Post-Tonal Ear-Training Suite

Technical requirements: Takes 4MB disk space. Requires soundcard. MIDI port optional.

Operating system functionality (Please report your results)

Win 3.1: unknown (probably not)

Win 95: probably

Win 98, ME: yes

Win NT, XP: unknown

This collection of programs was inspired by Michael Friedmann’s excellent Ear Training for

Twentieth-Century Music (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).

At least some familiarity with post-tonal theory is required to use these programs.

In addition to the Friedmann book, one might try the following:

Straus, Joseph N. Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory 2nd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999).

Rahn, John. Basic Atonal Theory (New York: Shirmer Books, 1980).

Forte, Allen. The Structure of Atonal Music (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973).

Right now the suite features five different programs.

Drone Sing

The computer plays a referential drone for pitch-class zero and

cues you to sing various intervals against it.

Dyad Identification

A rapid-fire ear-training drill on your mod 12 intervals,

pitch intervals, and interval classes.

Trichord 1

Identify the pitch-intervals within random trichords.

Trichord 2

Classify trichords into three simple “families.”

Trichord 3

Distinguish between different pitch-space realizations of a given

trichordal set-type.

Trichord 4

Identify trichords by set-type.