1st Edition
Aural Education Reconceptualising Ear Training in Higher Music Learning
Aural Education: Reconceptualising Ear Training in Higher Music Learning explores the practice of musical ‘aural training’ from historical, pedagogical, psychological, musicological, and cultural perspectives, and uses these to draw implications for its pedagogy, particularly within the context of higher music education.
The multi-perspective approach adopted by the author affords a broader and deeper understanding of this branch of music education, and of how humans relate to music more generally. The book extracts and examines one by one different parameters that appear central to ‘aural training’, proceeding in a gradual and well-organised way, while at the same time constantly highlighting the multiple interconnections and organic unity of the many different operations that take place when we interact with music through any music-related activity. The resulting complex profile of the nature of our relationship with music, combined with an exploration of non-Western cultural perspectives, offer fresh insights on issues relating to musical ‘aural training’. Emerging implications are proposed in the form of broad pedagogical principles, applicable in a variety of different music educational settings.
Andrianopoulou propounds a holistic alternative to ‘aural training’, which acknowledges the richness of our relationship to music and is rooted in absorbed aural experience. The book is a key contribution to the existing literature on aural education, designed with researchers and educators in mind.
1 – Introduction: how it all started; 2 – Tracing the history of ‘aural skills’: solfège and dictation as facilitators of musical learning; 3 – Current views on ‘aural skills’ teaching: a lively, ongoing discourse; 4 – Aural perception: the human brain, a fascinating sound-processing machine; 5 – Musical memory: much more than playing by heart; 6 – Musical mental imagery: the brain’s inner musical life; 7 – Music notation and literacy: bridge or barrier?; 8 – Implicit and explicit forms of musical knowing: you can only know what you already know; 9 – Music theory: music’s changing shadow; 10 – Embodied musical knowledge: it’s music to my ears – but not only; 10 – Musicality: synonymous with giftedness – or is it?; 12 – An interview study: exploring non-Western classical views of ‘aural training’ parameters; 13 – Moving from ‘aural training’ to ‘aural education’: a pedagogy according to the intricate character of the human musical experience; 14 – Enriching aural education with non-Western classical perspectives: more immersion in musical sound, more creativity; 15 – Reflections and conclusions: thoughts on the way(s) forward
Biography
Monika Andrianopoulou teaches Ear Training-Solfège-Rhythmic Training and Figured Bass at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece. She has a PhD degree in music aural education from University College London, Institute of Education. She holds several qualifications such as a diploma in Piano Pedagogy at the Kodály Institute in Hungary, music education at UCL Institute of Education (MA, PGCE), and piano performance at the Royal College of Music (BMus), all of which have continuously fed into her interests and work. Her research interests include the impact of singing on musical development, the potential role of improvisation in classical music learning, as well as students’ own perceptions of how aural education affects their musical lives. Her artistic interests and endeavors involve contemporary piano chamber music and vocal Renaissance music.
