The Manifesto for Aural Skills Education that appears in the Routledge Companion

[Kent Cleland]

We (Paul and Kent) ended the Routledge Companion to Aural Skills Pedagogy with a manifesto–a call for action and a way of thinking about aural skills pedagogy–that appears below. What parts of this manifesto resonate with you and your pedagogic practice? What would you change? How can this manifesto be realized in our daily practice?

A Manifesto for Aural-Skill Education (aMASE)

Aural Skills

1. Are not an end in themselves; they are part of a lifelong journey of musical appreciation.

2. Should be placed within other forms of musical education to ensure transparent connectivity between skill and musicianship.

3. Should be inclusive and acknowledge the stages of a learner’s journey ( i1, i2, and i3) at the levels of educational qualifications.

4. Should be considered in three connected parts: practical, theoretical, and technological aurality.

5. Should be presented as a process of doing, so that they integrate, connect, incorporate, apply,and interconnect with the practical, theoretical, and technological.

6. Should draw their musical materials from real-world examples and preferably examples that already have a connection to the students and the teacher.

7. Should actively include examples from outside Western European Art Musics.

8. Should enable students to continue on their ear-training journeys either on their own or at their next institution.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Kent Cleland.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Kent Cleland.

[Scott Spiegelberg]

I agree with much of this manifesto.  I do feel that the way #7 is worded, it still treats anything outside of WAM as “other”.

[Paul Fleet]

I agree with you Scott, it does still feel that anything outside of WEAM is other but that is taken from our experience of the examples that are used in many of the curricula.  The choice of wording was deliberate to counter this position, and to be inclusive.  However, and on reflection, I wonder if we could reword this to still have the impact.

For example, would ‘7. Should actively include examples from all musics as appropriate to the musical practice’: be strong enough to still provoke the reaction in asking educators not to simply dive into Baroque examples?

Do you have any suggestions?  Would be great to keep this conversation going and include thoughts from others?

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