EXCERPT 1

Whether you are working with the "Ear Training One Note Series" or the "Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing" you must have a certain amount of basic musical knowledge in order to use this ear training method efficiently.
If you are a music student who already knows the names of all 12 notes and how they relate to a key, what the diatonic chords of a key are and how they can be used to form a cadence in a key, which in turns establishes a key in your mind, you may skip this section and go on to page 9.
If you are a total beginner to music it is important to understand that in order to develop your ear and your musical abilities to a high level you will need to have at least a basic understanding of music theory. If you don't understand the rudiments of how music is put together you won't understand or be able to work with this ear training method. For instance, each track of the "One Note Ear Training" CD plays a group of chords, and then plays a note. The group of chords are there to establish a "sense of key" in your mind. Why are we using this particular group of chords to establish a "key" and what is a "sense of key" anyway? Well, you have to understand some basic music theory before that will make any sense to you. After you hear this group of chords you hear a note and then you need to guess what that note is. If you don't know the names of all possible notes then you won't know what answer to give. Let's say you do know the names of the 12 pitches we use in western music but you don't know what relationship they have to a "key" or you are a little fuzzy on what exactly a "key" or "sense of key" is. These problems can only be solved effectively by learning some music theory.
Don't Panic! The good news is you don't need a year long course in music theory to understand this ear training; you just need a certain amount of information so you can use this ear training in a beneficial way. Of course the more you understand all the ins and outs of music theory the more you will realize different ways of applying the notes you hear, so I highly recommend you take your music theory past the level presented here. On page eight I make some suggestions for books that will help you understand music theory on a deeper level. If you study from these books you will raise your level of musicianship up so the ear training you learn here can be even more useful.
The main thing you must learn from a cursory knowledge of music theory is what the notes are, how pitches are organized, how they relate to a "key," what a 'key" is and how a "sense of key" is established. When you get this organized in your head you will be at a point where the ear training can be applied to music.
If you still don't quite understand why you need this basic music theory knowledge let me give you an analogy. Imagine you go to a country where they speak a language you don't know, and just learn to say a bunch of short sentences that a friend taught you. You know the basic meaning of each phrase, like "I'd like some coffee" or "may I have the check?" But you don't know what each word is or how these words are combined. You just know the sound and what it means. This might help you as you sit in a restaurant and the waitress walks up to take your order. BUT, what if she asks you which type of coffee you want and whether you want cream and sugar. Not only won't you understand what she is saying you won't know how to answer her. It is the same way with learning the sound of all 12 notes. You could just memorize the sound of each note but then what? The reason you are learning these sounds is so you can apply them. This application comes in many forms: are you able to find these notes on your instrument, are you able to use this ear training knowledge to interact with other musicians? Do you understand how to write these notes down on paper if you are creating a composition? You can see from these situations that you really need to know more than just what a note is.