Adium Software’s Ear Teacher (http://www.earteacher.com) is a good tool for music education on the the Mac. It provides an integrated, audiovisual course on music theory and aural skill development.
The Ear Teacher curriculum consists of nine progressively challenging grades. The program uses an audiovisual teaching approach, with a myriad of examples and minimal text. Ear Teacher’s structured course follows a custom curriculum designed by experienced music educators. It includes nine grades of material on rhythm, melody, and harmony concepts.
There are more than 450 lessons, interactive exercises, and tests. Statistics are collected and displayed for course progress, relative skill ability, and test marks, allowing students to effectively track their progress. Many of the exercises are performed by singing or playing an instrument into the computer microphone.
In addition to the structured course, Ear Teacher facilitates daily practice using an “Intelligent Practice” feature, which automatically selects topics and questions based on student progress and abilities, allowing students to focus on their weaknesses. As an alternative, “Custom Practice” provides access to more than 25 specific ear training practice areas, including:
Ear Teacher requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later. It’s available at the Adium Software website and the Mac App Store at an introductory price of US$39.99. A seven-day demo is available for download at the Adium site.
