Aural Development and pattern exercises
I choose aural development as an umbrella term for all activities in music education that are connected with the label solfege or ear training, such as rhythm, sight singing, dictation, harmonic listening (chords, chord sequences) and the like.
Whatever activity is chosen, the principal aim is demonstration of musical awareness by playing/singing/notating/reading/navigating in pitch space and demonstrate a musical time awareness.
Focus is primarily on tonal-modal material.
Working with patterns & principles is essential because this is in line with human perception (Gestalt principles).
In Practice that means:
- for harmonic listening: move (as soon as possible) beyond recognizing isolated chords and intervals. Offer them as a musically coherent pattern of two or more "sonorities" and pay attention to the movement of voices/parts.
- for melodic listening: use musically coheerent patterns like a motif, a subject (theme/soggetto), a sequence.
Examples:
Common patterns are memorized and applied in different contexts.
Work is done with three types of patterns (and their combinations):
- melodic
- melodic-harmonic
- rhtythmic
and their combinations of course.