1. The Function of Ear Training and Musicianship in Music Education
Corey C. Dawson
MUSC 510

2. Thesis:
As a music educator, I have encountered many music students whose musical development is limited by their lack of internal aural skills. The purpose of ear training is to develop these internal aural skills in many different ways, which provides the raw material for musical growth and musicianship. This presentation will examine the relationships between ear training and musicianship in the educational setting.

3. Ear Training and Audiation (Gordon, 1999, pp. 41-44)
Music is learned similarly to language.
There are four different vocabularies for both music and language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Each vocabulary is developed sequentially.
For both music and language, the more complete a student’s vocabulary is, the better they are able to communicate.
Audiation is to music what thought is to language.

4. Developing Audiation Internal Audiation
Tonality (Azarra, 2010, p. 106)
Rhythm/Time (Azarra, 2010, p. 106)
Tone (Irvine, 2009, p. 87)
Expressiveness (Irvine, 2009, p. 88)
Audiation and Others (Gillis, 2010, p.38)
Pitch/Harmony
Rhythm/Time
Blend/Balance

5. Audiation and Musicianship
Musical Thinking and Knowledge: Eight Aspects
Procedural MTK-Knowing How (Elliott, 2015, p. 213)
Verbal MTK-Knowing That (Elliott, 2015, p. 217)
Experiential MTK-Knowing From Past Experience (Elliott, 2015, p. 220)
Situated MTK-Time, Place, and People (Elliott, 2015, p. 222)
Ethical MTK-Using Music for Good (Elliott, 2015, p. 225)
Intuitive MTK-Sensing the Right Choice (Elliott, 2015, pp )
Appreciative MTK-Possibilities and Potential (Elliott, 2015, p. 225)
Supervisory MTK-Taking Charge of Your Own Musical Development (Elliott, 2015, p. 227)

6. Conclusion
“A musician who audiates the music she performs is never satisfied with her performance. There is always “something wrong”-audiationally, technically-with the phrasing, dynamic choices, articulation, intonation, or rhythmic accuracy. Perhaps only the musician herself is aware that there’s a problem. The mark of any true musician, of any serious artist, is dissatisfaction-and a life of thrilling and unending artistic growth.”
(Bluestine, 2000, p. 109).

7. For Further Study
If this topic has interested you, I highly recommend the book Arnold Jacobs; Song and Wind by Brian Frederiksen (1996).

8. Bibliography
Azzara, C. (2010). Audiation, improvisation, and music learning theory. Visions of Research in Music Education, 16(2),
Bluestine, E. (2000). The Ways Children Learn Music: An introduction and practical guide to Music Learning Theory. Chicago IL, GIA Publications, Inc.
Elliott, D. J. (2015). Music Matters: a philosophy of music education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Gillis, G. (2010). Musicianship on the podium. The Canadian Music Educator, 51(4), Retrieved from d=12085
Gordon, E. E. (1999). All about audiation and music aptitudes. Music Educators Journal, 86(2), Retrieved from
Irvine, G. (2009). Spotlight on brass: Arnold jacobs' pedagogical approach to brass performance: An overview. Canadian Winds: The Journal of the Canadian Band Association, 7(2), Retrieved from d=12085