Train Your Ears to Hear Harmony in Real Time
All great musicians have one thing in common: they can hear the harmony as the chords of a song go by. If you’ve ever struggled to identify changes, follow bass movement, or trust what you’re hearing, then The “Real Easy” Ear Training Book by Roberta Radley is your step-by-step solution.
Designed for musicians of all instruments and experience levels, this is one of the most comprehensive and practical guides to hearing chord changes ever published. Rather than treating ear training as abstract theory, Professor Radley makes it real by using musical examples drawn from pop, rock, Latin, fusion, and jazz — showing you exactly how to apply harmonic listening skills to your own playing.
You’ll Learn to:
• Hear the bass line, the foundation of harmony, in major keys
• Add recognition of major and minor diatonic triads
• Use melody notes as harmonic clues
• Identify seventh chords
• Explore minor key harmony
• Recognize common non-diatonic chord patterns
You’ll immediately begin applying these skills through:
• Hundreds of dictation and transcription exercises
• Practice routines for playing, singing, memorizing, and transposing chord progressions
• Composition and arranging exercises based on real harmonic patterns
• References to more than 150 songs for practical listening work
Also includes a 2-CD download to help guide you through the exercises, available for free on our Audio Page.
The book covers both beginning and intermediate levels and can be used independently, with a teacher, or in classroom settings. Music teachers will find it invaluable as either a complete ear training curriculum or a powerful supplement to existing lesson plans.
Spiral-bound, 168 pages, Table of Contents, Sample Pages.
Sample Audio: Track 19, Track, 20, Track 39
Endorsements:
“I highly recommend this book to all who are seriously interested in improving all aspects of ear training.”
— Walter Beasley
“Roberta's book is a valuable tool for hearing changes - she is thorough and methodical, leading the student through the path of hearing harmony and chord progressions.”
— Luciana Souza
Roberta Radley was the Assistant Chair of the Ear Training department at Berklee College of Music. A Berklee graduate herself, she has been a member of the faculty since 1976. Her accomplishments as an educator earned her the “Outstanding Achievement in Music Education” award from the College. She has taught a wide range of ear training classes, using innovative methods to help students hear music more analytically, and to inspire students to develop their own unique musical voice. Her new book, Reading, Writing and Rhythmetic, is a comprehensive course in developing the skills necessary to transcribe music from recordings.
