FAQ´s
Most frequent questions and answers
Technical Questions
The apps run on a web page, so if your computer, tablet or telephone can access the internet, you can use the apps.
Different web browsers process WebAudio en different ways. Some are more up to date and efficient than others.
The our apps work on the following browsers:
- Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Opera
- Microsoft Edge
- Safari
The apps don´t work on:
• Internet Explorer
No, no software downloads are required. The apps load on your device like any other web page
You must be connected to the internet to access the apps. Once you access the apps, they will run offline until you close your web browser.
Membership Questions
Yes, of course! When you sign up for a plan, you get a 15 day free trial; both individual memberships and group memberships get a free trial. If you decide to keep using the app, you will not have to do anything at the end of the trial period. Your plan´s billing will start when the 15 day trial period is over.
If you decide that you don´t want to use the app during your trial period, simply cancel the plan you signed up for. After you cancel you can continue to use all the apps until your 15 day trial is over. You will NOT be billed at all.
Every plan gives members access to all our apps. Additionally, as long as your account is current, your membership price never varies.
At reelear.com, we try to be as generous as possible. In fact, when we started this project, one of the first questions we asked ourselves was “How can we by generous with the value we are creating?”.
To get your free access as a public school teacher, fill out the application form here. We manually review the applications, so please be patient. You will here back from us quickly / usually within 48 hours.
Unfortunately, we don´t grant free access to public school students, only to your teachers, so they can use the apps in your classroom. However, we do offer deeply discounted group memberships. Many public schools take advantage of those memberships to allow students to get further access to the ear training tools. Speak with your music teacher to see if it is a good fit for you all.
• A group membership has a minimum of 5 people (that can be five friends or one teacher and four students).
• The person who purchases the group membership is the Group Administrator and they invite the other group members to join.
• Groups pay a fixed amount, per year. For example, an Extra Large Group Membership has 50 members and costs $1 dollar/person/month. So the yearly bill would be $600.
• We bill the Group Administrator the total yearly charge. We do not bill each individual group member. Therefore, if you are the group administrator, you may want to think about how to pass on the costs to the other members of your group.
• If a group member leaves the group, for example a student drops a class, then the group would have an empty seat. The administrator can then add another member to the group. Please note however, to add or subtract seats from a group, the administrator needs to purchase a new membership with the correct number of seats.
• If someone leaves the group, they immediately loose their access to the web apps. This is different from individual memberships.
• If the Group Administrator cancels the subscription, the membership remains active through the end of the billing period. The group will loose access at the end of the billing period.
• Billing invoices are available.
Payment Questions
Yes, of course! When you sign up for a plan, you get a 15 day free trial; both individual memberships and group memberships get a free trial; although one person can only get one free trial; this makes sense because there is no difference between the levels of access bewteen different membership levels.
After the free trial, if you decide to keep using the app, you will not have to do anything at the end of the trial period. Your plan´s billing will start when the 15 day trial period is over.
If you decide that you don´t want to use the app during your trial period, simply cancel the plan you signed up for. After you cancel you can continue to use all the apps until your 15 day trial is over. You will NOT be billed at all.
Membership is reoccurring, after the trial period ends. If you pay for your membership with a credit/debit card, then you will not have to do anything to keep your membership active. Your card will be billed monthly/yearly, depending on the plan you chose.
You can cancel your membership by signing into your account and following the cancel account link. It´s very easy to do, but remember, if you cancel your account, and then decide to join again in the future, the membership price may have changed.
Your payment will be processed by Stripe, a very popular and secure internet payment gateway. Stripe provides payment services for many of the internet´s biggest online sellers including Amazon, Microsoft and Google. You can find out more about Stripe on their website.
Do you have a question, comment, complaint, proposal or just want to say “hi”, please use the Contact Us form, here.
App Help
Table of Contents
I listened to the radio, and just tried to repeat what I heard on my fiddle.
Keep on playing and you´ll see what happens
A crucial concept in the ear training uprising.
Call and Response Dictations
Call and response dictation is the heart our apps’ design. After you select your variables, and press play, the app creates a random music phrase based on your variables and plays it in time with the metronome.
When the phrase finishes, the metronome will continue and you sing or play back exactly what you heard.
You are actually practicing several skills at once:
• establishing and maintaining a constant rhythm
• playing what you hear by ear
• learning to focus your attention and active listening over sustained periods of time
• practicing starting and stopping in time (a critical ability for ensemble playing)
Not all web browsers process Web Audio equally.
Which Web Browsers Can I Use With The Apps?
- Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Opera
- Microsoft Edge
- Safari
- Internet Explorer
A key concept for dictations in the Melody, Harmony and Arpeggio Apps.
Number of Repetitions
Understanding the number of repetitions is the key to using the Call and Response dictation.
Call and response dictation is a cycle made up of two parts: a) the phrase you hear and b) your response. That cycle equals one repetition.
By default, the app is set for 2 repetitions. We do that because many beginners need a second chance at hearing the dictation to either correct themselves or simply reinforce what was a correct response.
One very successful strategy is to leave the repetitions at 2 and do the dictation in the following way. Listen to the new phrase, sing or play it back. Now, listen again and watch the visual feedback at the same time. This way you can correct yourself if need be. Finally, sing or play back the phrase again.
Not all the variables change in the same way in the apps, due to technical reasons.
Change App Variables In Real Time
When you change variables in the interface while a dictation is playing. Some changes take effect immediately while others take effect in the next dictation.
Timer: You can set the timer at any time
Ostinato: Changes happen in real time and do not effect the dictation cycle at all.
Changing the following variables restarts the dictation:
Metronome, Number of bars, Time Signature, Nº of repetitions, Pitches, Scale, Visual Feedback, Notes/Rests
Changing the following variables effects the next dictation cycle:
Start Note/End Note for the dictation, Instrument, Octave/Octave Range, Reference note, Pitch Display, Scale, Start/Finish Rest
Octaves are key to getting in tune with each dictation as well as expanding your ear and playing range.
How Octaves Work In The Apps
2. Octave range (1-3) This determines how many octaves can appear in the dictation. If is set to 1, only the selected octave from the Octave field will be played. If 2, the selected octave and the next higher one will be played. If 3, the selected octave and the next two higher ones will be played.
Learn how to use the basic chord functions in these apps.
Adding Chords In The Harmony And Arpeggio Apps
Call and response dictation is the heart our apps’ design. After you select your variables, and press play, the app creates a random music phrase based on your variables and plays it in time with the metronome.
When the phrase finishes, the metronome will continue and you sing or play back exactly what you heard.
You are actually practicing several skills at once:
• establishing and maintaining a constant rhythm
• playing what you hear by ear
• learning to focus your attention and active listening over sustained periods of time
• practicing starting and stopping in time (a critical ability for ensemble playing)
Here´s a cool trick to to use to vary your practice workouts.
Combine The Metronome With The Ostinato
Give your practice workout a power boost with this awesome skill builder. Check out the short video to learn how.
They key to a strong sound…long tones.
Long Tones (Melody App)
Long Tones are crucial skills for singers and musicians who play bowed instruments and wind instruments. Did you know that you can use the Melody Ear Training App to practice your Long Tones? Check out the short video to find out how.
Rhythm underlies everything we hear and play in music.
Rhythm Workout
(Melody App)
Did you know you can use the Melody Ear Training App to develop awesome rhythm skills? Find out how in this short video
Control the rhythm and thrive.
Musical Gym
(Melody, Arpeggio and Harmony Apps)
Wouldn´t it be cool to be able to play and Melody, Arpeggio or Chord Progression at any speed? Find out how in this short video
They key to a strong sound…long tones
Longer Phrases
(Melody and Harmony Apps)
Do you want to increase your musical memory while learning new ideas for composition and improvisation? Find out how in this short video.
Adding variety to your ear training prepares you for many real world ear challenges that musicians face.
Change Octaves and Change Instruments
(Melody, Arpeggio and Harmony Apps)
Have you ever noticed that it is often harder to learn songs by ear if you are listening to music played in a different octave range than your instrument, or played by a different instrument? Use the ear training apps to get better at that.
An important concept to understand in order to get the most work out of the Arpeggio App.
Asymmetry in the Arpeggio App
Asymmetry is an advanced function of the Arpeggio web app.
When you turn on Asymmetry, you will be permitted to mix Arpeggio Patterns with different number of notes in them. You can also choose chords that have different number of notes in them.
Although the metronome is not effected by asymmetry, when you hear patterns or chords with different number of notes they seem to go faster or slower when compared to each other. This is because the app needs to accommodate for more (or less) information during one metronome beat, so it adds or subtracts subdivisions depending on the number of notes in each chord/pattern. Have a look at the video to get a more in depth view of asymmetry in the Arpeggio App.
Borrowing a technique from classical music ear training
Using the Melody App for interval ear training
If you are coming to Reel Ear from a clssical music or jazz background, you are probably used to doing interval dictations and ear training. Did you know that you can use the Melody App to continue on that journey?
Have a look at the screencast and we will show you how to do it.
Ok, bass players, it´s time to get to work!
How to set up the Melody App for Bass Guitar
Let´s get the Melody App set up for Bass Guitar. Check out the video to find out how.
Key takeaways from the screencast:
• Open strings bass guitar: E1,A1,D2,G2
• Choose an instrument: We recommend Electric Guitar (clean)
Here´s a cool trick to to use to vary your practice workouts.
Use Time Signatures to improve your musical memory
As you get better at doing short dictations, you´ll want to also improve your musical memory to repeat back longer phrases. One way to take very small, incremental steps towards that goal is to use the Time Signatures to add a fifth, sixth, or seventh note to your Call and Response dictations. Check out the screencast to find out how.
Here is my favorite melody workout.
Combine the Melody and Arpeggio Apps into an awesome ear training workout
As you get better at doing short dictations, you´ll want to also improve your musical memory to repeat back longer phrases. One way to take very small, incremental steps towards that goal is to use the Time Signatures to add a fifth, sixth, or seventh note to your Call and Response dictations. Check out the screencast to find out how.
This little app packs a big punch. Give it a try.
How to use the Tuning Ear Challenge App
Can you get a perfect score? Working towards perfection will really get your ear in tune.
Get the octaves right for a more efficient ear training session.
Setting The Right Octave For Guitars
When you are doing ear training it is very helpful to set the octaves in the different apps to match what you are playing on your instrument.
Guitarists should check out this short screen cast to see how to do that for the apps. Get it right and you will go further, faster towards reaching your music goals.
Download our handy, pdf chart showing what octave corresponds to the notes on the guitar fret board.
Now Highland Bagpipers can finally do melodic ear training
Microtone App For Highland Bagpipe
Check out this screen cast to set up the Microtone Ear Training Web App to match the Drones and Chanter on your Highland Bagpipe
