Sonofield Ear Trainer

Most ear training apps give you, e.g., two random notes and ask you to name the interval between them. The problem with this is that when the next random pairing shows up, your ear is still anchored to the previous two. In the language of music theory, that very first note you heard still feels like the tonic, you're hearing these two new notes in relationship to that tonic -- because that is how music works -- but being asked to ignore the previous pair and just think of these two new notes as the tonic, in relation to each other. You can, of course, learn to listen to intervals the way these other apps insist, and you will eventually be able to hear them and answer the questions correctly. That is, if you don't give up. But you might, because ear training like that is tedious and, more importanlty, unmusical. This app fixes that problem by playing the tonic as a drone. It is very musical, and quite meditative. It is a pleasure to learn this way, so you will keep at it. And it is a more deeply musical way to train your ear.

I don’t usually write reviews, but I felt this one was a worthy app. I feel very lucky that I discovered Max’s channel right before this app was released. I’ve tested many different ear training apps, and all of them do an ok job of focusing on the same concepts beat into us through music school, most notably interval recognition. However, I never felt like identifying intervals made me a better musician, and maybe that because of the ways it is taught. Ive always struggled with transcription and though I’ve invested a lot of time into developing that skill, I never felt like I got better. This has been changing ever since I’ve started use Sonofield. I wasn’t sure how to feel about relying on ‘feeling states’ of certain intervals, but after trying it, I genuinely feel like I can identify intervals and melodies with so much more ease. In fact, it’s becoming effortless. I even find it easier to just identify patterns in music that I listen to, something that I’ve always struggled with. The best part, the app is constantly under development, and improving. I can tell that each update is taking care to address bugs and take user feedback. I’m very excited to see what the future of the app is! All that being said, if you want a modern, sleek, extremely helpful, and optimized app for developing your musical ear, please download Sonofield!

I love this app! Rather than intervals it uses scale degrees against a drone which is very helpful for internalizing the feeling of the note and closer to how we actually hear and play music. The graphics too are a useful aid. The exercises are essentially just fun games. You can play scale degree recognition or scale degree voice production (sing the note correctly against a drone rather than just hearing it) or melody recognition. You can play the escalating levels in difficulty/amount of degrees or create custom exercises to target your weak areas. Additionally there is free play mode where you can practice your recognition and production skills by choosing which degree sounds and without the pressure of time and score. Lastly, there is pocket mode which plays degrees randomly against a drone and identifies each one after it plays. This is great for practicing while driving etc. In short, this is the most useful and fun ear training app I ever experienced. Can’t recommend enough!