MelodEar, across Jazz Harmony 4+

Ear Training for improvisation

David Eskenazy

    • 4.4 • 20 Ratings
    • Free
    • Offers In-App Purchases

Screenshots

Description

Melodear is an music learning interface allowing to visualize, hear and sing the melodic modes associated to the harmonic progression of a song, to flow limitlessly within and between the modes by learning to your ear all the melodic passages. You can create your own chords, scales and songs !

MelodEar is a 15 years passionate real-life teaching process decanted into a practical device by David Eskenazy, musician, singer, facilitator, creator of MelodEar.

‘I love when musicians sing with their instrument, and I love when singers get instrumental with their voice. So I dreamt of a device that could offer a comprehensive training for both. Here it is : let’ s dive into it , hope you enjoy the idea !’ D.E

At last singers have a serious voice-designed instrument to dive into the entanglements of jazz harmony.
Instrumentalists from another angle, will have the opportunity to muscle their inner hearing and connect their fingers straight to it: an infinite source of creation.

Both may consequently raise their artistic language to a new dimension and notice unexpected results in their improvisations.

WORKFLOW AND OVERVIEW

MelodEar has a very simple work flow with 3 windows :

. The Edit window, where you can edit chords, easily choose the melodic modes, build your song.
. The Library, where you can store your songs, access pre-filled jazz standards, customize theme.
. The Session window, where the actual work is happening.

The Session window offers a unic visual medium to intuitively grasp all-in-one the melodic modes used in a chord progression, their internal intervals, the number of each note and the multiple connexions between them. ( cf screen shot n°1).

This fantastic guidance allows the user to develop their improvised melodic discourse to any direction through the chord progression. Ultimately this visual frame is only the support to a higher purpose : the audiation, and sensorial memory of the colors of the notes, modes, intervals and most of all of the multiple melodic passages from one mode to the next.

The Session window also provides a chord player & keyboard, a vocal keyboard to play the notes of the mode, a pitch recoginition highlighting the notes you sing, a fine tuner to be able to adjust your pitch, a looper to work on a specific section of the song.

SEE IT, HEAR IT & SING IT

‘See it, hear it & sing it !’ is the key-stone(regle de trois) of this musical approach.

‘See it’ : for a clear understanding & a secured guidance.
‘Hear it’: for a deep, reliable set of skills in real-life improv situations.
‘Sing it’ : whether you sing magnificiently or barely in-tune, your voice, fed-back with the pitch recognition of Melodear is the best reality-check of what you actually hear. It will help grounding the ear work from abstract to pure physicality. Our advice to instrumentalists and singers : Sing along !

PHILOSOPHY & TUTORIAL PACK

As said earlier, MelodEar is not just a device but a whole musical approach.
There is a couple of subtleties about how to work that you need to be aware of in order to get meaningful and consistant results.
There is also a great variety of uses and exercises to develop different/complementary skills.

We did not want you to miss all that : so our tutorial pack comes with the purchase of MeloDear !

SKILLS

On top of the improvisation skills mentioned earlier, consistant work with the tutorial pack will help you improve significantly your :

. pitch accuracy
. vocal & brain agility
. awareness of notes’ colors
. harmonic ear
. mastery of intervals and reading music
. ability to create, develop and play with melodic patterns
. musical discourse and melodic creativity

Credits :
Conception, original idea : David Eskenazy
Development & design : Mathieu Lescure
Voices of the Vocal Keyboard : Samantha Lavital, Amandine Le Laurent
Icon design : Anne-Lise Gruet

Terms of Use:
https://vocal-improv.com/terms-of-use

Privacy Policy:
https://vocal-improv.com/privacy-policy

What’s New

Version 1.1.2

Add a setting to force headset detection if it's not properly recognized by the device.

Ratings and Reviews

4.4 out of 5
20 Ratings

20 Ratings

awooogaawoooga ,

Great concept, but I wish it was more modular

I honestly see a lot going for this app. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to verify the note degree that I’m playing to a chord, and this idea really does save a lot of time in that regard.

With that said, I do think this needs some work, as sometimes I feel like I don’t always need a scale to accompany a certain chord. It’s nice to have them available, but for beginners to intermediate players it can be a little intimidating when you don’t know what scales to use.

Another thing I wish this app had is the ability to be more modular with your chord and scale definitions. I like the library, but I also think that it would just be much easier if I could create a chord with the notes defined by me. It allows for people to get different voicings, and also state chords which aren’t really in this list, like sus chords or chords with omitted notes and such.

Overall though, I will definitely be using this in the future. Chords can be substituted, and it’s really just a tool. That being said, I would love to see something done about the things I mentioned, but regardless, thank you for putting this out!

Developer Response ,

Dear Aooog.... :)
Thanks for your very nice comment !
I would like to understand better your second point : the selection of scales that is proposed in the edit window of Melodear is only made of relevant scales , compatible with the chord you entered. and what do you mean by saying 'sometimes I feel like I don’t always need a scale to accompany a certain chord'. If you mean you just want to sing a few notes, of course the point is not to sing all the scale on each chord, in the order from 1 to 7. But I'm not sure that is what you meant.

as for your 3d point : customizing scales and chord are definitely on the shortlist of the coming features ! Thank you so much, Best, David & MelodEar

BuffaloShrimp ,

This is gonna cure my RealBook addiction.

Memorizing two or three volumes of jazz standards is not in the stars for me. And I am sick of the fake books. So, I’ve stopped trying to memorize one abstract series of chord changes after another and started working on my ear - working on my understanding of harmony and expanding sensual experience of structure. I started ear training by swapping chord names with the Nashville number system. This was huge. I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner. And Melodear is clearly the next step to fake book freedom. The graphic illustration of music this application generates is stunningly clear and mentally manageable. Using it is so effortless, It seems I could wander through this colorful harmonic landscape without a single thought in my head and the nature of music would gradually reveal itself to me anyway. And it seems to be teaching me how to sing as well (I play upright bass). So, wow! Many thanks for this beautiful and extraordinarily useful application. —— Addtional comment : After using the app for a number of months, I do wish the developer would draw mic sensitivity down into the bass range so that I might use the app with my upright bass. I understand singing is an excellent way to internalize harmony. Nevertheless, I feel testing one’s inner/silent voice with this app has it’s merits too. 2.0?

Developer Response ,

Buffalo you just made my day ! so happy to read this. Have a nice trip in the colorful harmonic landscapes ! David

E a A ,

Ear training power app

Used correctly this app is a great tool for getting the sound of chord progressions in your ear. It’s the kind of thing to do like 15 minutes a day and just gradually chip away. Consistent practice will make for significant growth. Only change I would make would be to allow a custom scale or chord. But frankly the available options still provide years of potential work.

Developer Response ,

Thank you so much , customizing scales and chord are definitely on the shortlis of the coming features ! Best, David & MelodEar

App Privacy

The developer, David Eskenazy, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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