Background on MusicGoals Teaching Methodology Ear Training and Music Theory Ear training is learning to recognize sounds. Knowledge of what to listen for to tell sounds apart. Practice and memorization to develop fluency. Much is made of the ability to name a pitch by simply hearing it. This is known as perfect pitch or absolute pitch .
Pitch is determined by the fundamental frequency of a tone.
However, music is organized by the relationships between pitches. An interval defines the distance between two pitches. The sound quality of an interval remains the same over a wide range of pitches from high to low. For example, you can move a song into a higher or lower key by starting on another pitch. The shape and character of the melody stays the same because the intervals it uses remain the same.