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Aural Training for Electroacoustics at Concordia University

Appendix A — A Possible Year-Long Plan

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Week
Subject
Aural training I
Aural training II
1 Segmentation
Introduction
  • a1) “What do you hear?”
  • a2) Sight sing a melody, a rhythmic sequence, and a Bach chorale (routinely at the beginning of every class)
  • a3) Identification of recurring individual notes in a sequence
  • a4) Introduction to the Concordia Dictation Series II: guidelines, approaches, and techniques
  • b1) “What do you hear?”
  • b2) Sight sing a melody, a rhythmic sequence, a Bach chorale (routinely at the beginning of every class)
  • b3) Identification of recurring intervals in a sequence
  • b4) Introduction to the Concordia Dictation Series III: guidelines, approaches, and techniques
2 (Segmentation)
Physics of Sound
  • Routine (a2 + any previous exercise)
  • a5) Exercises from Schafer's “Ear Cleaning” method (noise, silence, tone)
  • a6) Using metric and psychometric terminology to describe sound
  • a7) Lecture about the ear, hearing loss and ear protection
  • Routine (b2+any previous exercise)
  • b5) exercises from Schafer's “Ear Cleaning” method (“find an interesting sound,” “find a contrasting sound")
  • b6) Sound collage / Klangfarbenmelodie
  • b7) The ear, hearing, and ear protection - refreshment
3 Segmentation
Spectrum / Timbre
  • Routine
  • a8) Instrument recognition
  • a9) Identification of spectral bands (beginner)
  • Routine
  • b8) Identification of instrumental special effects
  • b9) Identification of spectral bands (advanced)
4  
  • Routine
  • a10) Sound typification
  • a11) Harmonicity-inharmonicity exercise (beginner)
  • Routine
  • b10) Sound typification
  • b11) Harmonicity-inharmonicity exercise (advanced)
5 Segmentation
Amplitude / Dynamics
6 Sequential Integration
Contour / Envelope / Morphology
  • Routine
  • a14) Melodic contour dictation
  • a15) Envelope dictation
  • a16) Articulation exercise
  • Routine
  • b14) Melodic contour dictation (advanced)
  • b15) Envelope dictation (advanced)
  • b16) Articulation, ornamentation, and special instrumental effects
7 Sequential Integration
Rhythm
  • Routine
  • a17) Rhythm training (metric and non metric)
  • Routine
  • b17) Rhythm training (metric and non metric)
8 Sequential Integration
Intervals, Melody, Gesture
  • Routine
  • a18) Melodic intervals / triads dictation
  • a19) Unmetered melodic dictation
  • Routine
  • b18) Advanced unmetered melodic dictation
  • b19) Advanced metered melodic dictation
9  
  • Same
  • a20) Metered melodic dictation
  • a21) Gestural contour dictation
  • Same
  • b20) Two instruments / two channel melodic dictation
  • b21) Polyphonic Gestural contour dictation
10 Sequential Integration
Language
  • Routine
  • a22) A phonetic dictation (vowels) using IPA
  • a23) Language: contour dictation (intonation)
  • Routine
  • b22) A phonetic dictation (vowels, consonants)
  • b23) Language: stress and contour dictation
11 Simultaneous Integration
Intervals, Chords, Clusters
  • Routine
  • a24) Harmonic intervals /triads dictation
  • a25) Segregation of individual notes in a cluster
  • Routine
  • b24) Harmonic intervals, triads, tetrachord dictation
  • b25) Segregation of individual notes in a cluster
12   Exams (individual) on rehearsed material Exams (individual) on rehearsed material
13 Simultaneous Integration
Intervals, Chords, Clusters, Fusion
  • a26) Segregation of tones from a masking signal
  • Recapitulation: exercises selected from the entire semester
  • b26) Segregation of note intervals from a masking signal
  • Recapitulation: exercises selected from the entire semester
    (Semester break) (Semester break)
14 Space
Reverberation and Reflection
  • Routine
  • a27) Reverberation time dictation
  • a28) Reflection coloration exercise
  • Routine
  • b27) Reverberation time and density dictation
  • b28) Reflection coloration and resonance dictation
15 Space
Reverberation, Spatial Music
  • Routine
  • a29) Reverb density dictation
  • a30) (Point source) spatial melodic dictation
  • Routine
  • b29) Pre-delay dictation
  • b30) (Point source) spatial melodic and interval dictation
16 Space
Spatial Music, Spatial Movement
  • Routine
  • a31) Spatial noise band dictation
  • a32) Notes in space dictation (memory)
  • Routine
  • b31) Spatial noise band dictation
  • b32) Notes in space dictation (memory)
17 Time
  • Routine
  • a33) Onset ordering of arpegiated chords
  • a34) Onset ordering of transient sounds
  • a35) Tempi dictation
  • Routine
  • b33) Onset ordering of arpegiated chords
  • b34) Onset ordering of transient sounds
  • b35) Tempi dictation
18 Analysis
Motif / Gesture
  • Routine
  • a36) Motivic dictation
  • a37) Gestural dictation
  • Routine
  • b36) Motivic dictation
  • b37) Gestural dictation
19 Analysis
Texture
  • Routine
  • a38) Exploration of different textures (tonal and EA); listening to sound examples and recognizing the texture
  • Routine
  • b38) Overview of different textures, and textural dictation
20 Analysis
Structure
  • Routine
  • a39) Exploraion of form types (tonal and EA)
  • a40) Strucutral dictation
  • Routine
  • b39) Exploraion of form types (tonal and EA)
  • b40) Strucutral dictation - structural ambiguity
21 Technical
Sound Production
  • Routine
  • a41) Spectral dips and bumps
  • a42) Spatial coherence
  • Final Assignment: Design an aural training exercise to develop a skill of choice
  • Routine
  • b41) Spectral dips and bumps
  • b42) Spatial coherence
  • Assignment: Design an aural training exercise to develop a skill of choice
22 Technical
Noise and Distortion
  • Routine
  • a43) Digital noise floor (aliasing, quantization, resampling, and pyschoacoustic model)
  • Routine
  • b43) Digital noise floor (aliasing, quantization, resampling, and pyschoacoustic model); productive and reproductive sound quality issues
23 Advanced Techniques
Register
  • Routine
  • a44) An overview of tonal registeral designations; a melodic intervalic dictation in 6 octaves (with correct octave designations)
  • a45) Frequency ordering of pitched (microtonal) material
  • Routine
  • b44) An overview of tonal registeral designations; a melodic intervalic dictation in 6 octaves and different instruments (with correct octave designations)
  • b45) Frequency ordering of unpithced material
24   Final exams (individual) on rehearsed material Final exams (individual) on rehearsed material
25   Student aural training exercises Student aural training exercises
26   Recapitulation Recapitulation

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