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Currently, I am teaching two aural skills courses. So, at the onset of my new position I made it a priority to use the new web-based SmartMusic with my assigned Aural Skills courses.
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For additional inspiration read an interview with Matthew Shaftel, and – although it is targeted toward the classic SmartMusic version – Cynthia Gonzales’ SmartMusic Model Exercises. (Read about Peter and Justin’s adventures in New Frontiers in SmartMusicianship, and check out the SmartMusic undergrad HUB. He enthusiastically recommended the use of SmartMusic for aural skills as he and Justin Mariner have done at McGill. Years later, as I was finishing a postdoctoral research position for the SIMSSA project at McGill University, I told Peter Schubert about my upcoming position at the University of Northern Colorado where one of my tasks would be to teach aural skills. As I was teaching aural skills at the time, I began to fantasize of being able to use SmartMusic for aural skills classes Unfortunately, for various reasons (like needing to graduate) I never got around to it. I found it to be fun and my days revolved around getting green notes, not unlike playing Guitar Hero. While in graduate school at the University of North Texas, I started taking clarinet lessons and decided to try augmenting my practice with SmartMusic. And yet another reason maybe that singers feel uncomfortable adapting to various other singing systems, like singing on note names, scale degree numbers, moveable do, minor do, or syllabic rhythmic systems like takadimi. This is unfortunate because aural skills will heavily contribute to their overall musicianship and success.Īnother reason is that instrumentalists may feel uncomfortable using their voice – after all they play an instrument, so they do not have to sing. As a result, some students will only exert the minimum effort for a course that influences their overall GPA so little. From a pragmatic perspective, these courses usually earn a student only one credit hour. Multiple reasons contribute to the lack of practice in aural skills courses.
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One of the most challenging tasks in college aural skills courses is motivating students to do so on a regular basis. To achieve any of these goals requires consistent practice, including sight-singing melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. Typically college aural skills sequences include these objectives (or at least they should). Naturally, there are many more types of audiation and stages of audiation that contribute to your ability to think in music. A corresponding goal would be to also notate music that you audiate. One of the main goals of an aural skills class is audiation – or the ability to hear music in one’s head before performing the music.