Broadening the notion of aural skills through peer learning, instruments and student-framed assignments. A course with music performance students

Abstract

Aural-skills educators are increasingly subscribing to a broad notion of musical ’hearing’, which recognises both formal and informal contexts of musical learning. The role of musical instruments has also garnered increasing attention, as well as open-ended types of musical tasks, which invite the students to explore different solutions rather than to pursue single ‘correct’ answers. Such development is also connected to wider discussions on future musicianship, which suggest the inadequacy of too fixed curricular contents, and emphasise students’ readiness to accept challenges and develop into lifelong learners. The present article describes a pedagogical project that developed ways to integrate peer learning and the use of the students’ instruments or instrumental repertory into regular aural-skills learning in higher education and to involve the students in the design of their aural-skills tasks. The text maps some of the theoretical underpinnings of the project and describes a course for music performance students. Building on previous practitioner research projects, the course sought to develop practical solutions that support a broad view of musical awareness and musicianship. The text describes the teacher’s experiences of the course as well as some challenges when moving from a tradition with fixed aims and precisely framed exercises towards a pedagogy that gives more responsibility to the students in framing their aural-skills practice. Keywords: aural skills; ear training; peer learning; action research; curriculum development