“Aural training” forms a vital component of conventional music education and practice and has done so for a considerable amount of time, yet it remains a difficult area with regards to student engagement in its practice and application both at school and university level. Apart from extensive scholarly debates on approaches to and methodology of aural education, a crucial issue in need of addressing deals with the student experience on a cultural, environmental and psychological plane. Despite a long-standing history of approaches, methods and concepts having been proffered in advancing aural education, their success rests on the student being reachable, engageable, willing, autonomously motivated and possessing an effective set of problem-solving strategies. This study investigated student perception, motivation and problem-solving strategies in the aural courses at the South African College of Music, University of Cape Town. A mixed methods approach was adopted including semistructured interviews, a questionnaire-based survey and a brief comparative statistical analysis of student aural and theory marks over a five-year period. The theoretical framework adopted for this study consist of merging Embodied Cognition Theory, Dynamic Systems Theory and Self-determination Theory. Participants included current students enrolled in the Aural Intro, Aural I and Aural II courses as well as current tutors, former tutors and other professionals in this field. Findings with possible relevance outside of this demarcated study range from the variance in music education background of incoming students to a lack of problem-solving strategies, exercising various degrees of influence over student perception and motivation and thus directly impacting the effectiveness of an aural education system.