Audiation...

What is audiation? Well, The Gordon Institute for Music Learning defines "Audiation [as] the foundation of musicianship. It takes place when we hear and comprehend music for which the sound is no longer or may never have been present. One may audiate when listening to music, performing from notation, playing "by ear," improvising, composing, or notating music...It is a cognitive process by which the brain gives meaning to musical sounds."

Here is one example of audiation. "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing". There...you did it, right? You heard the notes and rhythms in your head? Your body actually REALIZED the notes and rhythms in real time as you read those words. This is one example of a kind of audiation.

Here's another example. Please continue this song without singing it. "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,......" Your brain and your ears and (believe it or not) your singing mechanism KNOW the rest of the song without singing a note.

Audiation is a skill I focus on a great deal in my Kindermusik classes with young children ages newborn through 8 years old. B-I-N-G-O is a great example of how we use audiation in the classroom and there are many songs just like it where sections of the song are removed and the children come back in at the appropriate time with the appropriate key, notes, and rhythm. This is an example of how we develop audiation in young children.

Audiation is an important skill for all musicians! As vocalists, we tend to rely too heavily on the piano at times. Being able to form the connections between the brain and the body is such an important part of what we do. We all take a "musicianship" or "aural skills" class in our college careers to help us to establish an "ear" for music. It is my goal in the coming year to help you root those skills and abilities deep so that you can come to rely on your own ability to audiate rather than your piano skills (or those of someone else)

This coming year in my studio at EOU, students will be taking this idea of audiation one step further. Through the use of exercises and relying less on the piano, we will begin a journey together to establish ourselves as independent musicians who have a confidence in their abilities to stay in key, stay in time, and express their music from the inside out.

Our work on establishing better audiation skills will also help in our literature learning process. Have you ever felt like you worked really hard to learn a song and the techniques required to sing it and when you were finished performing it and another song was chosen, you had to start all over at the bottom of the learning process? Well, the changes that are coming to the studio this year will hopefully bridge the gap of vocal technique development and literature learning. In connecting these two things in bigger ways and with tangible exercises, each singer will hopefully begin to feel a more upward motion of overall music understanding through their undergraduate careers. Establishing musical independence, increasing confidence, and nurturing the growth of every singer will help to create a well-rounded and well-prepared musician for whatever the future holds.

Here are a few great resources I have found on the concept of Audiation.

To start: HERE is a GREAT article by the "father" of Audiation, Edwin E. Gordon.

I found a great dissertation treatise written by a Doctoral Candidate in Florida by Christopher A. Mitchell in 2007. READ IT HERE.

CLICK HERE to see the product I am interested in using. Something like this will help you as students to use the audiation skills you are learning in their musicianship class in the vocal studio as well.

And, of course, the link that I had above as well with the definition of Audiation. CLICK HERE to access The Gordon Institute for Music Learning. You can browse around and see what you think of Dr. Edwin E. Gordon's thoughts on audiation, music aptitude, and his music learning theory.