Student’s question:
I want to play along with your Sing the Numbers tracks using my guitar but I don’t know the keys. Is there somewhere that I can see the key of each track so I know which notes to play?
How we think about this in IFR:
We intentionally do not publish the keys of the Sing the Numbers tracks. But it’s easy enough to find the keys yourself. Let me explain why we chose not to publish these keys as part of the exercise.
The first reason is because many students come to IFR with a confusion about how music works. They think that they need to study the sounds in each key separately, because they don’t understand that music is relative and that all keys contain the same sounds. So for example, if we say that a particular Sing the Numbers track is in the key of Eb, some students will worry that their learning is only applicable to the key of Eb. This is wrong. You can study the sounds in any key that you wish, because you will find the exact same sounds in all keys.
The other reason why we don’t publish the keys of the Sing the Numbers tracks is because we don’t want to rush students into the idea of using their instruments. Our Sing the Numbers practice gives us the opportunity to experience the sounds without the distraction of our instrument. This is where some of our most important musical learning takes place. So my advice would be to purposely put down your guitar when you do your Sing the Numbers exercises, and use this time to grow in your knowledge and understanding of the sounds themselves. You’ll learn these lessons faster and more deeply without the guitar in your hands. So I would encourage you to think of your Sing the Numbers practice as a blackbelt level exercise that will make you a much stronger guitarist.
But there’s certainly nothing wrong with combining different elements of your music practice in fun and creative ways, and we encourage you to do that! If you have an idea for using your guitar in your Sing the Numbers practice, I encourage you to explore that idea. But at least give yourself the challenge of finding the key of the music yourself. It’s really not very hard because Mireia is already singing the tonal numbers for you. So all you have to do is latch onto one of the notes that she sings and then search for this same pitch on your instrument.
Here’s an observation to motivate and organize your practicing. Our students who have practiced our Sing the Numbers exercises in the way that we teach them (using just their voice), have no difficulty finding the key of the music on their instrument when they want to. So that’s a nice way to gauge your own musical growth. If you struggle to find the key of a Sing the Numbers track on your instrument, then you’re not ready to add your instrument yet. When you’re truly ready to expand your Sing the Numbers practice to include your instrument, you won’t have to ask us what keys the tracks are in.
In the meantime, I invite you to just relax and enjoy exploring these beautiful sounds with nothing but your ear and your voice. (And you still have all of your other IFR activities that you’re practicing with your instrument, so all of these skills will come together sooner than you think!)
