Ear Training

for Conductors
R. Louis Vajda
MM Wind Conducting, University of Minnesota - TC
 Overview
• Introduction - Audiation Research
• Overview of Curricula
• Ear Training Curricula
• Basic Conducting Curricula
• Filling in the Gaps Using the Skill Learning Sequence
• Exercises for Audiation

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Resource
Folder
 Do you really know
what your students
can hear?

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Audiation
Aural Perception – The activity of recalling sounds in your mind, measurable with
scientific equipment (EGG, MRI, etc.)

Inner Hearing – The ability to replay sounds in your mind

Audiation – The ability to hear and understand music in your mind

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Audiation Research
Justine Sergent (1992) – Audiation engages all four
hemispheres of the brain, and most tasks require a high degree
of “multi-modal” interaction.

Paula Washington (1994) – The same areas of the brain are

engaged in live performance and in mental practice.

David Hoffman (2002) – Familiarity with a score impacts the

amount of neural activity when audiating is performed by trained
conductors.

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Audiation Research
What does this mean for how we teach audiation?

“Mental rehearsal is a complex task using widespread and

multiple cortical locations. The implications are that
developing skill in auditory imagery will require training and
practicing by students and integrative tasks presented in
multiple formats by instructors.”
- Kate Covington

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

 An Overview of
Ear Training Curricula

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Overview of Curricula
Review of Three Representative U.S. Ear Training Curricula
• Eastman School of Music (Aural Musicianship Anthology 1&2)
• University of Minnesota (Listen and Sing, Damschroder)
• University of New Mexico (Jump Right in Instrumental, Bruce Dalby course info)

Two main "Schools" of Ear Training in the U.S.

1. Conservatory Style: Skill-based, rooted in Neapolitan tradition
2. Theory Course Companion: Notation-based, popular in many public universities

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Solmization: A Heated Debate
Tonal Syllable Systems:
• Fixed-Do
• “Phenomenal” system: What you see is what you say
• Effective for reading atonal music
• Used by many schools outside of the U.S. (basically singing note names)
• Can be difficult for people who learned Movable-Do
• Movable-Do
• Reinforces function
• Allows modal music to have different resting tones
• Variation: Do or La based minor
• Can be difficult for people who learned Fixed-Do
• Numbers
• Same pros as Movable-Do
• Lack of consistency for adjusted pitches

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Solmization: A Heated Debate
Rhythm Syllable Systems:
• Function based:
• Gordon Syllables (Du, Du-de, Du-da-di)
• Takadimi (Ta, Ta-di, Ta-ki-da)
• Numbers (1, 1 and, “trip-pa-let”)
• Value based:
• “Abridged” Takadimi (All macrobeats are Ta, all microbeats are Ti, etc.)

The goal of solmization is to develop Audiation

The choice of systems isn’t as important as the consistency of application

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

“Mind the Gap”
Where was this audiation skill explicitly taught in the curriculum at your Alma Mater?

Opportunities for growth:

• The quality of ear training instruction varies widely from university to university.
• It is rare to have ear training taught by an ear training instructor, most are linked to a theory class
and taught by the same professors or teaching assistants.
• There is very little research on the efficacy of collegiate ear training curriculum.

This is due partially to differences in values between conducting and theory

department, but also to lack of remediation, poor sequencing, and ineffective
evaluation, in ear training classes.

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

 Presence of
Audiation Skills in
Conducting Curricula

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R. Louis Vajda 2023
 Audiation Exercises
in Conducting Curricula

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Solfege Book
Example
Clef Reading
book
Example
 Battisti - Guide to Score Study
Guidelines for Score Reading
• Choose a tempo and establish a pulse that will allow you to read and hear the music without stopping.
• Don’t analyze the music. Avoid being concerned with details.
• Use your intuition and musical imagination. Let your subjective, nonanalytical feelings about the music
surface naturally.
• Don’t try to memorize the music. Don’t force the process by trying to absorb more than what comes
naturally to you.
• Do not use the piano.
• Do not listen to recordings of the work.
• Allow playback time to evaluate progress in hearing the music in the mind. Set aside the score and
listen to the inner hearing image.

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 A Framework for
Developing Audiation:
The Skill Learning
Sequence

Ear Training for Conductors 18

R. Louis Vajda 2023
The Skill Learning Sequence

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Ear Training/Theory

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Gospel Choir

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

What is Missing?
Emphasis of most programs is primarily on reading notation.
• This means less time is spent on Aural/Oral, Verbal Association, and context-
building skills (Partial and Composite Synthesis).

• The hidden assumption is that incoming freshman have the skills to sight-sing
unfamiliar music from notation (Generalization Symbolic).

• With lack of remedial skills, some students develop survival skills just to make it
through their assignments.

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

“Ear Training Survival Mode”
Aural/Oral
1st Grade General Music
When a student plugs their ear training
homework into MuseScore, or needs to learn all
of your scores by first listening to a recording,
they are practicing this same level of the skill
learning sequence.

Musical Age =/= Chronological Age

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Collegiate Ear Training
Discrimination Learning Example

I IV V I V IV I

1. Establish tonality
2. Audiate in silence
3. Perform on solfege (instructor sings/plays chord roots)
4. Students sing chord roots
5. Extension: Expand to chord parts, improvise over chords
R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors
 Exercises for
Developing Audiation

Ear Training for Conductors 25

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Imagining a Better Curriculum
If students aren’t learning Audiation skills in ear training, they need to learn them
somewhere…
• Remediation in Conducting Classes
• Musicianship lessons
• Musicianship for Conductors course

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

 Audiation Exercises
Exercise #1 – Ring Tone
Bruce Adolphe

Exercise #2 – Unfinished Melody

Heather Shouldice

Exercise #3 – Moment of Truth

Bruce Adolphe

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 Audiation Exercise #2
Generalization Improvisation at the Aural/Oral level

Teaching Sequence:
1. Establish tonality
2. Sing the song for your students (without notation)
3. Inquire about the ending “Did that song feel finished to you?” “This time, can you finish the song in
your mind, don’t sing out loud.”
4. Extensions: Have students audiate different endings, improvise together/individually.
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 Audiation Exercise #3
Discrimination Symbolic Association

I V I V

I V I V I

Teaching Sequence:
1. Establish tonality
2. Have students audiate the piece in silence, placing their hands on their knees on the final note
3. As a class, identify familiar patterns (Do-Mi-Sol), have students sing this pattern while audiating
the rest of the piece in silence.
4. Extensions: Add chord roots/parts, swap Do-Mi-Sol for another Major I pattern, etc.
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 Audiating the Score
• Start with a small section of music.
• Focus on one line at a time.
• Always give students the chance
to audiate in silence first.
• Model responsible piano use: Use
as a reference, not a tool for
hearing the parts.
• Do not play or sing with the
students.

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Audiating the Score
Horkstow Grange – Percy Grainger

Score Study 31
 Summary

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“I don’t want to hear about your
score study process. I just care that
you know the score.”

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Works Cited
Abernathy, Matthew. The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Advanced Musicianship for Conductors, 2022.

Adolphe, Bruce. The Mind's Ear : Exercises for Improving the Musical Imagination for Performers,
Composers, and Listeners. Third edition.. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021.

Battisti, Frank L., and Robert Joseph Garofalo. Guide to Score Study for the Wind Band Conductor.
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.: Meredith Music Publications, 1990.

Casarow, Pattye Johnson. “Sight-Singing Pedagogy: Analysis of Practice and Comparison of

Systems as Described in Related Literature.” ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2002.

Covington, Kate. “The Mind's Ear: I Hear Music and No One Is Performing.” College Music
Symposium 45 (2005): 25–41.

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Works Cited
Damschroder, David. Listen and Sing : Instructor's Manual. New York (866 Third Ave., New York
10022): Schirmer Books : Maxwell Macmillan International, 1995.

Demorest, S. M., & May, W. V. (1995). Sight-singing instruction in the choral ensemble: Factors
related to individual performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, 43, 156–167.

Grunow Richard F and Edwin Gordon. 1989. Jump Right in : The Instrumental Series: Teacher's
Guide. Chicago IL: G.I.A. Publicatiosn.

Hoffman, David Keith. Auditory Imagery of Conductors : an Examination of the

Electroencephalographic Correlates of Score Reading before and after Score Study, 2002.

Paney, A. S., & Buonviri, N. O. (2017). Developing Melodic Dictation Pedagogy: A Survey of
College Theory Instructors. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 36(1), 51–58.

R. Louis Vajda 2023 Ear Training for Conductors

Questions?
R. Louis Vajda
vajda006@umn.edu

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