Talking to our readers and our iOS ear training students, we’ve learned that one of the biggest problems people have with ear training… isn’t actually anything to do with ear training! Time and time again we hear that students get off to a great start, but then struggle to remember to practice, or keep motivated in their training. Does that sound familiar?
We’re working on some ideas for helping our students with this, but today I want to recommend an app that’s available now and can really help you with this problem. It’s called iAction.
We’ll take a detailed look at how you can use iAction for ear training next week, but since the app’s currently on sale to celebrate its launch I wanted to give a quick overview as soon as possible.
iAction is described as “the iPhone App which helps you manage your time and energy in a focused manner for the purpose of achieving those ambitions and aspirations in life that are truly important to you. The App is designed to help you help yourself.“. It has been built to support any kind of personal or professional goal, guided by the principles and recommendations in all the top personal development books.
Naturally we decided that ear training was the best use of its formidable goal-accomplishing power!
Define your personal musical mission
- “I will be a professional piano player and be able to play anything easily”
and can then define a number of long-term goals:
- “I will be able to play any song on piano by ear”
You break these long-term goals down into short-term goals:
- “Learn to recognise triad chords by ear”
and then schedule events to help you achieve those goals:
- “Practice triads with Chordelia app [Daily]“
- “Complete the final test in Chordelia” [By 25th June]“
 Set up short and long term goals |
 Set up events for your goals |
Once you have your goals set up you’ll know exactly where you stand for reaching them. And with customisable reminders for the important events (whether it’s daily practice or milestones in your ear training journey) you’ll have no excuses for missing a session!
The calendar view lets you see upcoming events
As a musician there are lots of things that can make it hard to develop your aural skills. Here at Easy Ear Training we want to make the process as easy as possible. We think iAction is a fantastic tool to use with our ear training apps to help you set clear goals, track your progress, and really accomplish what you set out to in ear training.
For more information see the App Store page or check out this great video overview of the app: iAction video at the official website.
Do you have any suggestions for goal-tracking in your ear training? Any other apps that have helped you progress? Let us know in the comments below!
