Edwin E. Gordon coined the term "audiation" in 1975 and explains it as, hearing music in your mind with understanding. Audiation is to music what thinking is to language. Others have explained it as, audiation is to sound in the same way imagination is to images. Audiation is more involved than just "hearing" music in your head, rather it's hearing music in your head while your brain gives meaning and understanding to what it is hearing.
If I ask you to hear "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in your head, you probably could sing this in your head, without hearing a recording of it. Now, hear it in a minor key. Now change the metre to triple metre. Now hear it in dorian mode? We could play this came all day by changing how we hear it. :-) This is audiation, hearing it in your head, but having the understanding of "how" you are hearing it.
We process music the same way as we process language. Let's take a moment and look at the five steps in how we learn language.
When our son was born he spent months, and really years, listening to us, and others, speak to him. Why I say years is that he took a LONG time to speak and only began speaking shortly before he turned three years old. We were anxious to have him speak so he could tell us what he wanted and we were looking forward to hearing his first words. Everyone told us to enjoy the peace and quiet. Of course we couldn't wait for him to speak and eagerly waited. Well, let me tell you . . . . now that he just turned six, we look forward to the moments of silence and ask ourselves, "Why were we so eager to have him speak?" :-)
After "listening" for months our son did begin to babble in response to what we said to him. After "listening" for years, he did begin to speak a few words to let us know what he wanted. Needless to say my wife and I were ecstatic when he spoke his first words. A wonderful moment and time of celebration. With each additional new word he spoke the greater the celebration and joy. It is such an exciting time every time your child speaks a "new" word. It was wonderful and words truly can't express our joy. Even to this day, as he uses a new word, we recognize that it's a word he hasn't used before. Joy, joy, joy!!!!
After our son was able to speak a few words he then began to experiment with the words. He started stringing words together making short phrases, and eventually, started speaking in sentences. Again, more joy and celebration as we heard him string words together. Often times as he experimented with speaking our language he wouldn't always say the words in the correct order. Some of the sayings were pretty funny. Nonetheless, being the proud parents that most parents are, we took great elation in sharing some of his phrases with grandparents and friends; as he experimented with learning the English language.
As our son developed and understood the language better, we prompted him to read. Like other parents in their eagerness to teach their child to read, we would point out individual letters and then words (sight words) as we guided him in the first steps of reading. He would often see the letters within the words and exclaim in excitement, "There's a "T"!!!"
After his reading began and he could recognise individual letters, we then aided him in learning how to print his name. And a proud moment this is for child and parents. As in the case of our son, who has a very long first name (9 letters), we started him with the first 3 letters, then 4, and now he is almost able to print ALL 9 without any prompting. We have yet to start on his second name, which is also nine letters long. Okay, to be honest, we did realize it was a long name but we knew that if we gave him long names, we may actually have some peace and quiet as he learned how to print, in order, all 23 letters in his name. Needless to say, with my earlier comment about his non-stop speaking we are hoping to stretch this process out as LONG as we possibly can. :-)
My wife and I love watching our son's language skills develop. We love watching him learn new words and express, "Hey, 'snake' begins with a 'S'. It starts with a 'sssssss' sound." The doors to words, letters, and reading have swung open and our son is being exposed to a new and exciting world. Everyday, he has new discoveries of either a word, or a letter within a word, due to the sound that it makes. He is learning to read and write with understanding. He knows what a snake is, he knows what a 'S' looks like, he knows the sound it makes, and he knows how to print it. Everything he is learning has meaning.
When we learn music, and as teachers when we teach music, we need to remember the five steps of learning a language:
Music Learning Theory approaches learning music in the same manner we learn a language. The brain process is the exact same. When my son was 10 months old and if someone asked, "Can he read yet?" I'm sure I would have had some comment to reply with, such as, "Of course he can't read, he can't even speak yet." Most of us would say what a ludicrous question, "Can a 10 month old read? Of course not." But, for some reason we expect this of our music students and children. We expect them to "read" music before they know how to "listen" to music; we expect them to "read" music before they can even "speak" music; and we expect them to "read" music, before they can even "experiment" with music. We teach our students without understanding rather than with understanding.
Music Learning Theory approaches learning music as we learn language. We "listen" to music, then we "speak" music, we "experiment" with music and then we learn to "read" and "write" music. This is how our brain learns language, and this is HOW our brain processes music, with understanding.
My goal as a teacher is to teach students with understanding. To teach children/students to be true musicians by approaching music so that their brain gives meaning to what they are learning.
I welcome you to share my journey of teaching as I guide my students to "think" in sound, with understanding.
If I ask you to hear "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in your head, you probably could sing this in your head, without hearing a recording of it. Now, hear it in a minor key. Now change the metre to triple metre. Now hear it in dorian mode? We could play this came all day by changing how we hear it. :-) This is audiation, hearing it in your head, but having the understanding of "how" you are hearing it.
We process music the same way as we process language. Let's take a moment and look at the five steps in how we learn language.
When our son was born he spent months, and really years, listening to us, and others, speak to him. Why I say years is that he took a LONG time to speak and only began speaking shortly before he turned three years old. We were anxious to have him speak so he could tell us what he wanted and we were looking forward to hearing his first words. Everyone told us to enjoy the peace and quiet. Of course we couldn't wait for him to speak and eagerly waited. Well, let me tell you . . . . now that he just turned six, we look forward to the moments of silence and ask ourselves, "Why were we so eager to have him speak?" :-)
After "listening" for months our son did begin to babble in response to what we said to him. After "listening" for years, he did begin to speak a few words to let us know what he wanted. Needless to say my wife and I were ecstatic when he spoke his first words. A wonderful moment and time of celebration. With each additional new word he spoke the greater the celebration and joy. It is such an exciting time every time your child speaks a "new" word. It was wonderful and words truly can't express our joy. Even to this day, as he uses a new word, we recognize that it's a word he hasn't used before. Joy, joy, joy!!!!
After our son was able to speak a few words he then began to experiment with the words. He started stringing words together making short phrases, and eventually, started speaking in sentences. Again, more joy and celebration as we heard him string words together. Often times as he experimented with speaking our language he wouldn't always say the words in the correct order. Some of the sayings were pretty funny. Nonetheless, being the proud parents that most parents are, we took great elation in sharing some of his phrases with grandparents and friends; as he experimented with learning the English language.
As our son developed and understood the language better, we prompted him to read. Like other parents in their eagerness to teach their child to read, we would point out individual letters and then words (sight words) as we guided him in the first steps of reading. He would often see the letters within the words and exclaim in excitement, "There's a "T"!!!"
After his reading began and he could recognise individual letters, we then aided him in learning how to print his name. And a proud moment this is for child and parents. As in the case of our son, who has a very long first name (9 letters), we started him with the first 3 letters, then 4, and now he is almost able to print ALL 9 without any prompting. We have yet to start on his second name, which is also nine letters long. Okay, to be honest, we did realize it was a long name but we knew that if we gave him long names, we may actually have some peace and quiet as he learned how to print, in order, all 23 letters in his name. Needless to say, with my earlier comment about his non-stop speaking we are hoping to stretch this process out as LONG as we possibly can. :-)
My wife and I love watching our son's language skills develop. We love watching him learn new words and express, "Hey, 'snake' begins with a 'S'. It starts with a 'sssssss' sound." The doors to words, letters, and reading have swung open and our son is being exposed to a new and exciting world. Everyday, he has new discoveries of either a word, or a letter within a word, due to the sound that it makes. He is learning to read and write with understanding. He knows what a snake is, he knows what a 'S' looks like, he knows the sound it makes, and he knows how to print it. Everything he is learning has meaning.
When we learn music, and as teachers when we teach music, we need to remember the five steps of learning a language:
- Listen
- Speak
- Experiment
- Read
- Write
Music Learning Theory approaches learning music in the same manner we learn a language. The brain process is the exact same. When my son was 10 months old and if someone asked, "Can he read yet?" I'm sure I would have had some comment to reply with, such as, "Of course he can't read, he can't even speak yet." Most of us would say what a ludicrous question, "Can a 10 month old read? Of course not." But, for some reason we expect this of our music students and children. We expect them to "read" music before they know how to "listen" to music; we expect them to "read" music before they can even "speak" music; and we expect them to "read" music, before they can even "experiment" with music. We teach our students without understanding rather than with understanding.
Music Learning Theory approaches learning music as we learn language. We "listen" to music, then we "speak" music, we "experiment" with music and then we learn to "read" and "write" music. This is how our brain learns language, and this is HOW our brain processes music, with understanding.
My goal as a teacher is to teach students with understanding. To teach children/students to be true musicians by approaching music so that their brain gives meaning to what they are learning.
I welcome you to share my journey of teaching as I guide my students to "think" in sound, with understanding.
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