1For over forty years, Marianne Ploger has been teaching music lovers of all ages, interests, and aptitudes to discover their own musical gifts. She has found that it is not the ear that requires training-it is the mind. When the conscious mind knows what it is supposed to do, it effortlessly syncs with natural aural perceptions. In this book, Marianne shares the secrets that have helped hundreds develop more fluency and musicality in hearing, performing, reading, and writing music. Essentially, music is made up of few basic elements: 12 pitches, 11 di-chords, and rhythms grouped into two and/or three beats. Concrete descriptions of what to listen for in each of these elements, discovered by Ploger, will help you to develop the mental and aural skills needed for fluency and musicality. Techniques are provided to help you avoid common psychological pitfalls in the learning process. Find out how easy it is to read in any of the seven clefs, while developing skill in the French fixed syllable system employed at major conservatories throughout the world. After establishing familiarity with the basic elements, learn how to use your newfound knowledge and skill to identify more sophisticated forms, such as chords, modes, scales, polyrhythms and mixed meters.