Unlocking aural skills through improvisation
Publication Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
9-2025
Abstract
This chapter explores improvisation's potential in popular music education. It argues that improvisation can serve as a useful tool to bridge gaps between students from different educational backgrounds. Focusing on Aural Skills, a fundamental music subject and a two-stage process for enhancing collaborative learning is presented. First, composite skills analysis is used as a diagnostic tool for breaking down key skills into more manageable components, revealing individual strengths and weaknesses. Second, group improvisation tasks are designed to more effectively pair students of different abilities, leveraging improvisation to provide a supportive environment to experiment, take risks and deepen students’ understanding of musical concepts.
Discipline
Asian Studies | Music
Publication
Improvisation methods and practices in Southeast Asia: Music, dance and theatre
Editor
MOORE, Darren; BURRIDGE, Stephanie
Identifier
10.4324/9781003569572
Publisher
Routledge
City or Country
London
Citation
OLSEN, Patrick.
Unlocking aural skills through improvisation. (2025). Improvisation methods and practices in Southeast Asia: Music, dance and theatre.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/382
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003569572