When several notes are played simultaneously, our brain has a natural tendency to gravitate towards the high sound, but may have difficulty identifying the middle and lower sounds. The ability to hear and process multiple sounds at once can be improved with training and allows for significant progress in music.
In these exercises, you will learn to evaluate the density of a piece of music at any given time, and whether it contains a single or multiple notes. This is the first simple step to identifying the number of notes present in a chord.
Listen to this excerpt and sing the note that you hear.
- If you feel that your voice merges with the excerpt, it is very likely that there is only one note being played.
- If you intuitively sense the presence of other notes, or a certain complexity, it is very likely that multiple notes are being played.
