Dear Student: Welcome to the Learning Center and thank you for attending the Ear Training Presentation. During this 30-minute class we will introduce you to two of the programs we use at the Learning Center: Auralia & Practica Musica. Basic functioning of Auralia and Practica Musica will be covered, from how to select exercises, to using the program’s theory resources. We will also introduce the Amazing Slow Downer, which is an application that allows you to slow down the tempo of any audio file without affecting pitch, which is great for transcriptions. The Learning Center also offers training sessions on most of the software that is installed on your laptop. Please do not hesitate to stop by for software support or just to try our music workstations. Visit us at learningcenter.berklee.edu (617) 747-2669 (150 Massachusetts Avenue Building) Learning Center Staff
Table of Contents Using the Learning Center -Setting your workstation (Triton Setup) Ear Training Software -Auralia -Practica Musica Ear Training Resources -Ear Training Department Website Auralia & Practica Musica Resources Amazing Slow Downer Learning Center (training sessions, labs, support)
3 3 4 4 5-6 7 7 8 8 9 Revised Spring 2007
- 3 -Using
the Learning Center
The Learning Center is located at 150 Massachusetts Avenue (617) 747-2669 Monday - Thursday 9:00 am to 11:45 pm Friday 9:00 am to 9:45 pm Saturday 10:00 am to 9:45 pm Sunday 1:00 pm to 11:45 pm There is no time limit for using the Learning Center Workstations, unless there is a waiting list Each station is equipped with a 20-inch iMac G5, a Korg Kontrol49 MIDI controller keyboard, an Edirol firewire audio interface and headphones. In addition each station is loaded with Audio and MIDI editing software, and notation software. Our hybrid stations are setup so that you can either use our computers, or your laptop. The iMac can be moved to the side to make room, and you can use the Kontrol49 keyboard, and the Edirol audio interface with your applications.
Quick troubleshooting - Be sure that the headphones are plugged into the Edirol audio interface (red box on the right). -make sure the gray USB switch box is on G5 if using the iMac, and Laptop if using your computer. - Do not run more than one Music Application (software) at a time. DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK FOR HELP AT ANY TIME
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Auralia - 4 To Open Auralia, simply click on the Auralia icon in the dock at the bottom of the screen.
In the opening window you will see four large buttons at the top of the screen. When selected, these will direct you to different general topics. These topics will be seen in the middle of the screen. In the example to the left, the button Intervals & Scales is selected. This gives 4 different buttons in the middle of the screen that will direct you to 4 different types of exercises. Select the Interval Comparison button in the middle of the screen.
After selecting a topic, a new window will pop up. In this window, you will be able to select a difficulty level, read about the level you have selected, get help on this topic, and read about the theory behind the topic chosen. The Info screen gives a brief theory lesson on the topic chosen. In this case, the lesson is on intervals as shown above right.
Because Auralia does not have a built-in virtual piano, you can open GarageBand and use it’s piano sounds to check pitches for chord harmonies, scales, and melodic dictation.
After finishing with this screen click exit. This will take you back to the Interval Comparison window. From here click start and the practice session will begin. Be sure to read each question carefully as the approach to each question is different.
- 5 - Practica
Musica
Now open Practica Musica from the dock. When it first opens, you will see the following window:
Click Students.stu on the right half of the window. You will then see Practica Musica’s home screen as seen below.
The home screen is given the title ‘Practice.’ From this screen you can play the piano without getting into any exercises, etc.
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Practica Musica (cont) - 6 To begin working through exercises, click the Activities menu on the bar on top of the screen as shown below:
In the Activities list, you can choose any activity you wish. These range from ear training exercises to piano sight-reading. The first activity is Pitch Matching. When you click on this activity, notice that you will be asked to choose a level from the Pitch Matching menu. Click on the Pitch Matching menu on the menu bar at the top of the screen. You will then be given a list of levels for this activity.
From this list you can choose from 4 levels of difficulty, instructions, or quit this activity for Pitch Matching. Once you choose a level of difficulty, the activity will begin.
**Please note, if the exercise states, ‘play the following’, you will play the answer on the Triton keyboard. If the exercise states, ‘write the following’, you will use the mouse to click on the answer on the screen.
- 7 - Ear
Training Resources EAR TRAINING WEBSITE http://classes.berklee.edu/ET
Select which class you are currently in. On the next page you can select exercises from each chapter. NOTE: the dictation blank is a .PDF file that contains all chapters. Please select the desired pages when printing, otherwise, you will print everything, and use a lot of paper.
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Auralia & Practica Music Resources - 8 AURALIA http://www.sibelius.com/products/auralia/ PRACTICA MUSICA http://www.ars-nova.com/home.html Downloads, online manual, music libraries Amazing Slow Downer (Transcription tool) For a free download http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/amazingslowdowner.html
ONLINE RESOURCES Ricci Adams’Music Theory www.musictheory.net Plenty of online exercises, totally free. Available for download. Western Michigan University School of Music http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/etg/et_guide.html Online exercises as well as ear training guides. Click in Online Dictation Materials Big Ears (Interval Ear Training) http://www.ossmann.com/bigears/ Good Ear (Intervals, scales, cadences, note location, jazz chords, chords) http://www.good-ear.com/
- 9 - Learning
Center (learningcenter.berklee.edu)
150 Massachusetts Avenue, second floor, upstairs from the Media Center (617) 747-2669 Training Sessions, Tutoring (Core Music & Software), MIDI Workstations, Laptop Stations (Hybrid)
TRAINING SESSIONS SIGN UP Click on Schedule/Sign Up to check our calendar of classes, then click on the name of the class you would like to attend.
TRAINING SESSIONS
TUTORING
SOFTWARE FORUMS L ABS learningcenter.berklee.edu
for more information
E VENTS
