Hello! My name is Joseph DuBose and I am a composer currently living in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. My musical training began when I started taking piano lessons in middle school. It was in high school, though, when music became my passion in life.

It was at this time that I began to compose music as well as studying anything I could get my hands on related to music. I studied music theory and composition at Appalachian State University. My interests are mostly in classical music prior to 1900. I consider myself a true Romantic, in its fullest artistic and philosophical sense. Currently, I continue to compose and have recently ventured into writing about music. Feel free to check out my composition blog at http://jsdmusic.wordpress.com.

As I’ll explain later in one of my articles, my experience with ear training in college was far from beneficial. My recent adventures into ear training, therefore, have been an effort to improve myself as a musician and as a composer. In trying to find what works best for me, I’ve structured my approach to ear training similar to my approach to practicing my instrument. In other words, I’ve focused on building upon key principals of ear training in the same way I would center my instrumental practice on fundamental exercises. Thus, my articles will focus around the solid foundation necessary to be successful in ear training. Some things may sound a little elementary and other may seem a little unorthodox, but I hope that through sharing my personal experiences you will gain some basic principles that will help you in your own adventures into ear training.

Joseph’s articles start tomorrow with “Ear Training and How We Learn” – essential reading for making sure your time spent with ear training is effective!

Hello to all of you, my name is Fotios Koulakos. I am a mastering engineer currently residing and working in Canton, Ohio, U.S.A. If you permit me a moment of your time, I will share a little bit about my background. As a young boy, I had an interest in electronics and Hi-Fi equipment. The latter was an influence from my father, as he was an avid audiophile. The art of “listening” was an invaluable lesson that would serve me in the future. But, I am getting ahead of myself….

Audiophile equipment and electronics weren’t odd bedfellows I suppose, but the real fun began when I picked up my first guitar at age 13. I soon discovered what many a musician before me had known; the joys of sound on sound recording. Not multi tracking mind you…(that would come later)….just the crude method of recording onto one cassette recorder, then playing that back to a second cassette recorder, while simultaneously playing a fresh guitar line over the whole thing! To a fourteen-fifteen year old: MAGIC!

That was it. The moment when all of my interests culminated into one solitary vision: The blend of music, audio, and electronics.
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Welcome! I am a freelance musician in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. I have been invited to write a series of articles on ear training for this site. My musical training is fairly formal: I started by taking lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada. I went on to complete my undergraduate studies and Masters degree in music theory at the University of British Columbia. I also studied classical guitar with Michael Strutt during my time at U.B.C. While I was a graduate student, I coordinated and taught the first and second year ear training program at the university. I currently teach and play locally, as well as write about music.

I am one of those people that have multiple projects on the go, including the development of study aids for the Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada) theory and history program. You can find out more about this project at http://evdokimoff.net.

Feel free to drop me a line if you like by visiting my main site at http://evdokimoff.com. You can follow me on twitter as well: @thomasevd.

The following series of articles develops an approach to ear training that would be familiar to classically trained musicians. The articles explore scales, intervals, triads, and seventh chords. My focus is to encourage students to sing back what they hear, so they can learn to produce with their voices different musical elements like intervals and chords. For dedicated students, this approach helps them develop a strong inner ear, the ability to accurately hear and even produce music in their head.

We’re delighted to have Thomas join us here on the site – he’s got a great series lined up, and a wealth of experience to back it up with. Make sure you come back tomorrow for his first article on the importance of ear training for musicians.