05. Flawless Ear Training: Unit 5 (Audio)

Every unit before this one started easy and built. Unit 5 runs the other way. Lesson 1 throws chord progressions at you fast, and augmented and diminished triads with barely a beat to think. You'll miss most of them. Grab what you can, listen to the correction, and move on. That small flicker of recognition after the answer is the training.

Then I slow down and teach. By the end, the same drills feel manageable, because your ear has been living in them for two weeks.

New here: the three chord, in major and in minor. The minor third, which is a three in the numbers. First inversion, where the fourth sits on top instead of the bottom. And minor keys, alongside every major key you already know.

Lessons run about thirty minutes now. Close your eyes for all of them.

C to C flat again, but each lesson takes the major and the minor side of the key. Lessons 1 through 9 build the progressions with me guiding you, one chord at a time. Lessons 10 through 15 take the guide away. You hear the chords in context and name them on your own.

The tempo climbs about two clicks a lesson, with a few steps back so you can catch up.

The final exam is in four parts. Three-chord groups, and you can miss two. Interval singing, miss five. Major or minor with inversion, miss three. Interval identification, miss five. Pass all four and you're ready for Unit 6. If it takes you more than one try, finish all four parts, then do Lessons 10 to 15 once more before you move on.

There's no video version from here to the end. Audio only. We're past the point where seeing anything helps, and the ear is what's being trained.

It won't wait for you. One lesson a day, once. Don't repeat a lesson. What you miss in Lesson 3 gets fixed by Lesson 12, and the final decides whether you go around again. Up to three passes through the unit.

It won't feel like music yet. Ear training is technique, the same way scales are technique. You won't hear a one three four in a piece and think the numbers. You'll hear the bass move and know what happened.

Don't start here, even if you can do it. The foundation is Units 1 to 4, and this unit assumes all of it.