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Neither of these results are all that surprising of course, but what is interesting is how the pianists’ aural skills test scores were related to their learning. played the most wrong notes) in the covert condition where they had to imagine both the sound and the feeling of playing the instrument. played the most correct notes) after the normal practice session where they had the benefit of both hearing the notes coming out of the piano, and feeling the keys under their fingers.Īnd they performed worst (i.e. So…what did the researchers find? Best and worst performanceĪs you can probably guess, the pianists performed the best (i.e.

In the covert condition, the pianists were asked to use both auditory and motor imagery – to imagine what the passage would sound and feel like if they were playing on a regular piano.Īfter completing the four practice and performance blocks, the pianists’ auditory and motor imagery abilities were evaluated to see how effectively they could imagine sound and motor movements in their heads.

In the auditory-only condition, they were asked to keep their hands and fingers completely still, but imagine what their finger movements would feel like as they listened to a recording of the passage through headphones.

In the motor-only condition, the pianists were told that there would be no sound coming out of the keyboard when they pressed down the keys, so they’d just have to imagine what the piece would sound like instead.

In the normal condition, participants were simply told to perform the passage 10 times.

And then the music would be taken away, and they’d have to perform the passage four times from memory, to see how accurately they could recall all the notes. In each practice condition, the pianists would get 10 practice trials with the music in front of them. Four different practice conditionsĮssentially, each pianist had to learn and perform four short 2-bar excerpts using four different practice methods – 1) a normal condition, 2) motor-only condition, 3) auditory-only condition, and 4) covert condition. Sixteen actively performing adult pianists (half of whom were music majors currently in university), were recruited for this study. So why is ear training part of a musician’s training anyway? A study of 16 pianistsĪ study of pianists ( Highben & Palmer, 2004) provides some answers. And it often led me to wonder why the unique form of torture that is ear training was part of the standard music curriculum. Cox’s class injected a regular dose of anxiety into my weekly schedule. The first time I didn’t understand her, in my entrance audition, she said to me, “Honey, is English your first language?”įrom the standard dictation and sight-singing exercises to a slew of other drills whose names I’ve long since forgotten, Ms. This was her way of informing you that your answer was somehow conflicting with the real answer it was also a form of psychological warfare. Mary Anthony Cox: Honey, have you ever heard of a cat-dog? Mary Anthony Cox: Tell me the answer then, honey.

Mary Anthony Cox: Are you asking me or telling me? Mary Anthony Cox: Honey, what is this note? This brief snapshot of a typical moment in class from composer Nico Muhly’s blog probably captures the essence of the experience as well as anything:

Cox was known for being a devoted and absolutely terrific teacher – and also demanding and tough. Maybe it’s just me that got so freaked out about ear training, but then again, ear training at Juilliard with Mary Anthony Cox was not just any class. Is it normal to get nervous for aural skills class? To wake up on ear training class days and feel that same twisted-up feeling in your stomach that you get on the morning of an audition? Subscribe to the weekly podcast via iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher