@austinpmckenzie, that's an interesting piece on functional ear training. Having just skimmed it once, I don't know for sure that I fully understand it, but I do think that the way my ear hears music is similar. I know what a I chord sounds like or means in a song. I know what a V chord means. So I can hear in a piece of music when that chord is being played by the function it plays in the song. The V chord creates tension that wants to resolve to the I chord, for example. The same can be said of a melody. Certain notes of the scale function as resting places, other notes as passing tones, and some create tension that needs to be resolved. There are only 12 notes in a chromatic octave and 7 in a diatonic octave, so it isn't too difficult to get to know the notes from which you can choose to play a melody.
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Dusty T., Northern California
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As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
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