Meet Our Founder — Donovan Mixon
Meet Your Performance Ear Training Mentor
Ambidextrous crossover artist and National Endowment for the Arts grantee Donovan Mixon, is a self described citizen of the world. He presently lives in Chicago performing in clubs, concert halls and festivals with his World Jazz Quintet as well with the GBME – Great Black Music Ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) of which he is a recent inductee. With his lengthy legacy of experiences, he’s leveraged these experiences to help teach hundreds of students, and move closer to their musical dreams.
After forty years as a professional musician and educator (Berklee College of Music in Boston, University of Bologna in Italy, Istanbul Bilgi University in Turkey) Donovan completely understands what it feels like to confront sight singing melodies without knowing where/how to begin.
He knows the stone cold challenge of being asked to read or transpose music on sight or the panic of getting lost in an arrangement without the ears to find your way back.
The Performance Ear Training Difference
Why You Should Work With Donovan
Performance Ear Training Live Online Class
Performance Ear Training is based upon a set of Unique Study Concepts… …designed to help you develop an innate physical response to notes, intervals and chords and allow the ear to do its work. It is a LIVE course conducted via Zoom. Like listening to music played by live musicians, live lessons yield a multi-sensory experience. You get the materials directly, in the voice of the instructor. Along with his voice, you can HEAR and OBSERVE the effort of your instructor as he moves between EXPLAINING and DEMONSTRATING.
In other words, you WITNESS his process in real time and the level of energy and concentration he EXPENDS to present each topic.You are engaged throughout with a highly interactive curriculum and leave each session with useful homework.There is no judgment, you get to see/hear the process of your peers as they confront the exact same challenges and you can ask as many questions as you need.
It’s a safe environment in which you get to study with a group of like minded musicians who seek to Close The Gap between their ambition and their abilities.
Private Coaching
During private coaching sessions, you get the full attention of Prof. Mixon who’s years of sitting with hundreds of students over the years, affords him the ability to specifically analyze, diagnose and prescribe specific solutions for whatever problems or questions you may have. Consider the Performance Ear Training difference when you want to elevate your musical ability!
Recorded Courses
Study at your own pace by way of topic specific recorded courses. As with the live sessions, the emphasis is upon how to study to improve your Musical Aural Perception. The growing list of courses are updated periodically with new challenges and ideas designed to help you develop an innate physical response to notes, intervals and chords and allow the ear to do its work.
Intro To Performance Ear Training
- Staff & Notes
- Ledger Lines
- Movable DO
- Scales & Keys
- Writing and Singing Exercises
- Pattern Exercises
- Memorization
- Repertoire
- Transposition
Intro To Sight-Singing
- Diatonic & Chromatic Solfege
- Counting & Conducting
- Key & Time Signatures
- e & Rest Values
- Intervals
- Ties
- Patterns
- Study Concepts
- Flattening the rhythms, Deep listening, Concept of Continuance, Inner Hearing, Sustaining DO, Patience.
