welcome

Meet Donovan

I’ve helped hundreds of students 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) I completely understand what it feels like to confront sight singing melodies without knowing where/how to begin.

I know 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.

Work With Me

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.

RECORDED COURSES

Study completely 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
Note & Rest Values
Intervals
Ties
Patterns
Study Concepts
Flattening the rhythms, Deep listening, Concept of Continuance, Inner Hearing, Sustaining DO, Patience.

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.

professor years

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recommendations

happy students

success stories

testimonials

What My Students and Colleagues Say

“It really works! The course is incredible in that now I'm able to hear the relationships between notes, chords, and keys - where I am in a key center. I imagine in an improvisational context, can map out what others are doing and respond deliberately.”

Katia Mestrovic

Classical Harpist

“As a drummer, I’ve always envied the ability to instantly recognize harmonies, melodies, tension... If it weren’t for Mr. Mixon’s course, harmony would be like math class since I don’t play other instruments. His system helps me hear the harmonic concepts we worked on in the class.”

Emre Yenson

Drummer

“I recommend this method to the serious student who wants to move from point “A” to point “B” in a logical progression of activities for the development of “hearing” on the instrument.”

Greg Badolato

Former Department Chair
Berklee College of Music

This class has improved my literacy with jazz and music in general. It has really helped me to listen a lot better.

As for the P.E.T .: it changed my life !!! I was able to sharpen my ear, improve my approach to the instrument, tackle harmonic turns without knowing the songs. Thanks Don for all this !!!

It really sharpened my hearing and understanding of pitch relationships - pitch in general. I find myself much better able to direct my students to harmonic patterns and get them thinking about the underlying chord structures of what they are playing. What you get out of it is ‘refinement’

I recommend Donovan Mixon’s Performance Ear Training to all professional drummers. It works! Our most important duty is supporting the band and the key to that is “listening”. Performance Ear Training taught me the importance of that

Performance Ear Training offers a trustworthy and elegant self study map.(It) has my unequivocal endorsement