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About the Exercises
About the Exercises
Audiation is a complex cognitive task that requires frequent creative practice over a long period of time to develop. This page contains five actionable exercises that could be used in undergraduate conducting classes. All five of these exercises engage different aspects of our musical imagination. Although these exercises are designed to improve the audiation skills of undergraduate conducting students, they can also be used as practice tools for individuals wishing to improve their own musicianship.
Although these exercises are supported by Edwin Gordon’s Skill Learning Sequence to help develop or enhance students’ audiation skills, it is not necessary for the instructor to explain why or how they are helpful. In fact, explicitly stating that the desired outcome of an exercise before doing the activity itself could limit students’ creativity. These are designed to be done in a classroom setting, but can also be adapted for individual practice, and instructors should feel free to adapt these, as well as design their own activities based on the needs of their students.
Exercise 1: Structured Improvisation
Learning goal: Students will improvise within a rhythmic/tonal context
Adapted from Unfinished Song, Heather Nelson Shouldice (2012)
Teaching Sequence:
Establish tonality.
Without displaying the notation, sing Heather Shouldice’s Unfinished Song for your students.
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.”
Have students perform their imagined ending together/individually.
Assessment: Informal, listen to each student perform their own ending.
Extensions: Have students audiate different endings, switch the part of the song for students to answer, create a new four-phrase melody with the same tonality and meter.
Exercise 2: Finish the Phrase
Learning goal: Students will score read using
Excerpt from Ancient Flower, Yukiko Nishimura (2013)
Teaching Sequence:
Begin listening to a recording with a score.
Pause the recording in random spots and try to audiate the ending.
Check your audiation by resuming the recording.
Assessment: Informal, have students sing the end of the phrase without the recording.
Extensions: Have students improvise a different ending, stop the recording in random places and have them audiate and then sing the next note.
Exercise 3: Chord Part Singing
Learning goal: Reinforce harmonic context
Excerpt from Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs, Frank Ticheli (2002)
Teaching Sequence:
Sing the melody for your students, instruct them to audiate what they think are the chord roots.
Sing the chord roots for your students, have them audiate and sing them back while you sing the melody.
Teach each of the chord parts by singing and having students repeat:
Part 1 - Do, Do, Ti, Ti, Do, Do, Do
Part 2 - Mi, Mi, Re, Re, Fa, Mi, Mi
Part 3 - Sol, Sol, Sol, Sol, La, Sol, Sol
Have students sing chord parts while you sing the melody.
Assessment: Informal assessment, have students perform the chord parts in small groups while the class sings the melody.
Extensions: Have students improvise over the harmonic progression, perform chord parts on instruments.
Exercise 4: Score Reading Four-Part Chorale
Learning goal: Students will audiate the composite of multiple lines of unfamiliar music in silence
Excerpt from J.S. Bach Ach lieben Christen, seid getrost
Teaching Sequence:
Establish tonality and a reading tempo.
Audiate the first eight measures of the soprano line, sing during the repeat to check audiation.
Audiate the first eight measures of the alto line, sing during the repeat to check audiation.
Begin audiating the soprano line from m. 1, switching to the alto line at the fermata in m. 2.
Repeat steps 2-3 with remaining lines.
Instruct students to begin audiating one line, instructor calls out a different part at each fermata that students will switch to.
After audiating multiple parts in silence, try to hear the composite of multiple parts while singing or audiating the soprano line.
Assessment: Informal, listen to students sing while switching between lines at each fermata.
Extensions: Instruct students to audiate multiple parts (or the composite) in silence simultaneously, audiate different timbres by switching the instruments heard for each line, apply this to another chorale or score excerpt.
Exercise 5: Score Reading Four-Part Chorale
Learning goal: Students will audiate the composite of multiple lines of unfamiliar music in silence
Excerpt from W.A. Mozart - Finale from Serenade No. 11
Teaching Sequence:
Establish tonality and a reading tempo.
Have students audiate the first line in silence, placing their hands on their knees on the final note.
As a class, identify familiar patterns (Sol-Do), have students sing this repeating pattern when it appears in the music while audiating the rest in silence.
Instruct students to pick a different part to audiate in silence.
After audiating multiple parts in silence, try to hear the composite of multiple parts, at least hearing those familiar patterns when audiating a different line.
Assessment: Self-assessment, split the class in half and have them sing different parts, students self-assess how closely their audiation matched the performance.
Extensions: Switch to another part, split the class between different parts, instruct students to audiate multiple parts (or the composite) in silence simultaneously, audiate different timbres by switching the instruments heard for each line, begin reading one part in silence and switch to another part at m. 5.
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