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Which Aural Skills are Necessary for Composing, Performing and Understanding Electroacoustic Music, and to what Extent are they Teachable by Traditional Aural Training?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

Eldad Tsabary
Eldad Tsabary*
Affiliation:
Music Dept., RF #302, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke W., Montreal QC H4B 1R6, Canada URL: www.yaeldad.com
*
E-mail: eldad@yaeldad.com
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Abstract

This paper reports a study that sought to discover the necessary aural skills for composing, performing, and understanding electroacoustic (EA) music and the extent of their teachability by traditional aural training according to an analysis of a mixed-method (qualitative/quantitative) questionnaire completed by a purposive sample of 15 experts in the field of electroacoustics. The participants evaluated a list of 50 potentially necessary aural skills, which were gathered from skills described in existing, but insufficiently applied, aural training systems and theoretical methods related to aural perception in EA, and provided additional skills they found necessary for EA. The survey revealed that the aural skills deemed the most necessary for EA by the participants were not regarded as sufficiently teachable by traditional aural training and the majority of the skills considered teachable by traditional aural training were not thought of as significantly necessary for the EA musician. Moreover, among the 50 skills listed in the questionnaire 56 per cent were deemed at least very necessary by the participants, with only 18 per cent of them viewed as sufficiently teachable by traditional aural training. The main implication of this study is a pressing need for further development, research, and experimental testing of aural training methods for EA.

Type
Articles
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 14 , Issue 3: ZKM – 20 Years , December 2009 , pp. 299 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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