2 Introduction to Aural Skills

Why Study Aural Skills?

“A perfect musician must be able to see, in his mind’s eye, any new, and even complicated, piece of orchestral music as if in full score lying before him! This is indeed the greatest triumph of musical intellect that can be imagined. There is no end of learning.”

“Endeavor, even with a poor voice, to sing at first sight without the aid of the instrument; by these means your ear for music will constantly improve.”

“You must get to the point that you can hear music from the page.”

These three thought-provoking quotes from Robert Schumann’s Advice For Young Musicians sum up the purpose of studying aural skills. The interdependent topics of ear training and sight singing are essential to professional-level musicianship.

Ear Training

Ear training cultivates the ability to accurately write down music that you hear. In this class, we will cover dictation in the following subjects:

• Intervals
• Scales
• Chords
• Rhythm
• Melody
• Harmony

Sight Singing

Sight singing cultivates score-reading ability that enables you to hear music “in your head,” and perform it using moveable-do solfege and conducting.