What part of the sound of notes to focus on while ear training to correctly identify notes?

[pw_bodhi]

I am using different instruments from my Keyboard to do ear training. In practicing ear training, i have learnt from the forums here that I should focus and pay attention to the pitch of the note. While theoretically I know what pitch is, practically during playing notes what part of the "Sound of the notes" should I specifically focus on & pay attention to to correctly identify the notes? Does that part sound the same in different instruments like when I play piano, flute and harmonica? Plz help me visualize that part so that I can use it in my ear training.

On the similar lines, is there a sound pattern that will help me identify intervals? Like when i play M2 and M6, what is the difference in the sound I should focus on to identify the notes of the interval correctly?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Different instruments produce different timbres, so the harmonic content of the notes will vary based on the type of instrument, but the pitch of a note should be determined by its loudest or most dominant frequency.

I would recommend starting with instruments that produce a timbre with very few harmonics, so you don't have to struggle with "mentally eliminating" the harmonics.

Another option would be to listen to different instruments playing the same note so you can get a good feel for how a given note sounds using different timbres.

As for musical intervals, I think there are websites that mention popular songs which begin with specific musical intervals, so you might focus on remember which songs make heavy use of which intervals. Then, when you hear a musical interval you're supposed to identify, ask yourself which song it reminds you of-- even if the specific notes of the interval are transposed from the notes that the song uses-- and it should help you identify the interval.

 

[pw_bodhi]

Different instruments produce different timbres, so the harmonic content of the notes will vary based on the type of instrument, but the pitch of a note should be determined by its loudest or most dominant frequency.

I would recommend starting with instruments that produce a timbre with very few harmonics, so you don't have to struggle with "mentally eliminating" the harmonics.

Another option would be to listen to different instruments playing the same note so you can get a good feel for how a given note sounds using different timbres.

As for musical intervals, I think there are websites that mention popular songs which begin with specific musical intervals, so you might focus on remember which songs make heavy use of which intervals. Then, when you hear a musical interval you're supposed to identify, ask yourself which song it reminds you of-- even if the specific notes of the interval are transposed from the notes that the song uses-- and it should help you identify the interval.

Thankyou @SeaGtGruff. That is what my question is...how do I differentiate the harmonics from the original pitch. Here is an example of what I am looking for. I played the same note on different instruments one after the other and could feel that except the nature of the sound that defined the instrument, "something" in the notes sounded very similar. Let me call that something=x. For eg, C on piano,strings, flute, had "x" in common. Similar observation for other notes. Yet not able to pinpoint what is that "x" I am hearing. Question 3 here. When I am changing the notes, is that "x" that is changing or is it something totally different? Note: I am beginner in ear training

 

[Biggles]

A wind instrument like a flute gives a clear tone that is a fundamental frequency and primarily a second harmonic.

A flute is an open cylinder and these types of instrument behave differently from other wind instruments which have a reed where harmonics of different intensity are produced.

Another property is that the harmonics that are generated is also related to what is the fundamental tone

Stringed instruments like an acoustic piano develop a whole range of harmonics and in the case of a single key being pressed it is not just the strings of that key that vibrate but all others in the instrument vibrate. Even if the damper pedal is not pressed the damped strings will have some induced movement. Press the damper pedal and the whole piano come alive as all the strings start to vibrate.

Depending upon the quality of your keyboards sampling and processing capabilities it will do its best to replicate as close as its programming allows the tones of the original sampled instrument together with the harmonics. Hence your brain will process all it hears and concentrating on one element will be very hard to achieve.

Have a look at this

Flute Waveforms

 

[pw_bodhi]

A wind instrument like a flute gives a clear tone that is a fundamental frequency and primarily a second harmonic.

A flute is an open cylinder and these types of instrument behave differently from other wind instruments which have a reed where harmonics of different intensity are produced.

Another property is that the harmonics that are generated is also related to what is the fundamental tone

Stringed instruments like an acoustic piano develop a whole range of harmonics and in the case of a single key being pressed it is not just the strings of that key that vibrate but all others in the instrument vibrate. Even if the damper pedal is not pressed the damped strings will have some induced movement. Press the damper pedal and the whole piano come alive as all the strings start to vibrate.

Depending upon the quality of your keyboards sampling and processing capabilities it will do its best to replicate as close as its programming allows the tones of the original sampled instrument together with the harmonics. Hence your brain will process all it hears and concentrating on one element will be very hard to achieve.

Have a look at this

Flute Waveforms

Thankyou @Biggles Do you mean the sound that flute produces has only fundamental frequency that is purely the sound I should focus on. If then, when I focus on the pitches of the flute sound, can I use that knowledge to recognize the sounds of other instruments? Let me soon try out the ear training only on flute

 

[Biggles]

Click on the link and view the results of the tests.

You will see that what the harmonics are related to the fundamental notes being played, with the first set of results for the note B4 (the first B to the right of middle C) you will see that the second and third harmonics have the higher peaks in the graph.

A different note produces a different max amplitude of the harmonics.

So basically the harmonics vary with regard to the note being played and the instrument playing them, to make it even more confusing is that there is a vast difference in the output of specific instruments

So concentrating on a single tone will be difficult, you hear the note being played and the harmonics.

The only time you will hear a single tone is if you electronically via a signal generator produce a sinusoidal waveform and that will not have any harmonics.

 

[pw_bodhi]

Click on the link and view the results of the tests.

You will see that what the harmonics are related to the fundamental notes being played, with the first set of results for the note B4 (the first B to the right of middle C) you will see that the second and third harmonics have the higher peaks in the graph.

A different note produces a different max amplitude of the harmonics.

So basically the harmonics vary with regard to the note being played and the instrument playing them, to make it even more confusing is that there is a vast difference in the output of specific instruments

So concentrating on a single tone will be difficult, you hear the note being played and the harmonics.

The only time you will hear a single tone is if you electronically via a signal generator produce a sinusoidal waveform and that will not have any harmonics.

THankyou. So I see the results for different notes such as B4, F4, A4 and I understand that it would be difficult to differentiate the fundamental sound from the rest of the sounds. Is my understanding correct? if yes, then my question is there as it is. and also am wondering how people ear - train themselves on the perfect pitches, relative pitches etc?

 

[Biggles]

Musicians with perfect pitch are like hen’s teeth.

Rather than ear training on a note basis why not try differentiating between notes?

You could also try to transcribe a favourite song, download the lyrics and print them out, play the song and :-
mark the beat on the lyric sheet every bar
work out the tempo
determine what note or chord is played first
then try to determine the other chords used
when you have finished compare it to a transcribed version ir two on the Ultimate Tab website.

I am pretty sure this will serve you better than trying to note train yourself

Also do study up on song structure, verses, chorus, bridge, instrumental etc

 

[pw_bodhi]

Musicians with perfect pitch are like hen’s teeth.

Rather than ear training on a note basis why not try differentiating between notes?

You could also try to transcribe a favourite song, download the lyrics and print them out, play the song and :-
mark the beat on the lyric sheet every bar
work out the tempo
determine what note or chord is played first
then try to determine the chords
when you have finished compare it to a transcribed version ir two on the Ultimate Tab website.

I am pretty sure this will serve you better than trying to note train yourself

Thankyou. That is a good advice. I will add that to my routine. Thank you so much