Aslaug Louise Slette

Introduction
Aural training is regarded as an important subsidiary subject in higher music education. Its function is to support the development of good musicians. Then, how do students use their musical ear when they are practicing music? Do they make use of skills and strategies they have acquired in aural training class, or do they mostly rely on their intuition? Do the students experience a connection between the subject "aural training" and their musical practice? This project explores these questions.
For collecting data I will do observations of students’ chamber music rehearsals, together with group interviews. The study will be based on theories of social learning, looking at the chamber music rehearsal as a community of practice. Within philosophy of science I will connect the project to theories of social constructionism, looking at construction of reality as a result of linguistic interaction between humans.
 

Purpose and research questions
The purpose of the project is to investigate the interplay between ensemble-playing and aural skills development. My hypothesis is that musical practice creates useful learning events for aural development. I would claim this is especially relevant in musical practice that involves playing in ensembles. When students play together I assume they will face challenges that demands aural skills. They may need to adjust the intonation, subdivision, a poly-rhythm and so on. If they make use of their aural skills in these kinds of situations they are also making connections between musical practice and aural skills development. The project is exploring this interplay.

My main research question is:
What characterizes the interplay between ensemble-playing and aural skills development?

This is followed by two subsidiary questions:
a) How do music students use their aural skills in chamber music rehearsals?
b) How can chamber music rehearsals contribute to developing and conceptualizing aural skills?