PitchBlitz

PitchBlitz prepares you for the Pitch Grid Test. The Pitch Grid Test is a relative pitch test that evaluates your ability to discriminate pitch-distances. For the test, the notes are laid out in form of a grid: There are 4 rows of octaves starting from C2 to C5. The number of columns depends on the selected the grid sensitivity. E.g. 100 cents correspond to 12 columns (chromatic scale); 33 cents correspond to 36 columns. In this way pitch-distances beyond half-step precision can be trained. The test starts with a grid sensitivity of 1200 cents. That is the grid consists of only 1 column. That means: to pass the test you only have to click in the correct row, in which the played note was played. After you have passed 10 questions, the test continues with a grid sensitivity of 600 cents. Meaning the grid consists now of 2 columns. Each time you have answered 10 questions the grid sensitivity decreases and the number of clickable columns increases. Therefore the difficulty increases - you must listen more carefully to figure out the destination note - and thus leads to longer answer times.

The Pitch Grid Test may look like an absolute pitch test. However, it is a relative pitch test. The last played tone is highlighted on the grid and marks your reference tone for the next question. Since you do not want to test grid sensitivities that you have already mastered, the Pitch Grid Test allows you to select the starting grid sensitivity for the test. If you fail to answer the ten questions for a given grid sensitivity, then the test stops. Your relative pitch score is then calculated from the last past grid sensitivity and the maximum time you needed to answer a question. To assess your relative pitch abilities, the answering-speed is crucial. The program PitchBlitz has a number of options that facilitate the learning process. The most important is that you can select an option that forces you to answer pitch questions in pitch distances. That is the grid is disabled, and you are forced to give the answer in the distance bar. Another option allows you to select octaves individually. In this way, you can train your listening skills in a narrowed environment. For example, first you concentrate your learning to the range C4 to C5. Then you concentrate on the range C5 to C6. And finally you combine the two ranges: and train in the range of C4 to C6. Another option lets you train to master the notation space: Learn to read pitch-distances and learn to add pitch-distances to a given reference point. PitchBlitz also contains a timeline that lets you observe the progress over time.