Aural Apps Options

[supertonic]

I just thought I'd throw this one into the forum, so to speak! I have had a couple of my students use these apps to practice outside of lessons. I have to say that although I think that they are a fantastic practice tool. They also have the fun factor, enabling students to sing into their iPhone/ipad and get a response back. One of my students (on Auralbooks) found that she was getting the same tests coming up over and over again, but for heaven's sake, it's free!! The only (very slight) niggle for me was that I didn't exactly agree with the scoring of the answers, but I am probably being a perfectionist. Another student used an ABRSM one (which cost her all of ?2.99!) and had enormous fun with it. They both made huge progress very quickly.

Whilst I don't believe that these should be used instead of training in lessons, I think that anything that will help improve their aural skills, help them listen with understanding, can only be a very good thing, and if it's something that they can have fun with along the way, so much the better! I have had students use Hofnote in the past, and still recommend it for those who can't use the apps. I have had good results from it, although it's less interactive, ie, it doesn't record your response. Good for note identification though ....

Would love to hear if you have any thoughts on these - or of course recommendations to help back up aural training.

[BitterSweet]

I would always recommend using these kind of things at home for practice. I also found the 'Improve Your Aural' series useful myself as a 'do it at home' precursor to practice tests as they aren't just examples of the test in the exam, but instead build skills in that direction.

After some consideration, I'm also going to work through some of the practical musicianship materials because I think they also provide variation in tasks while covering the same skills (and my aural skills need work).

[hammer action]

I think the ABRSM Aural training app for iPhone is fantastic. Like you say, it makes aural more fun and more up-to-date and that's a really good thing especially for kids and teenagers. Actually, it's useful regardless of how old/young the student is. Unfortunately they haven't brought the app out yet for Android users which i hope they will do soon. I've had a try of my students on their iPhones and thought it was great. I encourage all my students to use this as an additional aid to the aural i teach during lessons.

[Ligneo Fistula]

I think the ABRSM Aural training app for iPhone is fantastic. Like you say, it makes aural more fun and more up-to-date and that's a really good thing especially for kids and teenagers. Actually, it's useful regardless of how old/young the student is. Unfortunately they haven't brought the app out yet for Android users which i hope they will do soon. I've had a try of my students on their iPhones and thought it was great. I encourage all my students to use this as an additional aid to the aural i teach during lessons.

Really hope ABRSM get this ported to Android-based devices soon :-(