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The Aural Learning Project (ALP) was developed to incorporate jazz method components into the author’s classical practice and her applied woodwind lesson curriculum. The primary objective was to place a more focused pedagogical emphasis on listening and hearing than is traditionally used in the classical applied curriculum. The components of the ALP for the applied studio are (1) listening to at least two professional recordings of the works currently being studied and analyzing the performances, (2) recording projects with a written evaluation of the performance, (3) SmartMusic practice, (4) memorization and transcription projects, (5) assigned readings and research on works studied, and (6) composed and improvised warm-up and technique exercises. This article is a report on the project and a description of its implementation and assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the concept of audiation and teaching methods based on it to classroom sight-singing instructors and applied teachers, especially string teachers. Audiation is the ability to hear and to comprehend music for which the sound is not physically present. Much college-level audiational training involves audiating what is seen in notation without physically hearing any sound. Approach to audiation in applied teaching begins with listening. In applied teaching, singing is used to demonstrate what the student is hearing without notation, at least initially. Through listening and singing, the student forms mental images of these tunes that can eventually be translated into performance on the instrument, with or without notation. This approach allows the student to start producing a reasonable sound without thinking about fingerings. As technical instruction progresses, the student must learn to associate the physical motions used to produce sound on the instrument with a mental sense of pitch. Students should be encouraged to devote half of their practice time to scales and arpeggios, the least important aspect of which is learning fingerings. The student who has learned to audiate from the very beginning of applied study will be, in the long run, a far better performer than one who has never learned this skill or who attempts to learn it later.