I finished version 2.0 (BETA) of my Ear Trainer. It's hot off the press and lightly tested, so some bugs are to be expected. Also, I've only tested on IE6 (Win), Firefox 1.5.x (Win and Linux), and Opera 8.5 (Win), so I have no idea how well it works in Safari and other browsers.

There are quite a few little new features, and one big one, which I'll let you find for yourself. Please give it a try and let me know if you run into any problems.

When people find out that I play jazz trumpet, they almost always ask if I play anywhere around town. I typically respond telling them that I'm not very good and that I've still got a long way to go before I play in public. And that's how I've felt since returning to the trumpet in 2002. I'm still in "development mode".

If you read my review of the 2007 Atlanta Trumpet Festival, you know that I finally did play the trumpet in public for the first time, as a member of the adult ensemble. It was primarily an educational event with little pressure, so it was easy for me to give it a try. Although I enjoyed playing at the Atlanta Trumpet Festival, it wasn't exactly a big confidence boost for me. I struggled to play some of the parts and I made some mistakes during the performance. If anything, it reinforced my belief that I'm not ready to play jazz in public.

When I talk about playing jazz in public, I don't mean playing gigs. Playing gigs is really of no interest to me, thanks in large part to all of the coffee shop gigs I played in college. Some musicians don't care if the audience isn't paying attention to them and they don't mind (too much) if they're playing to an empty house, but it always bothered me. So, no gigs for me. I would, however, like to someday become good enough to play jazz on a regular basis with other people, in a relaxed environment. Ideally, I'd find a group of musicians and we'd play jazz at somebody's house where there's no pressure to play well and there's no audience to please. All that matters is that the vibe is good and that everyone's enjoying the music. But, like I said, I'm not ready to play in public yet, so even a low-key jam session is many years away. At least that's what I thought until the guy in this photo came along...

About a week ago, I received a fairly long email message from a visitor to my jazz blog (I hope he enjoys this 1970 photo of him that I dug up online). Like many of the long messages I receive, it began with his personal background. He told me he's been a musician for 40+ years and that he and some friends have been playing jazz at his house every Thursday night, for the past few years. As he described it, they're a "rehearsal band" that plays together "simply for enjoyment." Oh, and he lives in Atlanta. I was halfway through the message and figured he was just going to ask me a question about the local Atlanta jazz scene or something like that. And then it hit me... he's inviting me to play in his band.

My first reaction to his invitation was: how am I going to get out of this?! I've still got years of ear training and trumpet fundamentals in front of me. I'm definitely not good enough to play jazz with other people yet! I was all set to politely refuse his offer but for some reason I decided to wait before responding. Later that night, I told my wife about the email and her first response was "Do it." I tried to think of some excuses, but I couldn't come up with anything compelling enough. I couldn't even use the old "it's too far" excuse since he lives only 3 or 4 miles from my house (Atlanta is really spread out, so "it's too far" is often a perfect excuse to get out of just about anything). Unable to come up with any good excuses, I replied to his email and accepted the offer to sit in with his band.

Driving up to his house this past Thursday for my first jam session, my mind was filled with all sorts of worst-case scenarios. What if I get lost in the chord changes? What if my chops blow out after five minutes? What if I'm the worst one there and they laugh at my playing? What if this is all just an elaborate setup and I'm about to be held ransom by a diabolical crime ring that uses their knowledge of jazz to prey upon unsuspecting jazz blog writers? It's a good thing I hadn't yet seen that 1970 photo. He looks like trouble with a capital "T" in that Davy Crockett jacket ;-)

When I arrived at the house, I was greeted by the bass player (Davy Crockett). He then introduced me to the guitarist and the drummer. Everyone seemed really friendly, so I was able to rule out the "crime ring" scenario pretty quickly. I was still pretty nervous, though. With just four of us there, we began playing a blues-based tune. Unsure of myself, the first chorus of my solo was lackluster but I held on and continued for 2 or 3 more choruses. With each successive chorus I loosened up and my playing improved noticeably. By my last chorus I was playing better than I had expected to play the entire night!

After playing a couple of tunes as a quartet, the violinist and alto saxophonist arrived. We played a few more jazz standards including "Well You Needn't," "Blue Monk," and "Stolen Moments." To my surprise, my range and endurance held up really well. In fact, I played at least half a dozen C's above the staff at full volume during my solos. I can't even do that during my practice sessions at home! The guys were very supportive of my playing and offered several complements. I suppose they were being a little extra nice since I was the new guy, but I do think they genuinely enjoyed my playing. In any case, I thought it all went really well and I had a blast. I had totally forgotten how fun it is to play jazz with real live people.

Is this the start of a new chapter in my musical journey? It's probably too early to tell, but it was definitely a great experience and also a good indication that maybe I am ready to play jazz with other people!

I'd like to say a special thank you to "Davy Crockett" (his real name is Rick S.) for inviting me to play with the group, and to the other musicians for welcoming me into their band. I'm looking forward to many more Thursday nights.

The fourth annual (2007) Atlanta Trumpet Festival took place this past weekend. This year, Scotty Barhnhart, Mark Clodfelter, and Kevin Eisensmith attended as clinicians for the festival. They were joined by approximately 175 festival participants, comprised of middle school students, high school students, and adult trumpet players.

Unlike previous years where I simply watched from the audience, this year I registered and performed with the adult trumpet ensemble. If you're a regular reader of this website, you probably know that I haven't played the trumpet in public for quite some time. To be exact, 1995 was the last time that I played publicly. That 1995 performance was actually with a jazz combo, though. You'd have to go back all the way to 1993 for the last time that I played classical music in any type of group setting. As you can see, it's been almost 15 years since I had a trumpet playing experience that even remotely resembled what I'd encounter at the Atlanta trumpet festival. Needless to say, I was a bit worried about how everything would turn out.

Following is a review of the 2007 Atlanta Trumpet Festival and my experience playing in the adult trumpet ensemble:

WARM-UP CLINIC

The Atlanta Trumpet Festival began on Saturday, with a warm-up clinic hosted by the professor of trumpet at University of Kentucky, Mark Clodfelter. Having heard Mark's excellent solo performance during the 2006 festival, I was definitely interested to hear what he had to say about warming-up. The warm-up clinic began with a deep breathing exercise followed by a demonstration of some Cichowicz flow studies. Mark played each flow study on his horn at a low volume and then the entire group of 175 festival participants played the exercises together. I was already familiar with these flow studies, but I hadn't ever tried playing them at a low volume in such a relaxed manner. I'll definitely have to give that a try during my regular trumpet practice routine since it seems like a low impact way to both warm-up and improve my range.

Something else that was new to me was Mark's approach to playing high notes on the trumpet. I've known for quite some time that high notes require faster air, rather than simply more air, but Mark's suggestion to think of the syllable "HO" down at our diaphragm and "HEE" at our mouth was new to me. The idea is that the "HO" sound will produce the volume of air needed for high notes, and the "HEE" sound will force that air into a smaller opening at our embouchure, thus accelerating the air. Obviously you can't really say "HO" with your diaphragm, but having that sound concept in your mind should produce the desired result.

ENSEMBLE REHEARSALS

After the warm-up clinic, the festival participants were divided into their individual ensembles for rehearsals. This year's Atlanta Trumpet Festival had one middle school ensemble, two high school ensembles, and one adult ensemble. Mark Clodfelter conducted the adult ensemble.

One of the nicest things about the Atlanta Trumpet Festival is the fact that there are no auditions. You simply show up and you get to pick the parts that you play, with the understanding that the best players don't get to hog first part on every tune. Since my upper range is still rather weak, I opted for the lower parts on every tune. Here are some of the things I learned while playing in the adult trumpet ensemble:

• My range is even worse than I thought - Since I started playing the trumpet again, I've struggled to expand my upper range. In my recent jazz improvisation solos, you'll hear more notes above the staff, but those are always played at full volume and they're all optional. In other words, I only play high notes when my chops can take it. Playing from written music, however, I don't have this luxury. Instead, I have to adhere to the dynamic markings of the tune and I have no option but to play each note as written. This really caused problems for me on the first tune that we played in rehearsal. The part I initially selected had 4 measures of G's at the top of the staff, all played at a very low volume. I flat out couldn't do it. And I knew that even if I could pull it off during rehearsal, there was no way I could play those notes if my embouchure was fatigued. Fortunately, I was able to switch parts and never had to play anything higher than an E in the staff during the rest of the tunes, but I was a little disappointed that my range had failed me so early on in the event.
• I don't play well with others - When I started playing trumpet back in middle school, I always played in band class with many other people. It became second nature for me to blend in with the rest of the trumpet section, and it was easy for me to hear myself in a group setting. During the first couple of rehearsals with the adult trumpet ensemble, however, I could barely hear myself as I attempted to blend in with the rest of the players. There were times that I knew somebody was out of tune in my section, but I couldn't tell if it was me or not. Similarly, since I couldn't hear myself all the time, I didn't know if my tone was good or bad. These are all things that I used be pretty good at identifying back when I was in high school, but now that I've become so used to hearing myself as a solo voice I felt lost in the group. I guess like any other element of trumpet playing, playing well in a group takes practice.
• My endurance is better than I thought - When I practice jazz improvisation at home, I tend to play continuously for 15-20 minutes at a time (sometimes even longer). By the end of these improvisation sessions, my chops are so tired that I can't play anything above the staff without excessive mouthpiece pressure. Since 15-20 minutes goes by quickly when I'm improvising, it's tempting for me to think my endurance is terrible. The trumpet festival, however, proved that my endurance is actually pretty good, at least for the type of music I was playing. During all the ensemble rehearsals and performances, I never once felt like my chops were tired. Not even a little. If anything, I was playing better by the end of rehearsals than at the beginning. While I might not have the endurance to play a solid night of jazz improvisation, it's definitely encouraging to know that I can get through an experience like the Atlanta Trumpet Festival without any endurance problems.
• It's (probably) time to change my daily practice routine - I've been doing the same daily routine of warm-up and fundamental exercises for over a year now. In most areas, I'm pleased with my progress, but I really want to focus on exercises that will help strengthen my upper range. I'm not looking to play all that high. I just want a solid and controlled range that extends up to a C above the staff. I'll probably check out Trumpet Herald for suggested exercises, but if you've got any ideas, please pass them along.

OVERCOMING PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

Between rehearsals on Saturday, the festival participants attended a clinic with Kevin Eisensmith about conquering performance anxiety. Kevin Eisensmith is professor of trumpet at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Among other things, Kevin discussed the "two selves" concept that appears in the book "The Inner Game Of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey. One of the two selves is that part of us who is capable of performing at our peak level. The other side is the critical voice in our heads that insists on telling us things like "I better play well tonight," "I hope I don't miss that high C," and "rats, I missed that high C, this is a disaster." It's that critical side that causes performance anxiety and it's the critical side that keeps us from reaching our full potential (I wrote briefly about that nasty critical side near the end of my four-year anniversary article).

To prevent ourselves from getting bogged down by negative and otherwise distracting thoughts, Kevin suggested that we develop a "Teflon Mind" where we let our worries and concerns fade away. Kevin also spent several minutes taking us through a meditation exercise that he does before every concert. He imagines himself in a serene setting, where he's perfectly comfortable and he then consciously relaxes each part of his body working from his head down to his toes. By the time he's finished, his mind is clear and the performance anxiety is gone.

HISTORY OF JAZZ TRUMPET

The final clinic on Saturday was a fantastic presentation of the history of jazz trumpet by Scotty Barnhart. Scotty Barnhart is the featured trumpet soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra and professor of jazz trumpet at Florida State University. He's also the author of the book, "The World of Jazz Trumpet: A Comprehensive History & Practical Philosophy" which I reviewed in 2006. What would have been an interesting history lecture on its own was transformed into pure magic as Scotty, backed by a rhythm section of some of Atlanta's finest jazz musicians (Kevin Bales on piano, Justin Varnes on drums, and Robert Dickson on bass), performed each major style of jazz trumpet playing in the style of its original performers! Scotty's playing was incredible as he stepped into the shoes of Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldrige, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Don Cherry, Freddie Hubbard, and Wynton Marsalis. That presentation alone was worth the price of the Atlanta Trumpet Festival!

ARTIST RECITALS

Saturday's festivities concluded with a free concert featuring the Atlanta Trumpet Ensemble, the various festival clinicians, the Air National Guard Band of the South, and the Eagle's Flight Jazz Ensemble. Everyone played well, but I especially enjoyed the opportunity to hear Scotty Barnhart play a few more tunes with the Atlanta-based rhythm section. It was also great to hear Scotty and the other clinicians join the Eagle's Flight Jazz band during the final tune of the night, "April In Paris." Since he's the featured soloist in the current rendition of the Count Basie Big Band, Scotty maintained the time-honored Basie tradition of playing Thad Jones' "Pop Goes The Weasel" solo. He and the other clinicians ended the tune with a bang, outdoing each other with high note after high note at the end. It was a great performance and the audience loved it. I really hope jazz continues to play a role in future Atlanta Trumpet Festivals.

PARTICIPANT RECITALS

The second and final day of the Atlanta Trumpet festival began with ensemble rehearsals, both separately and as one large group. The group rehearsal was for the final tune of the festival recital: Verdi's "Requiem" performed by 175 trumpet players! On stage it was extremely loud, yet there were still 2 rows of trumpet players standing in front of me. I can't imagine how awesome it must have sounded from in front of the stage.

Overall, I think the final concert went really well. I made a couple of mistakes, but nothing that really stood out. But even if the mistakes were obvious, I doubt anybody would have minded. And that's one of the things that make the Atlanta Trumpet Festival so special. There's no expectation of perfection. Heck, there isn't even an expectation of good. The Atlanta Trumpet Festival is a low stress environment where trumpet players of any age and ability can come together to share the joy of playing the trumpet.

LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR

I'd like to thank Kay Fairchild, her son David Fairchild, the Atlanta Trumpet Ensemble, and all the other contributors for the hard work they put into the festival this year. This was definitely the best Atlanta Trumpet Festival yet! I'd also like to extend a special thank you to Kay. I wrote to her a couple of weeks ago stating my desire to simply watch the proceedings from the sidelines, but she encouraged me to perform with adult ensemble. Thanks to her suggestion, I had a great time performing with the adult ensemble and I'm already looking forward to participating again next year!

ADDITIONAL READING

To learn more about the Atlanta Trumpet Festival, check out the introduction to my review of the 2006 Atlanta Trumpet Festival.

ADDITIONAL READING

All of my Atlanta Trumpet Festival reviews: 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013