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NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY

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To my students,

Who have taught me and will continue to

teach me why and how I should teach.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------vii

PART ONE: INTERVAL EXERCISES

I. Basic Interval Exercises---------------------------------------------------------------3

II. Basic Interval Exercises: Extension---------------------------------------------------5
III. Tonicization Patterns------------------------------------------------------------------8
IV. Interval Exercises: Octave Displacement--------------------------------------------9
V. Advanced Interval Exercises---------------------------------------------------------12
VI. Chromatic Tones----------------------------------------------------------------------13

PART TWO: VISUAL RECOGNITION EXERCISES---------------------------------------15

PART THREE: DYADIC EXERCISES

I. Dyadic Exercises: One Staff----------------------------------------------------------20

II. Dyadic Exercises: Two Staves--------------------------------------------------------23
A. Diatonic Dyads---------------------------------------------------------------------23
B. Chromatic Dyads-------------------------------------------------------------------24

PART FOUR: HARMONIC EXERCISES

I. Harmonic Exercises: Basic Exercises------------------------------------------------33

II. Harmonic Exercises: Diatonic Harmonic Patterns--------------------------------35
III. Harmonic Exercises: Diatonic & Chromatic Harmonic Patterns----------------39
IV. Dyadic and Harmonic Exercises-----------------------------------------------------43

APPENDIX:

I. Solfege: Movable-Do with Minor-La System---------------------------------------48

II. Harmonic Analysis Via Roman Numerals------------------------------------------50

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 PREFACE

This small book is not another sight-singing ear-training book in the usual sense, for already
there are numerous excellent books of that kind in existence. This book is designed with only
one specific purpose: to provide music students with exercise materials for attaining the
proficiency necessary in sight-singing and ear-training skills.

This book is a result of the author's years of teaching aural skills, his frustration over many
students’ lack of basic aural skills and the lack of adequate materials for teaching purposes, and
his desire to create material specifically for remedying basic weaknesses and improving basic
skills in aural proficiency. While there are indeed many aural skill books available, the majority
of these are but anthologies of musical examples, mostly melodic, arranged in graduated levels
of difficulty. Also, none of the presently available books directly addresses the problem of
bridging the gap between skills in horizontal (melodic) and vertical (harmonic) perception. In
an attempt to deal directly and effectively with the pedagogy of aural skills, the author learned
to recognize the fundamental problems which students encounter in aural skill classes. This
book, in essence attempts to address itself to these fundamental problems which are of three
kinds:

1) Tonal Retention: In-tonal music, no tone exists independently. All scale tones -whether
diatonic or chromatically altered- are interdependent and all possess a particular role and
specific relationship to a central pitch called the tonic. While learning to recognize the interval
between any two randomly given pitches is a necessary part of aural skill training, it is
fundamentally more important, so far as tonal music is concerned, to be able to recognize the
relationship of any given tone -diatonic or chromatic- to the tonic. This ability to recall the
tonic and to relate all tones to it is the first and the foremost important step toward aural
perception. The first part of the book is devoted to exercises for this purpose.

2) Visual Recognition and Reference: The objective in sight-singing is to interpret musical

sounds represented by notation while, in ear-training, the objective is to appropriately
represent the music being heard by means of notation. Proficiency, then, also involves the
ability to instantaneously recognize the given note notated on the score not in terms of pitch
but in terms of its specific relationship to a given or imaginary tonic. A few exercises (Part Two)
are designed for this purpose.

3) Vertical Perception: Since the human voice is a monodic instrument, most aural skill drills
concentrate on the aspect of melody and as a result leave vertical perception to chance. In order
to remedy this situation, exercises in dyadic and harmonic singing are provided. These exercises
will enable students to perceive the two outer parts (i.e. soprano and bass lines) and the chordal
sonorities in one process.

Preceding each section, brief explanatory notes and recommendations regarding methods of
practice are given. Also, at the end of each section, excerpts (often rearranged or modified)

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from actual musical works are provided for further application of skills obtained and to
demonstrate the relevance of exercise materials.

In using these materials, the sequence need not be followed in strict order: for example,
diatonic interval exercises may be followed by diatonic dyadic and diatonic harmonic exercises,
proceeding next to chromatic intervallic exercises which then may be followed by chromatic
dyadic and chromatic harmonic singing exercises. It is strongly recommended that these
exercises not be done only once without constant and persistent reviewing. It must be stressed
that the amount of material covered is not always in direct proportion to the degree of
proficiency attained; thorough familiarity with the material and a high degree of accuracy and
speed in executing these exercises ought to be regarded as more reliable and accurate
measurements of a student's level of proficiency. The old adage "Practice makes perfect”,
should be made a maxim for the use of this material to obtain the greatest benefit. The same
exercise may be used for singing drill as well as for ear-training (dictation) drill.

Finally, the author hopes that this book will be used in conjunction with existing aural skill
books already adopted.

G. J. C

Denton, Texas

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PART ONE

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 PART ONE: INTERVAL EXERCISES

I. BASIC INTERVAL EXERCISES

These exercises are designed to give students an understanding of both the aural and
theoretical relationships between diatonic tones and the two most important tones in the
framework of tonal music, the tonic and the dominant. Exercises Nos. 1 through 5 deal with
intervals from thirds to sevenths separately, while Exercises Nos. 6 through 7 relate all diatonic
tones to the tonic and the dominant respectively.

The first seven exercises are recommended for memorization; these provide the basic
building blocks for achieving aural proficiency. Students should first practice toward tonal
accuracy (i.e. exact intonation and precise intervallic relationships), then gradually strive
toward faster speeds while maintaining the precise intonation. Faster speed reflects a higher
degree of proficiency.

Since these exercises are designed for perceptual as well as conceptual understanding of the
relationships between scale tones, it is recommended that the singing employ some kind of
vocalization system: a solfege system (e.g. the tonic is do, supertonic is re, etc.) number system
(e.g. the tonic is 1, supertonic is 2, etc.), or any other system. While each system has its merit,
the movable-do system (with minor-la) seems particularly beneficial; among its other merits, it
enables singers to easily cope with some of the aural skill problems such as temporary
modulation, chromatic alterations, modal melodies, etc. Appendix I provides a brief
explanation of the Movable-do with Minor-la system of solfege.

The exercises in these initial pages are notated in the combined mode system (i.e. C-major
and C-minor are presented simultaneously). This is for the purpose of emphasizing the unique
position of the tonic (and the dominant) regardless of the mode. (I.e. C-major and C-minor are
both the same tonality -having the same pitch as a tonal center; they are, however, different in
modality). In singing the major mode, disregard all accidentals in parenthesis; in the minor
mode, employ all accidentals in parenthesis for melodic and harmonic minor; disregard the
accidentals in parenthesis but observe the accidentals in the key signature in the natural minor
(Aeolian mode).

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 II. BASIC INTERVAL EXERCISES: EXTENSION

Exercises No. 8 through No. 16 consist of material based on the preceding exercises but
containing modifications and juxtapositions. While these new exercises need not be
memorized, repetitive drill and thorough familiarity with them is essential. Again, the emphasis
should be on accuracy and speed, always employing some kind of vocalization system.

The combined mode system has been explained under (I). The same procedure should be
followed in singing these exercises.

ADDITIONAL EXERCISE FOR ACHIEVING PROFICIENCY IN SCALAR RELATION

Select a number of familiar melodies, such as Christmas carols, patriotic songs, folk
melodies, etc. Memorize these melodies, using the scale degree names (numbers) or solfege
syllables (cf. Appendix I). For example, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" is learned by singing, instead
of the words of the text, one of the following:

(solfege syllable)

do-do-re ti-do-re mi-mi-fa mi-re-do re-do-ti do - -

(si) (si)

or

(scale degree number)

1 - 1- 2 7-1-2 3-3-4 3-2-1 2-1-7 1--

After these melodies are memorized by way of scale degree numbers or syllables, students
are asked to write the same in any given key. It is best to limit a duration of time within which
the writing exercise must be completed (e.g. two minutes for “My Country, 'Tis of Thee"). Such
an exercise in writing familiar melodies within a limited time span will not only facilitate
students aural comprehension of diatonic (and chromatic) relationship of' any giving tone to
the tonic, but also, by writing them in any key, provide valuable exercise in tonal indexing (cf.
Part II).

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 III. TONICIZATION PATTERNS

These tonicization patterns should be memorized. The purpose of these exercises is to

enable students to locate the tonic proper from any given diatonic tone other than the tonic. A)
and b) present the tonic as the starting note; by singing the pattern, the students will be able to
mentally establish the proper tonality/modality. C) through h) are patterns whereby students
will be able to interpret any given tone as a certain diatonic degree, locating the tonic and
establishing the proper tonality/modality at the same time.

After memorizing these patterns, the instructor will randomly play or sing a pitch, indicating
the scale degree of that pitch and the modal character (i.e. major or minor). Students will then
respond by singing the appropriate pattern. For example: the instructor sings the pitch F,
indicating that that pitch is to become the third degree in a major mode; the students will
respond by singing the following pattern:

IV. INTERVAL EXERCISES: OCTAVE DISPLACEMENT

Exercises Nos. 18 – 22.

These exercises are designed to give students the ability to sing (and hear) tones which are of
the same pitch class (i.e. having the same pitch name or the same scale degree function) but in
different registers. Although this distinction may not seem important and the ability may be
too often taken for granted, many students are in fact not always and consistently accurate in
either singing or hearing octave displacements. The ability to aurally recognize an octave
displacement, will aid students not only in singing melodies which extend beyond their
comfortable vocal range but also enable them to sing dyads (a la soprano and bass) and, later,
harmonic exercises.

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 V. ADVANCED INTERVAL EXERCISES

Exercises Nos. 23 – 24.

These exercises represent a mixture of problems encountered up to this point. Noteworthy is

the introduction of successive thirds and arpeggiated patterns. Proficiency in singing these
patterns will make the dyadic and harmonic singing to be encountered later easier.

VI. CHROMATIC TONES

In tonal music (e.g. of the common practice period), chromatically altered tones do not exist
independently. That is, whether or not they are functional (e.g. the secondary leading tone) or
simply decorative, they are always employed as tendency tones, gravitating toward the nearest
diatonic tone. Therefore, the raised tone will resolve up by semitone and the lowered tone will
resolve down by semitone. The following exercises are designed to reinforce this concept of
chromatically altered tones as dependent and linear tendency tones and, at the same time,
strengthen students' perceptional understanding of tonal relationships within the context of
tonal music. The accuracy of singing and hearing chromatically altered tones is dependent on
the accurate maintenance (retention) of diatonic tones and, in turn, their mutual relationships
to the tonic. Therefore, if students show weakness in singing or hearing chromatically altered
tones, they should be asked to sing the diatonic tone to which the chromatically altered tone is
to resolve.

Syllables for chromatically altered tones are illustrated in Appendix I. If a number system is
used, the altered tone can be sung either with the appropriate designation (e.g. “flat-three",
“sharp-four", etc.) or simply with the diatonic numbers while mentally and vocally altering the
tone with an accidental.

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PART TWO

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 PART TWO: VISUAL RECOGNITION EXERCISES

One of the skills vital to aural proficiency –either sight-singing or dictation- is the ability to
instantaneously relate written notes to a given tonal framework (i.e. key and mode). For
example, the pitch C is one (or do) in C-major, two (or re) in Bb-major, three (or mi) in Ab-
major, etc. This type of drill can be called tonal indexing.* The following four exercises are
designed to increase the visual skill of tonal indexing. For example, Exercise No. 28-a can be
drilled in the following manner:

1) Assuming that the key is F-major (or F#-major); the students will read (not sing) the
exercise as follows:

Read the same exercise in different keys, gradually increase the speed of reading.

2) Again, assuming that the key is F-major (or F#-major); the students will sing the
appropriate tonicization pattern (since the first note is G, the instructor will sing or play the
pitch G; since it is the second degree in F (or F#, in which case the instructor will give G#
instead of G), the students will use the pitch as the starting note and sing the appropriate
tonicization pattern [cf. pattern e)]. They then should sing the entire exercise, as shown below:

Each exercise should be concluded with the appropriate tonicization pattern using the last note
in the exercise as the starting note of the pattern.

* The term is borrowed from Karl Eschman's Teaching Musical Theory (E.C. Schirmer), in which the author
discusses the concept of "harmonic indexing."

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PART THREE

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 PART THREE: DYADIC EXERCISES

I. DYADIC EXERCISES: ONE STAFF

The Following exercises; including both dyadic and harmonic singing, are designed to obtain
vertical perception -expanding from the preceding horizontal perception. The same
vocalization system, whether number, solfege or other, should be consistently employed.

In Exercises Nos. 29 through 34, students should sing in the following manner, using. No. 29
as an example:

That is, sing the whole-note pitch after each of the quarter-note pitch. When certain tones lie at
the extreme range of a singer's voice, octave displacement should be freely employed. For
example, the next to the last measure in Exercise No. 29 may be sung as follows:

The instructor should avoid playing the piano along with the students singing. The
instructor may play the whole-note pitch during the earlier stages of practice in order to
maintain the accurate pitch level. Again, strive toward accuracy first, then increase the tempo
of singing.

ADDITIONAL EXERCISE IN DYADIC SINGING AND WRITING

To the melodies the students have already memorized (cf. Part I, II-Basic Interval Exercise,
Additional Exercise), the bass lines of these songs can now be added and memorized. That is,
the dyadic singing is now applied to singing these songs by singing the soprano and bass notes
alternatingly (cf. Exercises No. 35 ff.). These same songs can be used for timed dictation (i.e.
writing both soprano and bass lines of a given song within a limited duration of time).

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II. DYADIC EXERCISES: TWO STAVES

The same procedure as in One Staff Dyadic Exercises should be followed: singing the
"soprano" note followed by the "bass" note. Again octave displacement is to be employed
wherever necessary. When a note is sustained against the moving part (e.g. measures 1 and 2 in
No. 35), the sustained tone should be repeated; that is, the half-note tone is sung as two quarter
notes of the same pitch.

These exercises also offer drills in reading the treble and bass clefs alternatingly and thus in
reinforcing the tonal indexing (cf. Part Two).

These exercises may be sung as (1) dyadic singing (i.e. singing both parts "together"); (2) as
two separate parts, dividing the class into two groups; or (3) by dividing the class into three
groups, one group singing dyadically while the other two groups sing different parts.

Exercises Nos. 35 through 47 are diatonic dyads. Particular care should be taken in
accommodating ascending and descending patterns in the minor mode (Exercises Nos. 40, 42,
43, 46).

Exercises Nos. 48 through 55 contain dyads with altered tones; the majority of these are
"functional", implying a secondary leading tone. No. 55 contains three parts; initially, students
should sing the soprano line and one of the lower parts. The same exercises may then be sung
in two or three parts.

Exercises Nos. 56 through 64 are adapted from actual musical works. These provide
opportunities to further apply the skills learned so far and to test the students' level of
proficiency.

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