MENC: The National Association for Music Education

All about Audiation and Music Aptitudes

Author(s): Edwin E. Gordon
Source: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 86, No. 2, Special Focus: Assessment in Music Education
(Sep., 1999), pp. 41-44
Published by: MENC: The National Association for Music Education
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3399589
Accessed: 11/08/2010 15:20

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ALL ABOUT AUDIATIO

AND MUSICAPTITUD
EdwinE. Gordondiscusses
usingaudiationand musicaptitudesas teachingtoolsto
allow studentsto reachtheirfull musicpotential.

The "GrandMaster"series offers the opportunityfor Music; The Nature, Description, Measurement and
MEJ readersto learn morefrom or becomeacquaintedfor Evaluation of Music Aptitudes; and A Music Learning
thefirst time with thosespecial individuals who have led Theory for Newborn and Young Children. He is also the
ourprofessionwith distinctionduringtheir musiccareers.It author of sevenstandadized tsts, includingThe Musical
is also an opportunityfor senior membersof ourprofession Aptitude Profile and the Iowa Tests of Musical Literacy.
to sharetheir insightsrelativeto what theyhave seen, expe- Beforebecomingcommittedto his research,Gordonplayed
rienced,and predictedin musiceducation. The responseto string bass with the Gene Krupa Band. He has taught at
this series has been overwhelminglypositive, and it is a the State Universityof New Yorkat Buffalo,the University
pleasureto offerthis currentinstallment. of Iowa, and TempleUniversityin Pennsylvania,wherehe
Edwin E. Gordon,a recent inductee into the MENC held the CarlE. SeashoreChairfor Researchin Music Edu-
Hall of Fame, is a distinguishedlecturer,author,researcher, cation. He is currentlya DistinguishedProfessorin Resi-
and teacher.His four most well known booksare The Psy- denceat the Universityof South Carolina--Mark Fonder,
chology of Music Teaching; Learning Sequences in serieseditor

hink for a moment about municate to others your interpretation

when and how you learned of the information you have assimilat-
language. The most impor- ed. To understand the "how," you
tant time in your life for must view language as a process of
developing language readi- acquiringnew levels of understanding,
ness was probably before you can one built upon another.
remember-from birth, if not prena- During the first year of life, you lis-
tally, until about age three. Without tened to everyone around you who
the background that those formative spoke. You probably engaged in some
vocal sounds, but your primary need
years provided, you probably would
not be able to read this article with was in acquiring a listening vocabu-
comfort and comprehension, nor lary of sounds and words (your first
would you be able to adequatelycom- vocabulary),even though you did not
understand everything being said.
Between nine and eighteen months
old, your larynx dropped, and you
EdwinE.Gordon
is Distinguished in
Professor were able to begin to speak. This
Residence
attheUniversity
of SouthCarolina
in allowed you to develop your second
Columbia. Edwin
E.Gordon "word stock," your speaking vocabu-

SEPTEMBER 1999 41
lary.Much of what you said was what Music, performance, and audiation when you are audiating music. You are
you had heard before, and you contin- have parallel meanings. Music is the attending to and also comprehending
ued to learn and to speak new words result of the need to communicate. the music and, depending on your
as you continued to listen. By age Performanceis how this communica- knowledge and experience, perhaps
three, you were improvising, that is, tion takes place. Audiation is what is you are doing more. Sound itself is
you enjoyed rearranging familiar communicated. Imitation, memory, not music. Sound becomes music only
words in unfamiliar order as you and recognition are part of the audia- through audiation, when, as with lan-
spoke and asked and answered ques- tion process. Alone, however, they are guage, you translate the sounds in
tions. The more you spoke, the better not audiation. Audiation takes place your mind to give them context. The
you listened, and the more you lis- when we hear and understand in our meaning you give to these sounds will
tened, the better you spoke. Think of minds music that we have just heard be different on different occasions, as
it-you listened and spoke for at least performed or have heard performed well as different from that given to
five years before you received system- sometime in the past. When we mere- them by anotherperson.
atic formal instruction in reading ly recognize or imitate what we have Just as you will begin to give syntac-
when you entered school. heard, or memorizewhat we intend to tical meaning to these words that you
It was when you began learning to perform, we live in the past. In audia- are reading now only after you have
read that you developed your reading tion, the past lives in us. read them, so you give syntactical
vocabulary. Without your first two meaning to music notation not as, but
vocabularies (developed by age three) only after,you have seen it. The audia-
serving as a basis, your ability to learn tion of music notation is called nota-
to readwould have been severelyjeop- tional audiation.If you are able to hear
ardized, because you first learned to the musical sound of and give syntacti-
read the familiar words that were in cal meaning to what you see in music
your listening and speakingvocabular- notation before you perform it, before
ies. Finally,you developed your fourth Audiationis to music someone else performs it, or as you
repertoire of communication-your write it, you are engaging in notational
writing vocabulary-and it wasn't
whatthoughtis to audiation.We may read or write nota-
until a later time that you learned the tion without audiatingthe music that it
theory of language (the parts of speech
language. represents.However,when that occurs,
and grammar). Some persons, espe- we are simply decoding symbols, not
cially those who have developed a rich audiating music. To notationally audi-
listening vocabulary,can use language ate, we need to transcend the printed
quite well even though they do not symbols and audiatethe music that the
formally understand its theoretical symbols represent.Just as auralpercep-
structure. tion is differentfrom audiation, so the
Now, think about music. Although We also audiate when we hear and process of decoding notation is differ-
music is not a language in the strictest understand in our minds music that ent from notationalaudiation.1
sense of the word (since it has no we may or may not have heard but are It would seem imperative that stu-
grammar-only syntax-and it reading in notation or are composing dents be guided informallyin develop-
expresses emotion but not precise or improvising.We may audiate while ing a music-listening vocabulary as a
meaning), the process of learning lan- we are listening to, recalling,perform- foundation for being formally taught
guage and music is very similar.Ideal- ing, interpreting, composing, impro- music in school-that is, before or at
ly, we sequentiallydevelop four music vising, or reading music. Though it least at the same time that they are
vocabularies: listening, performing may seem contradictory that we can expected to sing and to play musical
(which is the speakingof music), read- listen to music and at the same audiate instruments. Ideally, the listening
ing, and writing. Having acquired that music, the process is similar to vocabulary of music should begin to
these, we are then prepared to be when we automatically think about be formed in early childhood, before a
taught the theory of music. The whole what is being said as we are listening child is eighteen months old and not
of that musical process can be to or participatingin conversation. later than three yearsof age-the same
summed up with one word: audiation. When you listen to music, you are time period in which verbal language
aurally perceiving sound. It is not background is acquired. Realistically,
andtheMusic
Audiation until a brief moment after you hear however, many children enter school
Vocabularies the sound that you audiate and give without a music-listening vocabulary
Audiation is to music what thought meaning to that sound as music. You and, therefore,that deprivationshould
is to language. Consider language, are, of course, also aurally perceiving be attended to as soon as possible.
speech, and thought. Language is the and then giving meaning to the addi- My research and teaching of very
result of the need to communicate. tional sounds that you are following in young children has made me keenly
Speech is the way we communicate. the music. That is, you are doing aware of the necessity of singing and
Thought is what we communicate. more than one thing at the same time chanting to and for children, not ask-

42 MUSIC EDUCATORS JOURNAL

ing them to sing before they have what was heard, what was heard will requires prime consideration. One of
learned to listen. Again, think of lan- vanish without adding value for future the main reasonsfor this is that audia-
guage. An adult begins to speak to a learningin terms of generalization,the tion is the basis of music aptitude.
child on a one-to-one basis as soon as cornerstoneof all maturelearning. Specifically,all of us are born with the
the child is born and soon after tells potential to develop our audiation,
stories and readsto the child. A parent but to make use of that potential we
knows intuitively that playing record- must have an appropriate musical
ings of someone speakingfor the child environment. Thus, how well we
is not nearly as beneficial as the child develop our audiation and are able to
hearing live speech. Analogously, understandand enjoy music is in large
being exposed to music through the part dependent upon how well we are
media will not be as efficient as intro- Soundbecomesmusic taught music. And how well we are
ducing children in a personal manner taught music depends a great deal on
to the music of their culture. onlythroughaudiation, how our individual musical needs are
Also, think of the time spent in met, and those needs are rarely met
teaching children how to use their
when,as with language, when students in a class are taught as
singing voices. Do children need to be
taught how to use their speakingvoic-
you translatethesounds if they all have only averagepotential
to achieve in music. It is to everyone's
es? The reason children learn how to in yourmindtogive advantage when students with high
speak without being given speaking music potential do not become boied
lessons is because they have heard a themcontext. and students with low music potential
great deal of speaking, and thus they do not become frustratedwith the way
are able to model the speaking voice they are being taught. To paraphrase
quality. Unless children hear singing Plato, there is nothing so unequal as
along with speaking in their formative the equal treatment of students of
years, their speaking and singing voic- unequal potential.
es will become one, and as they The best way to account for musi-
increase in age, it will become more I feel it is necessary to emphasize cal differences among children is to
and more difficult to separatethe two that by the time children enter school adapt the musical guidance and
voices so they will be able to learn to at the age of five or six, the most instruction they are receiving to their
sing. To learn to sing is a matter of important time for them to develop individual musical strengths and
audiating a singing voice quality, not their music listening vocabularieshas weaknesses. A profile of each child's
necessarilylearningto sing "high." passed. Nevertheless, with care and musical potential is best determined
Further, in regard to the listening understanding, they can be given through the use of a valid music apti-
vocabulary, three words should be compensatory,not remedial, guidance tude test. To assessa child's "musicali-
kept in mind: repetition, variety, and and instruction as a group in the for- ty" on the basis of the child's music
silence. Children should have the mal classroom.The fact must be con- achievement, which is not an uncom-
same songs and chants sung to them fronted that the majority of children mon procedure,is usually misleading.
in the same way (i.e., the same key who enter school lack the readinessto It should be understood that although
and tempo) many times on different profit fully from general music a child who demonstrateshigh music
occasions, but that is not sufficient. instruction. The case becomes even achievement has high music aptitude,
They must also hear a variety of songs more extreme when students are the reverse is not necessarily true.
and chants in various tonalities (i.e., expected to learn to play an instru- Many childrenwho displaylittle or no
minor, dorian, and mixolydian, as well ment and to theorize and read music evidence of music achievement have
as major) and in various meters (i.e., notation at eight or nine years of age, above averagemusic aptitudes. In fact,
triple, 5/8, and 7/8, as well as duple). when many have not yet developed a it has been found that almost half the
The reason is that we do not learn music listening vocabulary or other number of students in our schools
what something is, we learn what it is fundamental audiation skills necessary who score in the upper 20 percent on
not. What is high? We know what for learning to perform well on an a valid music aptitude test have never
high is because it is not low. Think of instrument. This situation may con- received any special instruction in
good and bad, justice and injustice. In tribute to the high dropout rate in music beyond that of what is required
music, without hearing minor, for beginning instrumental music. How- of them in general music. In reality,a
example, for comparativepurposes,we ever, with proper understanding,edu- test can "hear"what a teacher cannot
can only talk about and theoretically catorscan remedythe situation. see.
explain major, but it will prove diffi- Having been associated with four
cult to audiate major.The same is true MusicAptitude major universities during my more
for triple and duple meters. Now, Whether teaching children of than forty years of universityteaching,
what about silence?Without the time preschool age or those already in I know firsthand that the concept of
to absorb and audiate (think about) school, the importance of audiation music aptitude is not adequately

SEPTEMBER 1999 43
explained to the majority of under- The higher the level of music apti- need not agree with what I have said,
graduateand graduatemusic students. tude with which children are born, the what I ask is that you please think
I hope that, in some small way, I have more varied early experiences are about it. It is my belief that a mind
expressed the importance of learning required if they are to maintain that that is exposed to a new idea can never
about and using music aptitude as a level. The lower the level of music revertto its originalshape.
tool in music education. I would like aptitude with which children are born,
to pique your interestin learningmore the fewer early experiences are
about the nature and description of required to sustain that aptitude. Notes
music aptitude in the hope that the Effectively,innate aptitude must either 1. There are eight types and eight stages of
information will have a positive effect be maintainedor lost. audiation. For a detailed discussion, see chap-
on your instructionalprocedures. The level of developmental music ter 1 of Edwin E. Gordon's Learning
People are born with different aptitude a student acquires by age Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Pat-
degrees of every aptitude. Thus, no nine stabilizes and remains the same terns(Chicago: GIA, 1997).
two persons are born with equal gifts. throughout life.2 That should not be 2. Edwin E. Gordon, "Three-YearLongi-
Moreover, each person tends to excel interpretedto mean that after age nine tudinal Predictive Validity Study of the Musi-
in some pursuits but not in others. a person cannot successfullybe taught cal Aptitude Profile," Studies in the Psychology
Researchoffers compelling substantia- music. What it does mean is that the of Music, no. 5 (Iowa City, IA: University of
tion of the importance of the environ- level at which persons can be expected Iowa Press, 1967); Edwin E. Gordon, The
ment, while at the same time recogniz- to reach their full music achievement Manifestation of DevelopmentalMusic Aptitude
ing the role of nature and genetics in is no higher than that at which their in the Audiation of "Same"and "Different"as
determining various aptitudes, includ- potential to achieve has stabilized. Sound in Music (Chicago: GIA, 1981).
ing music aptitude. Unfortunately,the majorityof us have 3. For a detailed discussion and the history
Music aptitude is a product of both not developed our music aptitude to of music aptitude, see chapter 2 of Edwin E.
innate potential and early environ- its highest possible level by age nine, Gordon's Introductionto Researchand the Psy-
mental experiences.These two factors and thus we do not achieve in music chology of Music (Chicago: GIA, 1998). The
contribute in unknown proportionsto at as high a level as our stabilized most recent research on the subject can be
music aptitude. It is not known music aptitude will allow. found in the manual for the Harmonic Impro-
whether one factor is more important Thus far, I have discussed music visation Readiness Record and the Rhythm
than the other, or if they are of equal aptitude as if there was only one gen- ImprovisationReadinessRecord,Part 7 (Chica-
importance. I would like to make clear eral music aptitude. That can be mis- go: GIA, 1998). ?
that although I have said that music leading, because not only are there
aptitude is innate, there is no evidence multiple intelligences, but music apti-
to suggest that it is inherited. This tude itself is multidimensional. Each
means that the level of music aptitude student has different degrees of vari-
with which a child will be born can- ous music aptitudes, each of which is
not be predicted on the basis of ances- related to overall music aptitude, and
try. students differ in these aptitudes both
Nonetheless, what seems to be the normatively (as compared to others)
case is that, regardlessof the level of and idiographically (as compared to CallforNominees
music aptitude with which children themselves). With the exception of
are born, they must have early formal averagescores, it is rare for a student
and informal experiences in music in to have the same level for several The "Grand Masters"series
order to maintain that level of poten- dimensions of music aptitudes, espe- welcomes suggestions for fea-
tial. Otherwise, the level of music cially if a student scores extremely tured writers. If you have a
aptitude they may be born with will high or low in any of them. In that nominee who you believe
never be fully realizedin achievement. sense, nature has a way of compensat- should be recognized by this
However, it seems that children's ing for one's weaknessesby enhancing series, please contact Mark
early formal and informal experiences one's strengths.All music aptitudesare
Fonder, Music Education
in music cannot prompt their music interrelated,and a substantialportion
of each constitutes a unique aspect of Department, School of Music,
aptitude to reach a level higher than
that with which they were born. overallmusic aptitude.3 Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
Therefore, it appears that a child's Considering the events that sur- 14850. E-mail: fonder@ithaca.
innate level of music aptitude cannot round all of us as we continue on our edu. Nominees should have a
be raised under any circumstances.If seriousand respectedmission of teach- distinguishedrecordin teaching,
anything, his or her level of innate ing, it is possible that some of my publication,and leadership.
music aptitude, be it high or low, will ideas may sound unrealistic.I imagine
diminish, possibly vanishing to almost you will have some points of disagree-
nothing, without an early stimulating ment with my argument, and I expect
music environment. responses of that type. Though you

44 MUSIC EDUCATORS JOURNAL