Traditionally, collegiate ear training classes in the United States are comprised largely of notation-based exercises and assignments, administered to small groups by a single teacher. Aside from the piano, instruments generally are not used during ear training classes, de-emphasizing the perceived correlation between students' aural skills development and their progress as instrumentalists. By studying the history of music education, and examining current aural skills pedagogy, the author has found that common practice often relies on notation-based tasks as a measurement of success, despite the fact that research supports the effectiveness of aural-based learning. In order to encourage a better understanding of pitches and rhythms, the author composed fifteen original etudes ("Ear-tudes") for tuba with accompanying drills. Before revealing each Ear-tude, the instructor leads the student through related drills. Each of the Ear-tudes focuses on a particular interval, scale-type, rhythmic, or tonal challenge, within a variety of meters, tempi, and styles, all of which are suitable for the typical first year tuba student. This method provides an innovative way for tuba teachers to integrate ear training into their instruction, alongside a new collection of etudes designed specifically for freshman students.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this experiment is therefore (1) to design a test to measure the skill of a heterogeneous group of college music students and (2) to administer and evaluate an aural training program which could be used to develop efficiently aural intelligence. The students used in this experiment were intentionally chosen with varying abilities in order to permit comparisons. A careful record was kept of their ages, musical experiences, major instruments (voice, piano, violin, and other orchestral instruments), amount of training, skill and technique, and theory grades.

This study explored undergraduate music majors' strategies in two-part dictation. Sixty volunteers answered a questionnaire on their musical background, learning styles, and dictation methods. They then took part in three dictation sessions. Two sessions directed attention to rhythm first or pitch first, and one session was a non-directed control dictation. Treatments were counterbalanced across 6 groups (n = 10). Dependent measures were pitch and rhythm accuracy scores on dictations. Analysis of variance showed no order effects. A repeated measures MANOVA (pitch and rhythm by 3 conditions) showed a significant effect for condition ($p < .0001$). Higher rhythm accuracy resulted from the rhythm-first condition, compared to the non-directed ($p < .05$) and pitch-first ($p < .0001$) conditions. Pitch accuracy was not affected by condition. Accuracy was unrelated to any of the covariates examined (instrumental information, years of theory and counterpoint study, keyboard skill, learning style and private strategy). Results suggest that in polyphonic dictation, attending to rhythm first and pitch afterwards may be an effective way of maximizing rhythmic accuracy.

One of the main responsibilities of a sound engineer is to control the quality of the sound during the recording process. An important qualitative aspect of a recording, besides the musicality of the performance, is its timbral content. Proper level and spectral balance between the mixed elements of the recording and the absence of extraneous noises and distortion are key elements. Therefore, timbre perception acuity is an essential skill for sound engineers. / This thesis proposes a computer-assisted system as a training tool for developing and maintaining aural skills related to timbre perception. A set of criteria for the design of such a system based on current knowledge in timbre perception is presented and an exploratory implementation is described. Limits of the current system are discussed and areas that need further investigation are identified.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / School of Music

Jazz musicians traditionally learned jazz improvisation by transcribing other musicians they admired in order to absorb, assimilate and retain important stylistic elements of jazz. Indeed, many famous jazz musicians have testified to the importance of transcribing as part of their jazz education. By the latel960's, jazz increasingly gained acceptance as a legitimate American genre within academia. As jazz studies programs became more formalized in colleges and universities, a plethora of methods and materials have followed suit. Lately, critics of these programs claim that many of the procedures, methods and materials used have abandoned the aural-imitative tradition. This study examines the current use of and the viability of future jazz education methods based primarily on aural-imitative procedures.Forty-one jazz faculty from universities and colleges throughout the United States participated in an interview process. An open-ended questionnaire survey was used to elicit responses. Each was asked a series of questions directly related to transcribing. The responses were recorded via cassette and were transcribed verbatim. In addition, four music teachers at schools at four schools for the blind were asked a similar series of questions. Their interviews responses were analyzed for similarities and differences.The results suggest that current methods do not contain adequate aural representations and that transcription could be a viable alternative to current methods. A practical system based on the transcription paradigm could and should be developed. Current digital technologies and Internet developments may help facilitate an all-transcription based methodology. Certain recordings and solos have become recognized as `masterpieces' that deserve to be transcribed and studied. The insights gained from school for the blind suggest that certain musical aspects may be beet gained from an aural-centric perspective. / School of Music

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1947. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 303-306).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-109). Also available on the Internet.