Aural Skills Acquisition

This book is about thinking in music. Music listeners who understand what they hear are thinking in music. Music readers who understand and visualize what they read are thinking in music. This book investigates the various ways musicians acquire those skills through an examination of the latest research in music perception and cognition, music theory, along with centuries of insight from music theorists, composers, and performers. Aural skills are the focus; the author also works with common problems in both skills teaching and skills acquisition.

Inspired by Dalcroze-eurhythmics, this book is a practical guide for teachers and students interested in integrating the moving body into the aural skills classroom. Author Diane J. Urista focuses on movement-to-music as a tool for developing musical perception and the kinesthetic aspects of performance. As this book demonstrates, moving to music and watching others move cultivates an active, multi-sensory learning experience in which students learn by discovery and from each other. The book features a wealth of exercises that teach rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and formal concepts, including improvisation and expressive exercises. These exercises not only develop the ear, but also awaken the muscular and nervous system, foster mind-body connections, strengthen the powers of concentration, develop inner-hearing, short- and long-term memory, multi-tasking skills, limb autonomy, and expressive freedom. Exercises are presented in a graded but flexible order allowing readers to select individual exercises in any sequence. Activities involve movement through space as well as movement in place for those teaching in small classrooms. The book can be used as a teacher's manual, a supplementary aural-skills textbook, or as a stand-alone reference in a course dedicated to eurhythmics. Many exercises also provide an effective aural/sensory tool in the music theory classroom to complement verbal explanations. The approach integrates easily into any traditional college or conservatory classroom and is compatible with fixed do, moveable do, and scale degrees. A companion website features undergraduate students performing select exercises. Visit the companion website at www.oup.com/us/movingbodyauralskillsclassroom

The Manual for Ear Training and Sight Singing and the Anthology for Sight Singing provide a comprehensive, research-based curriculum in aural skills.

A research-based aural skills curriculum that reflects the way students learn.

Research indicates that aural skills are vital in developing musical expertise, yet the precise nature of those skills and the emphasis placed upon them in educational contexts merit closer attention and exploration. This book assesses the relevance of aural in a university music degree and as a preparation for the professional career of a classical musician. By way of the discussion of four empirical studies, two main areas are investigated: firstly, the relationship between university music students’ aural ability and their overall success on a music degree programme, and, secondly, the views of music students and professional musicians about aural and its relevance to their career are analysed. The subject is investigated particularly in the light of the current socio-educational background of the past fifty years, which has greatly influenced the participation of music and the study and development of musicianship. Many related issues are touched upon as part of the research for this project, and these emerge as relevant topics in the discussion of aural. Apart from students’ and musicians’ views on training and singing, aspects considered include the role of improvisation, memorisation and notation, examinations, absolute pitch and the affinity with language, all of which have a part to play in the debate about the importance of aural.

Drawing on decades of teaching experience and the collective wisdom of dozens of the most creative theorists in the country, Michael R. Rogers's diverse survey of music theory--one of the first to comprehensively survey and evaluate the teaching styles, techniques, and materials used in theory courses--is a unique reference and research tool for teachers, theorists, secondary and postsecondary students, and for private study. This revised edition of Teaching Approaches in Music Theory: An Overview of Pedagogical Philosophies features an extensive updated bibliography encompassing the years since the volume was first published in 1984. In a new preface to this edition, Rogers references advancements in the field over the past two decades, from the appearance of the first scholarly journal devoted entirely to aspects of music theory education to the emergence of electronic advances and devices that will provide a supporting, if not central, role in the teaching of music theory in the foreseeable future. With the updated information, the text continues to provide an excellent starting point for the study of music theory pedagogy. Rogers has organized the book very much like a sonata. Part one, "Background," delineates principal ideas and themes, acquaints readers with the author's views of contemporary musical theory, and includes an orientation to an eclectic range of philosophical thinking on the subject; part two, "Thinking and Listening," develops these ideas in the specific areas of mindtraining and analysis, including a chapter on ear training; and part three, "Achieving Teaching Success," recapitulates main points in alternate contexts and surroundings and discusses how they can be applied to teaching and the evaluation of design and curriculum. Teaching Approaches in Music Theory emphasizes thoughtful examination and critique of the underlying and often tacit assumptions behind textbooks, materials, and technologies. Consistently combining general methods with specific examples and both philosophical and practical reasoning, Rogers compares and contrasts pairs of concepts and teaching approaches, some mutually exclusive and some overlapping. The volume is enhanced by extensive suggested reading lists for each chapter.

In recent years, music theory educators around the country have developed new and innovative teaching approaches, reintroducing a sense of purpose into their classrooms. In this book, author and veteran music theory educator Jennifer Snodgrass visits several of these teachers, observing them in their music theory classrooms and providing lesson plans that build upon their approaches. Based on three years of field study spanning seventeen states, coupled with reflections on her own teaching strategies,ÂTeaching Music Theory: New Voices and Approaches highlights real-life teaching approaches from effective (and sometimes award-winning) instructors from a wide range of institutions: high schools, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and conservatories. Throughout the book, Snodgrass focuses on topics like classroom environment, collaborative learning, undergraduate research and professional development, and curriculum reform. She also emphasizes the importance of a diverse, progressive, and inclusive teaching environment throughout, from encouraging student involvement in curriculum planning to designing lesson plans and assessments so that pedagogical concepts can easily be transferred to the applied studio, performance ensemble, and other courses outside of music. An accessible and valuable text designed with the needs of both students and faculty in mind,Teaching Music Theory provides teachers with a vital set of tools to rejuvenate the classroom and produce confident, empowered students.

To the growing list of Pendragon Press publications devoted to the work of Heinrich Schenker, we wish to announce the addition of this much-needed bibliography. The author, a student of Allen Forte, has created a work useful to a wide range of researchers music theorists, musicologists, music librarians and teachers. The Guide is the largest Schenkerian reference work ever published. At nearly 600 pages, it contains 3600 entries (2200 principal, 1400 secondary) representing the work of 1475 authors. Fifteen broad groupings encompass seventy topical headings, many of which are divided and subdivided again, resulting in a total of 271 headings under which entries are collected.