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: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of MENC: The National Association for
Music Education
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3399589
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 q,r.nd (astrs
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ALL ABOUT AUDIATIO

AND MUSIC APTITUDE
Edwin E. Gordon discusses using audiation and music aptitudes as
allow students to reach their full music potential.

Music; The
The "Grand Master" series offers the opportunity for Nature, Description, Measurement and
Evaluation of Music Aptitudes; and A Music Learning
MEJ readers to learn more from or become acquaintedfor
the first time with those special individuals who have
Theory led
for Newborn and Young Children. He is also the
our profession with distinction during their music careers.
author of sevenItstandadized tsts, including The Musical
is also an opportunity for senior members of ourAptitude Profile and the Iowa Tests of Musical Literacy.
profession
to share their insights relative to what they haveBefore
seen, expe-committed to his research, Gordon played
becoming
rienced, and predicted in music education. The string
response to the Gene Krupa Band. He has taught at
bass with
this series has been overwhelmingly positive,the and
Stateit is a
University of New York at Buffalo, the University
pleasure to offer this current installment. of Iowa, and Temple University in Pennsylvania, where he
Edwin E. Gordon, a recent inductee into held
thethe
MENC
Carl E. Seashore Chairfor Research in Music Edu-
Hall of Fame, is a distinguished lecturer, author,cation.
researcher,
He is currently a Distinguished Professor in Resi-
and teacher. His four most well known books are denceThe Psy-
at the University of South Carolina--Mark Fonder,
series editor
chology of Music Teaching; Learning Sequences in

hink for a moment about municate to others your interpretation

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

SEPTEMBER 1999 41

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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 Performance is 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 heardbe different on different occasions, as
it-you listened and spoke for at least performed or have heard performedwell as different from that given to
five years before you received system- sometime in the past. When we mere- them by another person.
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 memorize what 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 read would have been severely jeop- 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 speaking vocabular- notation before you perform it, before
ies. Finally, you developed your fourth Audiation is 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 what thought is to audiation. We may read or write nota-
until a later time that you learned the tion without audiating the 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 audiate the music that the
formally understand its theoretical symbols represent. Just as aural percep-
structure. tion is different from 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 strictestunderstand in our minds music that ent from notational audiation.1
sense of the word (since it has no or may not have heard but are It would seem imperative that stu-
we may
grammar-only syntax-and it reading in notation or are composing dents be guided informally in develop-
expresses emotion but not precise or improvising. We may audiate whileing 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 sequentially develop four music vising, or reading music. Though itleast at the same time that they are
vocabularies: listening, performing may seem contradictory that we canexpected to sing and to play musical
(which is the speaking of 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 tovocabulary of music should begin to
these, we are then prepared to be when we automatically think aboutbe 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 participating in conversation. later than three years of 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,
Audiation and the Music until a brief moment after you hear however, many children enter school
Vocabularies the sound that you audiate and givewithout a music-listening vocabulary
Audiation is to music what thought meaning to that sound as music. Youand, therefore, that deprivation should
is to language. Consider language,are, of course, also aurally perceiving be attended to as soon as possible.
speech, and thought. Language is theand then giving meaning to the addi- My research and teaching of very
result of the need to communicate. tional sounds that you are following inyoung children has made me keenly
Speech is the way we communicate. the music. That is, you are doingaware of the necessity of singing and
Thought is what we communicate.more than one thing at the same timechanting to and for children, not ask-

42 MUSIC EDUCATORS JOURNAL

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ing them to sing before they have what was heard, what was heard willrequires prime consideration. One of
learned to listen. Again, think of lan- vanish without adding value for futurethe main reasons for this is that audia-
guage. An adult begins to speak to a learning in terms of generalization, thetion is the basis of music aptitude.
child on a one-to-one basis as soon as cornerstone of all mature learning. Specifically, all of us are born with the
the child is born and soon after tells potential to develop our audiation,
stories and reads to 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 speaking for 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, understand and 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- Sound becomes music 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. only through audiation, 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
you translate the sounds if they all have only average potential
taught how to use their speaking voic- to achieve in music. It is to everyone's
es? The reason children learn how to in your mind to give advantage when students with high
speak without being given speaking them context. music potential do not become boied
lessons is because they have heard a and students with low music potential
great deal of speaking, and thus they do not become frustrated with 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 separate the 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 vocabularies has weaknesses. A profile of each child's
necessarily learning to 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 assess a 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 readiness to It should be understood that although
and tempo) many times on different profit fully from general music a child who demonstrates high music
occasions, but that is not sufficient.
instruction. The case becomes even achievement has high music aptitude,
more extreme when students are
They must also hear a variety of songs the reverse is not necessarily true.
and chants in various tonalities (i.e.,
expected to learn to play an instru-
Many children who display little or no
ment and to theorize and read music
minor, dorian, and mixolydian, as well evidence of music achievement have
as major) and in various meters (i.e., notation at eight or nine years of age, above average music aptitudes. In fact,
when many have not yet developed a it has been found that almost half the
triple, 5/8, and 7/8, as well as duple).
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 isfundamental 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, forbeginning instrumental music. How- of them in general music. In reality, a
example, for comparative purposes, we ever, with proper understanding, edu- test can "hear" what a teacher cannot
can only talk about and theoreticallycators can remedy the situation. see.

explain major, but it will prove diffi- Having been associated with f
cult to audiate major. The same is true Music Aptitude major universities during my m
for triple and duple meters. Now, Whether teaching children of than forty years of university teach
what about silence? Without the timepreschool age or those already in I know firsthand that the concept
to absorb and audiate (think about) school, the importance of audiation music aptitude is not adequat

SEPTEMBER 1999 43

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explained to the majority of under- The higher the level of music apti- need not agree with what I have said,
graduate and graduate music 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 revert to its original shape.
tool in music education. I would like aptitude with which children are born,
to pique your interest in learning more 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 maintained or lost. audiation. For a detailed discussion, see chap-
on your instructional procedures. The level of developmental musicter 1 of Edwin E. Gordon's Learning
People are born with different aptitude a student acquires by ageSequences 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-Year Longi-
Moreover, each person tends to excel interpreted to mean that after age nine tudinal Predictive Validity Study of the Musi-
in some pursuits but not in others. a person cannot successfully be taught cal Aptitude Profile," Studies in the Psychology
Research offers 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 Developmental Music 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 majority of 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 Introduction to Research and 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 proportions to 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- Improvisation Readiness Record, 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, regardless of the level of and idiographically (as compared to Call for Nominees
music aptitude with which children themselves). With the exception of
are born, they must have early formal average scores, it is rare for a student
to have the same level for several
The "Grand Masters" series
and informal experiences in music in
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 realized in achievement. sense, nature has a way of compensat- should be recognized by this
However, it seems that children's ing for one's weaknesses by enhancing series, please contact Mark
early formal and informal experiences one's strengths. All music aptitudes are Fonder, Music Education
in music cannot prompt their music interrelated, and a substantial portion
Department, School of Music,
aptitude to reach a level higher than of each constitutes a unique aspect of
that with which they were born. overall music aptitude.3 Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
14850. E-mail: fonder@ithaca.
Therefore, it appears that a child's Considering the events that sur-
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 serious and respected mission of teach- distinguished record in 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

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