Burge's music courses
David Taylor
I have taken both Burge's Perfect Pitch course and Relative
Pitch course and would like to shed some light on the
content of them for you.
Perfect Pitch
This course is only useful if you have a partner to work with.
The tapes mearely provide a few useful drills you can do
with a partner. There really is no great secret to it.
Basically all the drills involve is a repetition method to
instill the sounds of a given note into your mind. He starts
with just two note drills - your partner plays one of the
two notes in any octave and you name it. Then expand to
three, four, etc...
Personally I didn't find this very beneficial. I usually
can name a note with a fair amount of accuracy after hearing
it, there really isn't any special skill in that, just takes
a little practice.
Relative Pitch
This course is a little better since all the drills do not
require a partner to complete them. Burge logically progresses
through various intervals (4th, 5th, M3, m3, etc). On each
"lesson" there is a practice session where he plays the interval
and has you name it, then plays one note and has you sing the
note above it, then plays both notes together and you name the
interval.
I think this course is more useful in that it develops your
ear to hear the leaps in music. This skill is especially
useful when trying to learn how to play by ear (as I am
currently working on). Now once I identify tonic it is
easier to figure out what the chords are. I can't say
for sure whether Burge's tapes have helped me develop this
or whether just sitting down and working at it has.
Summary:
Overall I would say don't waste your money. If you have a
friend that is interested in learning perfect pitch you can
easily create the drills that Burge suggests and work together.
If you really feel you need it the Relative Pitch course is
OK. I use to do the drills in the car on my way to work or
school. I don't think I would endorse it though. Maybe if
I ever get around to working through the rest of the tapes
I'll think more of it. I guess it depends on what you want
the tapes to help you with.
If anybody has any questions about the program and wants
a non biased opinion as to whether or not it'll do what
you want feel free to write me.
-Dave
Mike Kalstein
You know, when I play very frequently, especially the same songs,
I get "temporary" perfect pitch; that is the notes stay in my
mind for 24 hours or so. Then after a day of doing something
else it is gone. Maybe this whole thing is just a fancy
alternative to a lot of practice.
What about the business of hearing "tone colors" that he espouses?
How did you find that worked into his course?
--
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David Taylor
>Thanks for reviewing this course. I was always curious about it.
>
>
>What about the business of hearing "tone colors" that he espouses?
>How did you find that worked into his course?
>
>--
The concept of "tone colors" is just a way to get across how
different notes sound to a non-music person using the course.
The concept is hard to describe but I'll attempt...
The idea is that each musical note's pitch is similar to a
perceived color. Take an A for example. When I hear an
A by itself I think of an orchestra tuning, to me this is
a very warm sound so I associate it with the color red. Just
like red has different hues to it an A also has different hues
based on what octave, flat, sharp, timbre, etc... Now having
said this please realize this is not literally what happens in
my mind. When I hear an A I don't see red colors, I hear the A.
I think that all Burge is doing is providing a way of learning
to hear the difference between notes by associating it with
another sense (sight) that we are naturally more familiar with.
Conceptually this works pretty well. Let's face it there is
only 12 basic tones so all you need to do is get those 12 tones in
your head and then figure out how the octave, flat/sharp, timbre of
the instrument fits in.
I hope this is fairly clear, please feel free to write/post
if you need more. I am very willing to help anyone out who
is trying to develop these skills.
-Dave
stephen g volan
Has anyone ever read "The Phantom Tollbooth"? Remember the
scene where our hero Milo witnesses Chroma the Great leading
the orchestra that colors the dawn...then tries it himself?
Even though Jules Feiffer's illustrations were in black and
white, that scene was so vivid in my mind I remembered it
immediately upon reading this thread.
Just core dumping. -- TallSteve
Mike Kalstein
;
As a matter of fact I do remember this. What a cool book that
was, although its been years since I read it (or even had a copy).
peter kairoff
I have thought about that book more than I ought to admit, ever since I
read it in 4th grade. Maybe we need to establish a sub-category--
rec.music.makers.piano.tollbooth.
Anyway, speaking of pianos...