Yes, it works.
Around the world and for over two decades, countless musicians have already learned the language of music BY EAR -- just by listening to the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse by David Lucas Burge.
Burge's courses are now used at hundreds of colleges, universities, high schools and music schools worldwide.
Here is a brief sampling of actual letters we've received through the years from musicians of all instruments and all styles -- from classical to pop, from jazz to country to rock . . .
After a few lessons, I picked up Stevie Wonder's “Superstition" in under 5 minutes. I play guitar and keyboards and now want to form my own band. I can't believe that I had quit playing because I couldn't read music . . . now I don't even need sheet music anymore. (F.O., New York City)
My ear and imagination have been opened and expanded beyond words. My ear feels more refined after completing the course. I am a much better musician today! (A.A., Florissant, Michigan)
I played the Relative Pitch Lesson 1 CD in my car while driving to work and back. It gave me more in that one CD than many other media I have used to educate myself about music. Learning to understand chord structure and the relationship of notes is important to me. (P.A., guitar/piano/trumpet, Lighthouse Point, FL)
I've seen many audio courses, video courses, books, but the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse is the best I've seen. It's unbelievable. (P.A., guitar, Heemskerk, Holland)
It is truly amazing how many doors have opened since I began your ear training courses. Both have been a lot of fun. (S.H., Wilmington, DE)
It's a real thrill to be able to take music out of my head. Working NATURALLY is the best way to master the art of aural perception. Thank you so very much! (A.W., Buffalo, New York)
Dear Mr. Burge: I recently graduated your Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. I am a professional flutist who also learned Perfect Pitch. Thank you for such thorough training! It far exceeds my college training. (C.A., Rochester, MN)
I enjoyed every minute of it. Your lessons are so workable and I am so so grateful. (E.P., Grand Forks, British Columbia)
I have proudly completed the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse and thank you for a brilliant performance in teaching it. I took the entire course while driving up and down the Hollywood freeway. Your course has opened up my hearing and given me incredible ammunition against writer's block (I compose film music for a living).
It was a pleasant surprise to hear and recognize chords which I had actually written without knowing at the time exactly what they were. What a revelation this has been! I recommend your work to anyone interested in developing a professional ear towards music. (K.R., composer, Universal City, California)
Mr. Burge: I'd like to congratulate you for the best ear training course there is. The way you organized your course and the attitude of easiness . . . you know what I need. You can have the greatest music going through your head and it is not going to get you anywhere if you can't project it on the instrument. (R.A., Coamo, Puerto Rico)
As an improviser, working with your course has given my playing a maturity that I may not have achieved as quickly without doing the course. (D.W., electronic keyboards, Ojai, California)
I learned more with these CDs than taking music lessons! (D.A., Germantown, Tennessee)
Message to Mr. Burge: You are a screaming GENIUS! (C.H., La Quinta, California)
Dear Mr. Burge: Hi, I am a 22-year old bass player. I have completed the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse for the second time. I would like to say thank you for helping me really hear what music is all about. (D.D., Minneapolis, Minnesota)
I'm no spring chicken. Turned 70 last March. Have been playing piano since my teenage years and am now studying music and playing. I plan on doing the same until the day I no longer wake up . . . at least another 20 years or so!
I finished my Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse today, August 24. It really opened up new areas for me, and my hearing and my playing have immensely improved. From hearing your voice on these Lessons for such a long time, you are almost one of the family. Keep up the good work. You are really thorough and an excellent teacher. Yours truly, D.C. (piano, Winnetka, California)
Dear Mr. Burge: Prior to starting your course, I was a scholarship winning guitar student at the Australian Institute of Music (Australia's equivalent to Berklee), but, primarily due to your course, I am now about to start a composition major, B. Music. I graduated your Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse yesterday and would personally like to thank you -- I am enjoying life and music to a degree greater than I previously thought possible. (L.D., Hornsby, Australia)
I have gained so much knowledge that I am very proud and happy. It is a wonderful course. (M.U., Los Angeles, California)
I'm sure the training will be with me the rest of my musical life. (R.D., Solona Beach, California)
Mr. Burge: In a nutshell, you have changed my life. You have given me knowledge which I never thought I could have nor even thought I needed. Your course covers a phenomenal amount of material in very logical manner and gives the participant the desired result: established Relative Pitch.
I would like to enumerate four “gifts" which I have received as a direct result of this course:
1) A thorough understanding of intervals. This was really the main reason why I took this course. One great side benefit which I am extremely pleased with is the ability to write down music from my head. I never would have anticipated that I could do this, but thanks to you, I can.
2) A new way of listening to music. I now hear music in a totally new and satisfying way. Intervals jump out at me which I can readily identify. I hear chord inversions and scale degrees. My experience of music has become enriched as a result. This type of insight could never have happened without your course.
3) An understanding of chord quality and structure -- how chords are used to support a piece of music. This is helpful for my playing and has made me decide that I want to compose music. I now have the confidence that I can sufficiently understand the way music is put together so I can create my own special version. This is the most exciting musical development for me. I will be forever grateful to you and the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse for having put me on this path.
4) Your course has shown me that an individual is capable of learning any skill they desire as long as they adopt their own pace and stay with the learning process.
I hope that you can now understand why I said in the beginning of this letter that you have changed my life. Thanks again for my “gifts." (J.G., Whitehouse Station, New Jersey)
Dear Friend David Lucas: Let me call you that way because after many hours working "together" we have become good friends. I can feel that you really love your job and that's what really encouraged me to refine my ear. I play guitar for 20 years and I've been always using my ear a lot. After I finished the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse, I'm more conscious now of what I hear so I can enjoy even more the music. The more we hear, the more we feel. Thank you very much, David Lucas. (E.B., Barcelona, Spain)
It has been a great learning experience. I am an electric bass player and singer in a popular music group that plays everything from rap to contemporary country to heavy metal and jazz. The most obvious benefit to me has been a feeling of confidence in performance. I memorize songs much faster. Transposition on the spot has improved as well as confidence in singing background vocals. My enjoyment and appreciation of music have flourished.
The challenge of soloing has been made easier since now, even if I get lost in the changes, I can identify the chord quality and play the appropriate arpeggio or scale!
Thank you for a great program that obviously took great effort on your part to create. Your philosophy of "effortlessness" has also helped me in my personal practice. This program has been the most valuable activity I have undertaken to improve my overall musicianship. The results have been obvious; many of my musician friends have asked me about the the program. Thanks for helping me become the musician within me. (B.S., bass/singer, Newport, Rhode Island)
Dear Mr. Burge: I completed the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse yesterday with a feeling that I have fully internalized its contents. I am also working on the Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse and have noticed the profound connection the two courses have. Thank you for giving me a deeper musical life. (M.K., acoustic guitar, Vantaa, Finland)
Dear Mr. Burge: I guess you could say I've always had a love/hate relationship with music because I would hear a beautiful piece of music, recall it for years afterward, and still not be able to play it -- an intensely frustrating experience. So many times I wanted to quit and sell anything resembling a musical instrument . . . but I just couldn't do it.
I had seen your ads in trade publications but was skeptical. I had been taught through two decades of musical involvement, a college degree in music, and some professional performance, that one was either born with Perfect Pitch or would never have it. But being at the crossroads I found myself, I really had nothing to lose by ordering your course, so I did. When you unveiled the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse, I figured I may as well go all the way and I ordered that too.
That was almost a year ago. I have a job that has forced me to work sometimes 80 hours a week or even more, so I've had to do what I could when I could. But I didn't quit, and tonight I finished the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. (Yes!!!)
I would like to say "thank you" for not being selfish with all you've discovered. It has galvanized me and challenged me to reach again for new heights I had despaired of ever reaching. People tell me they've noticed improvements in my playing -- which hasn't ever really happened before. Thanks again. Sincerely, T.H. (Cudahy, Wisconsin)
My playing is much much better than before. This is a perfect course. (T.E., Pensacola, Florida)
You have helped me make many musical dreams possible. Now I write and play as good as a pro. Because of your influence, I would like to say that I am also going to learn piano and keyboards, even though I am a guitarist. You are a true musical genius, and kind enough to share your knowledge with musicians. Your study of music is just simply fascinating. (R.P., Colton, Oregon)
While I know some of the theory you explain on the Lessons, I never would have dreamed up those drills in a thousand years. Your courses are keepers! I have been looking at your advertisements for years now, and am wondering why I didn't buy the products sooner. When I saw your 90-Day Money Back Guarantee, I knew that your confidence in your product was very high. (J.A., keyboard, Macomb, Illinois)
I can now recognize tones and intervals very fast. (M.E., Cairo, Egypt)
I completed the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse on June 13. I have incorporated suspended 4th and minor 9th chords into playing by ear, which I hadn't used before. (P.R., piano, Charleston, South Carolina)
I've found this course to be a lot of fun. (K.R., Toronto, Ontario)
Dear Mr. Burge: Today, the 8th of July, I graduated the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. To experience the development of my ears has been a wonderful feeling. It has enriched my life as a musician in a very essential way.
The Lessons have been with me on trains, on the beach, and in many other situations where I have been traveling, waiting, or just relaxing. The course is very well composed and you are a great teacher.
The whole course has actually taken me some years because of busy periods of my life that have interrupted my ear training, in some cases for a whole year. But with my own CD Lessons it has been possible to have my own tempo, which is great. After such a long time, completion of the last exam on Lesson 41 feels like quite a milestone.
Please let me know of any new Lessons to buy for developing my ear even further! Best regards, J.E. (bass guitar, Norrkoping, Sweden)
I strongly believe in your ear training programs. Since I started the courses, I note the following which I never experienced before: 1) Music sounds more interesting; 2) Sometimes I feel as though my ear wants to physically catch the music, and it feels good. (M.S., Trinidad)
I finished the Lessons the other day and was blown away by how much they helped me. I was amazed to find myself listening to those extended chords and getting most of them right -- that is something that seemed pretty much like the impossible dream up to that point. I've had a "good ear" for some time now and could figure out just about anything if I had enough time and played some of the hard passages at half speed. But since your course, I've noticed that certain things just jump out at me and don't seem to require any effort at all.
What amazes me is that it has vastly improved my ability to improvise jazz. Please let me know if you produce another set of Lessons; I'll order them in a minute. (K.H., Charlotte, Virginia)
Today I've graduated the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. Prior to that one I graduated from the Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. I chose to wait with contacting you until I had finished both the courses. And that's what happened today! It took me about a year to complete them, listening a bit every day. I am a student (21 years old). It has been one of the best investments I've ever made. (K.R., Middelburg, Netherlands)
It has opened up new vistas for me and plugged many of the "holes" or gaps in my ear before the course. (D.R., Saratoga, New York)
Dear David Lucas: Thank you very much for creating an exciting and innovative course for improving one's ability to follow music with your ears. I am not a professional but do play the piano for enjoyment. Ear training was always a mystery to me but now I'm able to follow the flow of music thanks to your course. (J.M., Norfolk, Virginia)
Dear Mr. Burge: Yesterday I finished the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse, and from the very depth of my heart: Thank you for such an excellent course! (P.J., Paarp, Sweden)
We are using the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse in our theory class with excellent results. (J.A., music teacher, French Lick, Indiana)
I am a trained vocalist and also play piano and flute. I took private lessons until two years ago and never learned anything that explicitly related to Relative Pitch or ear training. I learned solfège, nevertheless, it was not enough for me, which is why I purchased your courses. They are wonderful, and I can tell that my ear is becoming more attuned to subtleties. I have been working with the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse for about 3 weeks . . . a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. Thank you for allowing us to benefit from your knowledge. Sincerely, C.M. (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)
Just a short note to let you know that I graduated your Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse and it has really strengthened all my abilities. My main musical focus is composition, and I found that the course almost immediately helped me hear the structure of a piece and how different parts fit together. Practicing your techniques has had such a wonderful effect on all my musical experiences. (B.T., Fullerton, California)
Dear Mr. Burge: Two days ago I completed your Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse and I'm thanking God for you. I am now enjoying the capacity to sing harmonies in my church choir, something I wouldn't do before. I have been upgrading my guitar skills, using the chords in their various inversions that I have learned in the course. I am also developing the ability to accompany any song in any key (for my work with children, etc.), transferring music from my head to my hands, and memorizing popular songs. I have analyzed the progressions using the knowledge I have gained in the course. Thanks again! (B.T., piano/guitar/voice, Toronto, Ontario)
Dear Mr. Burge: I have recently finished your Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse and want to let you know how much it has helped me. I have been playing the piano since I was tall enough to reach the keys, but until now, never realized how much I didn't know.
The ear is like the brain in many ways . . . until we learn how to access it, we can't use it. My ear has indeed opened up and I love it. Thank you.
I have also purchased the Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. Thank you again for proving that an old dog can learn new tricks. Best regards, W.C. (piano, Brockport, New York)
Mr. Burge: I just graduated from the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse on Feb. 9. It is a well thought out course. I hope there will be more stuff for graduates. (J.W.)
Where high school and college programs fail, you succeed! (S.H., Rocky Hill, New Jersey)
Dear Mr. Burge: I have now graduated the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. The course has helped me very much with my music studies and the other students are amazed by the speed I can recognize intervals and chords. I also started the Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse and I have noticed a dramatic improvement in my listening skills. Before, I could hear just one sound but now I can hear the overtones too. Because of this and many other things, I know that I'm doing the exercises right. I would like to thank you for the courses and if you do have any more materials, please let me know. (K.A., guitar, Sibbo, Finland)
Dear Mr. Burge: I completed your Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse today. The time I spent was well worth it. The course filled in a lot of theoretical gaps in my knowledge of music as well as sharpened my ear and I would recommend it to any serious musician. The teaching method makes it enjoyable. I will now be focusing more on the Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse, which I had ordered first. If you have any other courses available, please let me know. (S.A., piano, Montreal, Québec)
Yes, I've graduated the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse Wednesday February 6. Your lessons have become a continuous medium in my studies for a B.A. in music at U.C. Davis, California. I'd love to know any future projects in your music education program. Thank you and warmest regards, J.H. (W. Sacramento, California)
Dear David Lucas: Thank you for opening my mind into the world of music. Today I graduated the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse! (K.S., sax, Olsztyn, Poland)
Dear Mr. Burge: I completed the Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse today. I must congratulate you on an excellent course with strong fundamentals in music theory. I have now started the Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. (S.P., MD, guitar, Brooklyn, New York)
This is an appreciation note to David Lucas Burge: The Perfect Pitch and Relative Pitch training system has been very, very beneficial to me, so much so that I have abandoned all the other training tools that I have been using and am satisfied by his alone. I have found it very well put together, enjoyable to follow and learn and just what I needed. My playing skills have really improved and continue to improve. This is a training tool that every singer and musician should use to develop themselves and the only complete tool that I have ever used. I think I have spent my money very well, and thanks! (K.B. piano,
Ipswich, England)
Dear Mr. Burge: I found your Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse invaluable. It has helped me progress much further towards becoming a professional musician than I otherwise might have. Any further courses that you design would be eagerly awaited by myself. Yours sincerely, M.O. (piano, London, England)
Dear Mr. Burge: I almost wrote 'Dear David' because after listening to your voice for hours during my Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse, I feel as though I know you. I love this program. I am learning so much and it is so exciting. I have played flute and piccolo for 40 years and piano for 11 years. I am not a professional musician, but perform occasionally with friends in church, fundraisers, and other community events. The music theory that I have taken left my knowledge jumbled and full of gaps. Your program is filling in those gaps and things are becoming so clear. My singing instructor has been very impressed with my new understanding of harmonies and my ability to sing intervals for him. I am jazzed!! Thank you so much for doing this wonderful home study course ... this makes it possible for me to work it into my busy schedule and progress at my own speed. I just love it! Sincerely, P.L.B. (Redding, CA)
These are REAL PEOPLE -- like you -- in 120 different countries. Do you think they had some special ability that you don't have?
We know that with Burge's guidance, you can do it too.
That's why we bet that you too will HEAR IT FOR YOURSELF . . . immediately. And we guarantee it.
Perfect Pitch. It's so mysterious. They say you're born with it. An old guitarist friend of mine has it. In high school we'd sit in my basement with our Les Paul knockoffs and work on songs together. I noticed his innate skill when, with his back turned to me, I strummed a complex chord and he named it, exactly, including whatever suspension it was I had fingered. I played another chord and he named it too. We played this guessing game for the better part of an hour. After a while I realized that this God-given ability to recognize notes without the aid of a reference pitch was also the reason he was such a quick study on any song he had to learn by ear. To be fair, he had also logged countless hours of practice on guitar -- having Perfect Pitch doesn't mean you don't have to work toward instrumental proficiency. But an ear that knows which note is which does make playing, especially improvising, easier, no matter how sharp your chops.
The name David Lucas Burge may not be familiar to you, but his product might be, especially if you read music rags regularly. You often see his two-page advertisements that tell the story of the boy who wasn't born with Perfect Pitch but taught himself the skill. For years Burge's SuperCourse was an object of my fascination. I'd ogle it with the attention of a puny 14-year-old reading Charles Atlas' spiel in an issue of Fantastic Four. Being a skeptic, I never purchased the Perfect Pitch course. After all, Charles Atlas beefs little guys up by sending them inflatable muscles to stick under their shirt sleeves, so there's no way Perfect Pitch could really work, right? Still, when a box from David Lucas Burge arrived in my office unsolicited, I smiled wide.
The famous Perfect Pitch course wasn't in the box, however, and I was originally dismayed to find Burge's Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse inside instead. But that didn't last long. After listening to the first disc of the audio-CD course, I began to see that Relative Pitch, which is the ability to recognize notes relative to a reference pitch, is a stepping-stone toward Perfect Pitch. As Burge explains early on in the course: "Ear training is really like plowing the field. If you have a field and you want to grow certain crops in it, it doesn't make any difference if you are going to grow tomatoes or corn or soybeans. Same thing. It doesn't matter if you are going to grow rock music, jazz music, classical music, you have to plow that field. Gaining knowledge about music is like removing the rocks from the field. Gaining Relative Pitch is like plowing the field, and gaining Perfect Pitch is like fertilizing the field."
If that sounds corny to you, please don't apply for membership in my newly instituted Cult of David Lucas Burge -- the man makes a sort of religion out of ear training. He has us look at ourselves, preaching, "Relative Pitch, like Perfect Pitch, is an aspect of our own musical awareness. It's not something outside of ourselves." Theorizing and drawing analogies in this way throughout the course, Burge makes plowing that field oddly entertaining, addictive even.
Disc one of the Relative Pitch SuperCourse opens with a calm male voice speaking over New Age-y layers of synch and piano, suggesting a lesson in Dianetics or Transcendental Meditation. But the voice belongs to an anonymous announcer, not Burge. Why does the instructor on a prerecorded course in anything need to be introduced at the beginning of every lesson? The answer is that a teacher needs respect in order to succeed, and with his very own Don Pardo, Burge creates an aura of importance around himself. It's a kind of showmanship that firmly places Burge in the master's role from the start, but he somehow also manages to skirt schoolmarm strictness and remains the kind of professor you want to please. He assures that you'll succeed. Simply play by his rules, take his tests seriously and don't cheat. He even urges you to get a good night's sleep after a lesson before continuing with the next. As someone who's attempted to learn languages through tapes and gotten bored, I was surprised to find Burge making me care about intense ear training. I was surprised that I cared just because he cares. He's a true leader.
And the course is intensive. Burge gets deep into theory, each lesson builds on the next and there are quizzes and out-of-class assignments to complete. If you move from one disc to the next without fully comprehending, say, a lesson in perfect fifths, you're screwed.
The Relative Pitch SuperCourse is 41 CDs long, with a list price of $389. (Publisher's Note: See below for your 30 Year Celebration discount.) Thankfully Burge's voice is clear and neutral. It doesn't soothe, it doesn't aggravate. After spending that much time with Burge I reckon you'd emerge with a damn-fine ear for music and be more than ready to tackle his Perfect Pitch course, which I'm less skeptical of now. It's the kind of musical education even a nonmusician can benefit from because, as Burge says, this formal training "unlocks" the ears and opens a whole new way to hear the intricacies in music.
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