Teaching Musical Analysis as an Aural Skill

This chapter presents an example of undergraduate music teaching in which musical analysis is considered as an aural skill. In this model of ‘listener-led’ musical analysis, scores are no longer the primary source for the student, who must instead develop aural-analytical skills and present their findings in primarily graphic forms. This approach aims to improve acuity in – and tackle students’ common apathy for – these crucial techniques and allow them to develop analytical skills that can be applied more widely across their studies. In turn, a range of repertoire is made more accessible to the student analyst, including non-notated musics, and works with a high level of notational complexity. In this model, the student’s ability to read notated music does not preclude analytical study. While the case study in this chapter moves beyond general principles, it is not necessarily to be taken as a fixed model; instead, a rounded view of how aural skills can be integrated into the music theory classroom is presented through reference to pedagogical intentions, reflections on experience in the classroom, and the broader context in current literature on musical analysis teaching. Precedents and context are given first, as approaches to music theory and analysis teaching are explored that focus on listening and inductive reasoning. Next, the module for which this approach was developed is outlined, including the assessment task and an overview of the teaching setting. Lastly, reflections from the classroom are given, along with a discussion of graphic approaches to analysis, repertoire choices, problems, and tips, before scope for development is outlined by way of a conclusion