Intervallic Ear Training for Musicians: Book & 2 CDs

This book cuts through the noise of generic ear training by zeroing in on intervallic thinking, which is exactly what musicians need when navigating contemporary jazz harmony and chromatic passages. The graded structure and accompanying CDs mean students can work independently, making this a reliable tool for both private instruction and self-directed study. Prosser's 35 years of teaching refinement show in the organization: each interval gets its own focused chapter, then students apply that knowledge through mastery exercises and etudes that feel like real playing, not just drills.

Methodical and rewarding. The text respects your intelligence while building skill in deliberate layers. Each completed chapter feels like you've unlocked something tangible; your ears genuinely work differently afterward.

Jazz musicians at any level who want to sharpen their ability to hear and identify intervals in real time, especially those working with chromatic or tonally complex material. Studio teachers will find this invaluable for students stuck on ear training plateaus. Self-taught improvisers benefit immensely from the structured progression and immediate audio feedback.

• Sing the intervals before you hear them on the CD. Your vocal cords will internalize the sound faster than passive listening.
• Work through one interval family thoroughly before moving ahead. Mastery of a unison, major second, and minor second trio is worth more than a scattered sampling of everything.
• Use the etudes as improvisation springboards. Once you can hear an interval, try using it as the foundation for a short melodic phrase over a chord change.
• Return to earlier chapters every few weeks. Interval recognition is cumulative, and brief review sessions keep your ear sharp across the full spectrum.

Integrate this as a supplementary ear training text in jazz studies curricula or as targeted material for students struggling with dictation and harmonic analysis. The structured exercises work well as daily warm-up assignments alongside ensemble rehearsal.

• Interval recognition by ear across the full chromatic spectrum
• Reading and writing intervallic relationships without relying on scale-degree reference points
• Harmonic hearing in chromatic and tonally ambiguous contexts
• Melodic dictation with emphasis on intervallic content rather than scalar movement
• Application of interval knowledge to jazz improvisation and reharmonization