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Audiation, Aptitude, and Assessment

JUNE 24, 2009
by Linda Gaboardi

Audiation, in the simplest terms, is defined as hearing music that is not physically present. And for Dr. Edwin Gordon, the acclaimed music researcher, music professor and author who coined the phrase, it is the foundation of all music learning. Aptitude, specifically music aptitude, is ones innate rhythmic and melodic talent and potential for musical growth. Assessment is the act of evaluating, appraising, and/or estimating the features, qualities, performances and needs of individuals. How do these three relate? Through development of audiation, students learn to understand music. This is our ultimate goal as educators: to bring our students to understanding, and higher order thinking. Knowing our students aptitude gives us a starting point to gauge instruction and form our assessments. Assessment, in all its forms, is about setting the benchmark, and then measuring growth. There are specific concepts that are necessary for music comprehension. Is it how many quarter notes equal four beats? Or that the note on the second line of the treble staff is G? Indeed, there is a correlation between music and math and spelling, but not at its core. Fundamentally, music is about hearing. Music is sound; the notes on the page representative of that sound. If the students cant process the sound they have labeled, they do not truly comprehend the music. As music educators, many assess the ability of students to note name, or make up a rhythm sentence that equals four (and rarely three). Audiation starts at the foundation, just as language learning starts with hearing and imitating, and links concepts just as the alphabets links letters to form words. Musical Memory Audiation is to music what thinking is to language. When listening to speech, we organize the sounds in our head to comprehend the words and ideas being spoken. The musician or listener hears the music, retains what he has just heard, gives meaning to the sounds, and

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predicts what will come next, based on his prior knowledge of those patterns of sound. The bigger the musicians musical vocabulary, the more advanced the audiation process. All students have the ability to audiate, based on their aptitude and experiences. Setting the Benchmark Talent, specifically measurement of musical talent, is an elusive concept. Music aptitude, however, is not quite the same. Its the potential to learn music, and all students possess this potential to varying degrees. An assessment cannot truly be valid without the benchmark of student potential. To set this benchmark, the place where we begin to assess learning, we start with the innate potential of the student to learn and comprehend music. This is the doorway to differentiated instruction. The most useful tool to set this benchmark is Dr. Gordons Musical Aptitude Profile. This simple aptitude test can be given to any grade level from kindergarten through college. It comes in age and aptitude-appropriate versions. Evaluating with Knowledge Responsive teaching in music begins with knowing the individual students true music potential. Measuring talent requires an inexact science of guesswork. Measurement of music aptitude leaves no room for speculation. A responsive teacher knows the students exact capabilities, can teach to those capabilities, and realize when the student has grown beyond those initial capabilities. When music students are engaged at their individual learning level, students will take risks, because the frustration level is low. The Three As Using the sequential yardstick of aptitude and audiation to form meaningful assessments gives greater credibility to our music programs. Measuring for aptitude removes the guesswork and allows for accurate differentiated instruction. Teaching students to audiate immerses them in much more than note naming and rhythm addition. Then when the time comes to name those notes and form those rhythm sentences, students will have experienced them in numerous and varied settings, and experienced their true meaning in relation to other notes and rhythms, giving meaning to those concepts.