Ear Training II - Major and Minor Triads; All Inversions; Closed and Open Voicings
Last months ear training exercise was to identify major and minor triads in root position only. This meant that the root of each chord was relatively easy to track as it was always the lowest note. This month’s exercise involves major and minor triads in root position, first, and second inversion. This means that the root will not necessarily be the lowest sounding note. Additionally, the triads will be played in either a closed (within an octave) or open (greater than an octave) voicing.
I approach this exercise in three steps:
Identify the root of the chord knowing that it may not be the lowest sounding note
Identify the lowest sounding note to identify the position/inversion of the chord
Identify the character of the chord or its highest note to access its voicing
As usual, this exercise can be approached in two ways: improvising along with the chords or echoing them. You can find the code, now contained in a Supercollider file (.scd), here. To use the code, simply open the code in Supercollider, select the Language tab, and click ‘evaluate file’.