Ear Training for Harpists: Aural Skills Builder Books
Buy the books one lesson at a time! Complete one lesson, then buy the next.
Aural skills, also called ear training or solfège, are the building blocks of all music reading and performing. The Aural Skills Builder books evolved over many years of teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music and years of private harp teaching.
Why Build Aural Skills?The answer is simple. Building aural skills is the ONLY way to learn to hear music with understanding, which has several important, practical benefits:
What are Aural Skills?Aural skills are the keys to understanding what you hear and play. We begin to learn these skills with a thorough familiarity with pitch, scales, chords and rhythm. The Aural Skills Builder Books are an integrated approach to learning these fundamentals in a practical way at the harp, not in a textbook. The emphasis is on playing, reading and hearing, not the theoretical. Everything here has been carefully crafted so that you can improve your musical reading and hearing with your teacher's guidance or on your own. You can practice them at the harp. Some materials even improve your harp technique! |
About the BooksAural skills training, or ear training, teaches musicians how to understand what they hear. It helps them recognize note relationships and patterns such as keys, scales and arpeggios, and decipher the complexities of rhythm and meter. I have used these drills in one form or another with all my harp students. Because the drills were developed in my teaching studio, they are specifically geared to harpists, especially where the keys used are concerned. Although I use them as teaching tools in the lesson, they are also a valuable self-study course should you wish to work on your own. Each unit in each book represents several weeks of study. Repetition of the drills is the key to developing the ear. Just five minutes in a lesson, plus the same at home as part of a practice session, will, over the period of a month or so, be enough to develop confidence with the material. Of course, each student will need to proceed at his or her own pace, working more on difficult areas and less on things that seem easy. It is important, however, to resist the temptation to skip too far ahead, because building a solid foundation is essential for success. InstructionsBe sure to download the instructions for the Aural Skills Book you are using, Book 1 or Book 2. The instructions give you all the methods for practicing the drills, and hints to help you along the way. The instructions are free, and you can get them here: |
The Books:
Aural Skills Builder OneInstructions for Aural Skills Builders Book One lessons: click here. Read me first. Free! Buy the lessons one at a time.Lesson 1 - $2.50 - Whole Steps Up and Down, First Three Scale Steps, Rhythm Drills 2/4 and 3/4. Lesson 2 - $2.50 - Whole Steps and Half Steps Up and Down, Rhythm Drills 2/4 and 3/4 adding Rests Lesson 3 - $2.50 - Steps and Leaps, Rhythm Drills 4/4 Lesson 4 - $2.50 - The Major scale, Rhythm Drills, Eighth Notes Lesson 5 - $2.50 - The Major Scale (Part 2), Rhythm Drills, Dotted Quarter Notes Supplementary Drills, Book One - $2.50 |
Aural Skills Builder TwoInstructions for Aural Skills Builders Book Two lessons: click here. Read me first. Free! Buy the lessons one at a time.Lesson 1 - $3.00 - Whole Steps and Half Steps in Major and Minor Thirds, Rhythm Drills, Duple Meter (Simple and Compound) Lesson 2 - $3.00 - Major and Minor Triads, Rhythm Drills, Triple Meter (Simple and Compound) Lesson 3 - $3.00 - The Natural Minor Scale, Rhythm Drills, Sixteenth Notes Lesson 4 - $3.00 - Major and Melodic Minor Scales, Rhythm Drills, More Duple Meter Lesson 5 - $3.00 - Harmonic Minor Scales, Rhythm Drills, More Triple Meter Supplementary Drills, Book Two - $3.00 |