PLUC Weekend Workout

Ukulele (Photo credit: morberg)

Play the Fretboard Master Game to learn the notes on the fretboard. Just configure it for a four-string uke, with the strings G – C – E – A (or the appropriate tuning for your instrument), then choose your difficulty level; whether to name the note or find the note; & if you want to play a timed game.

Jeanette

Other useful music theory postings: Learn Uke Notes Without Fretting;

Other quizzes include: A Question of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Tech Teacher

 

PLUC Xmas Weekend Workout

Ukulele Club Christmas (Photo credit: Simon Scarfe)

As a Christmas treat, we offer you two festive fun quizzes for the price of one:

1) Guess from which songs do the ‘Christmases’ come (NB If you get enough questions right you’ll win a surprise that can make any song into a Christmas tune!). I managed 10/12, so see if you can better that.

2) And here’s Ukulele Hunt’s annual puzzler – the Ukulele Christmas Quiz 2012 - which I’m just about to enjoy doing. There are also links to previous year’s quizzes.

Jeanette

Other quizzes include: PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer;  PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Reading Knowledge; A Question Of Uke – TV & Movie Themes

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Music note bokeh cutout (Photo credit: rob.wiss)

EarMaster is another interactive music theory site, with a useful page for learning how to recognise the interval (ie musical gap) between two notes. You can listen to ascending & descending intervals and play a daily quiz, Plus there is a long list of songs that start with each interval: choose the ones you know to make a customised reference chart as an aide-mémoire.

Other quizzes include: PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer;  PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Reading Knowledge;  A Question Of Uke – TV & Movie Themes

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Woman listening to Music (Photo credit: RelaxingMusic)

Here’s a free on-line ear trainer from Rick, who writes the I Was Doing All Right blog. There are full instructions on the page & it has several different customisable options for you to identify note intervals, chords & melodies, so you can make it as hard or easy as you wish.

You’ll need Java running (answer any prompts you receive on-screen & scroll down to the bottom of the page for troubleshooting if you encounter any problems).

Rick’s article also describes other hints & tips for ear training & gives his song mnemonics for learning intervals (you may want to use your own – it;s easier to pick tunes you know well if you use this method).

The ear trainer is also available for free download if you want to use it off-line.

Other quizzes include: PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer;  PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Reading Knowledge; A Question Of Uke – TV & Movie Themes

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

chord-ukulele (Photo credit: themissy)

Turn up your volume & see how many of the chords you can correctly identify in the Speak Ukulele Challenge! from the Uke Can Play site.

Jeanette

Other quizzes include: PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer;  PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Reading Knowledge; A Question Of Uke – TV & Movie Themes

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Reading Music Mnemonics – Treble Clef from http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-read-music2
Notes on the lines are E – G – B – D – F = Every Good Boy Deserves Football
Notes in the spaces spell F – A – C – E

Another interesting learning resource site I found this week is memrise. Its main section is on-line language courses, with novel ways of getting you to learn the vocabulary (along with mnemonics, submitted by fellow learners, which may or may not seem useful to you!) but it covers a lot more under Other Topics..

It’s a free sign-up. You do short, timed tests to build your knowledge & can return as often or infrequently as you wish to practice. There is a reasonable Musical Notation section with all manner of items to help your music theory knowledge, such as:

• Chord Spelling - Beginner & Intermediate 1 (learn what notes make up each chord);
• Major Key Signatures & Minor Key Signatures (get to grips with the numbers of sharps or flats in each key);
• Ukulele Chords – Major, Minor, Dominant Sevenths & Minor Sevenths (identify pics of the chords to improve your playing).

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Ear Training: Loud music warning campaign (Photo credit: .m for matthijs)

Theta Music Trainer has a huge variety of different music training games on their site. You can sign in for free & play the first few levels of all their ear training games without paying for a subscription, which gives you access to the higher levels.

Topics include Scales, Intervals, Melody, Chords, Chord Progressions, Theory & Notation, Rhythm, Tuning & Pitch and Sound. If you have a microphone, you can even test your singing! Just playing regularly for a few minutes at a time will help improve your listening skills.

Other quizzes include: PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Reading Knowledge; A Question Of Uke – TV & Movie Themes

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

keep calm and play ukulele (Photo credit: DrJohnBullas)

Test your knowledge of ukulele chords with the Flashcard Machine.

Other quizzes include: PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Reading Knowledge; A Question Of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals

 

A Question of Uke

The erstwhile Alistair Wood off of Ukulele Hunt has recently produced two lovely quizzes: TV Themes & Movie Themes. Once you’ve puzzled over the answers, head to the answers pages for links to Al’s arrangements of the tunes.

More on-line uke tips on our blog from Ukulele Hunt: Ukulele For Dummies.

Other quizzes include: PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Reading Knowledge; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Here’s a quick quiz to test your music reading knowledge from the Music Tech Teacher.

There are a number of potentially useful quizzes here,ranging from identifying intervals, chord structures & rhythm patterns. We’ll move onto more advanced ear training sites at a later date.

Other music theory postings: Learn Uke Notes Without Fretting; PLUCking Ukes – Striking A Chord; Very, Very, Very Basic Understanding of Music for Absolute Beginners; PLUC Weekend Workout – Howard Goodall’s Story Of Music

Other quizzes include: A Question of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals