Deeper Listening: Aural Learning as a Tool for Large Instrumental Ensemble Rehearsals

Abstract

Music is primarily an aural experience, yet much of the pedagogy utilized in wind band rehearsals in the United States is reliant on the reading of notation and the use of words to explain musical ideas to an ensemble. While Western notation may serve as an efficient transmission method for rhythmic and pitch content, it does not as effectively convey other musical elements such as timbre, articulation, dynamics, style, and emotion. Music educators in the United States desire for students to develop listening skills, but does the teaching style dominated by reading visual notation afford students opportunities to fully develop their listening skills and, ultimately, musicality?

Music is a multi-sensory phenomenon, which implies that music pedagogy should engage the auditive, kinesthetic, and visual senses. Western art music pedagogy began as an aural experience before the rise of Western notation, and countless other musical cultures rely on aural learning as their primary transmission model. By adding aural learning practices to U.S. wind band rehearsals, students may develop a deeper and broader understanding than through reading notation alone, potentially fostering social and cultural understanding between students and other musical cultures. Through this research study, I argue that Irish traditional music pedagogy (which is based on aural learning) can be an effective teaching method in a wind band setting. I highlight this through an analysis of the histories of aural learning, the application of an aural learning model for large ensemble rehearsals derived from Irish traditional music practices, and an analysis of the perceived impact of aural learning pedagogy on the collegiate wind band students.