Learn to hear harmonic intervals and understand why they're trickier to identify than melodic ones — plus a look at the science and art behind this week's practice exercises.

In this episode:

• Cohort enrollment now open — Listening and Personal Style, a 6-week ear training cohort starting September 7th. Early-bird pricing ($300) through 8/21, regular price $350 after. 15-seat limit. tuneindigo.com
• This week's video tutorial (audio version): hearing harmonic intervals and the motion between voices that creates them
• News-lesson: why training your ear with a purpose — not just "because you should" — changes how you listen
• Behind the scenes: how Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art by David Huron shaped the ten listening examples in this week's tutorial

Watch the video: Harmonic Interval Ear Training - How to Hear Motion Where There Is None (add YouTube link)

Join the cohort: tuneindigo.com

Two chords, three notes each, two notes in common — no wonder iii and vi get confused. This episode starts with the full audio of this week's tutorial, where a single scale degree settles the question for good. Then it's on to the news-lesson.

This week: what happened when a group of Foundations students joined me for impromptu office hours (Carole King, harmonic listening, and some composition practice); news of a small real-time Holistic Ear Training course starting in September; and a look back at the final Compose With Me livestream, where "offloading melodies" turned "Interplanet Janet" into something that sounds nothing like it.

Chapters are enabled — skip straight to the news-lesson if you've already watched the video.

In this episode:

• Tutorial: telling iii from vi in major keys
• Office hours with Foundations students
• The September cohort course
• Offloading melodies, and building a tune from borrowed rhythm

Links:

• Cohort Course INFO
• Compose With Me replay
• Free email Course Info
• Video Tutorial: iii chord vs. vi chord

Plus a listening guide for a Carole King classic and a 600-year-old composing habit.

LINKS:

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

Shirelles 1960 Version

Carole King Version

Compose with Me! Livestream

Tune Indigo on YouTube

tuneindigo.com

Can you hear what Paul McCartney's bass line is doing under "Eight Days a Week"? In this episode, we chase that bass line to uncover the chord progression driving the whole song — then take those same chords and go hunting for them in four other tunes, from bossa nova to hip-hop.

You'll:

• Sing the root notes of McCartney's bass line against the original recording
• Test your ear by finding do and singing that same bass line over "Exactly Like You," "Take the A Train," "Forget You," and more
• Close with a fully improvised vocal line over a stripped-down version of the progression — no solfège, no chord names, just your ear and your voice

Want to go deeper? The full step-by-step video on learning any song's chords by ear is linked below.

Links:

• Original recording: Eight Days a Week
• Tutorial video: How to Learn a Song's Chords by Ear
• More at tuneindigo.com

Corresponding Newsletter Issue: Chase Bass, Catch Chords