: Singing and hearing quarter tones I’ve just received a choir piece that contains some (rare) quarter tones on long held notes. For example, a B which slides into a B? (that's a half flat). I’ve tried singing the part

Vote Up Vote Down   0 Reactions

Login to give Reaction!

Start by using two regular keyboards which can be tuned, assuming you are a keyboardist. I would recommend two of these two get started www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SA76--casio-sa-76-portable-arranger-keyboard These were designed for use in music education in India; which in short means they can be tune freely up or down 100 cents (100 division of a half step).
Try regular tuning & 50 cents sharp for 1/4 tones first. Try singing quarter tones and half steps so you don't temporarily forget what half-steps 'sound like'. When I first started I was singing quarter tones so much I put them in place of half steps.
Here are two example files to get you started. Here is 4 octaves of quarter-tones. soundcloud.com/user-142574024/microtonal-ear-training-14-tones-4-octaves-c2-c6 Here is something I have been calling 1/3 tone major. Basically 1/3 tones are 1/3 of a whole step so 3 equal 2 half steps. So this one goes: C, C-1/3#, D-1/3b, D, D 1/3#, E, F, F-1/3#, G-1/3b, G, G-1/3#, A-1/3b, A, A-1/3# B-1/3b, B, & C. Basically a major scale where you replace whole-steps with third-steps but keep the half-steps. soundcloud.com/user-142574024/microtonal-ear-training-13-tone-major-see-description-below These links might break... not sure if changing use name does that... will update in comment if so.