Good ear practice idea?

[snazzypadgett]

I think I'm just going to carry around an ipod full of chiptunes and transcribe songs and check them to see how right I am. It seems like the most pure form of transcription, with almost nothing to worry about but pitches.

What are some other ideas you guys have used in the past?

[Olarin]

That's a great idea actually.

some other ideas:

- Have a friend play random pitches on a piano, and identify them without looking. (Also name the interval from the last note.) Similar idea but faster feedback.

- If you're already pretty good with diatonic material, try finding some heavily chromatic or even atonal music to transcribe.

- Once you're pretty solid on transcribing melodies, you may want to turn your attention to transcribing chords from an instrument like piano or guitar. In particular I'm thinking of jazz tunes where you have complex chords to deal with, and the chord player has a lot of different choices on what notes to use and how to voice them.