Ear Training
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David Vose, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"I've written for Columbia Pictures Publications. Most of my arrangements were for the educational division of the company. I learned from some great writers about phrasing—writing in a way that gives musicians the opportunity to be expressive in performance. I also learned how to highlight strengths in ensemble settings. Because of my writing experience, I try to get the students to be aware of how music is phrased, so that in Ear Training they can recognize melodies, rhythms, and harmonies as something that's not so abstract."
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Scott deOgburn, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"The listening aspect of music is probably the most important part. Ear training is all about comprehending what you are listening to and knowing how to analyze it. The goal is to be able to look at a piece of music and know what it sounds like without having to listen to it; or conversely, to listen to a piece of music and be able to notate it."
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"The genius of the Ear Training curriculum is that it's incredibly well designed, while not biased towards a particular style of music. And the rigorousness of it is impressive, as well, pulling in a general freshman population and bringing them up to a really high standard after four semesters. In my classes I try to give my own twist to the curriculum and always make sure the students create music, rather than drill exercises."
Read MoreJulia Werntz, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"I want students to understand why a certain note—the highest, lowest, or longest note in a melodic line—moves them in a certain way. To be conscious and in control of this is central to anyone’s musicianship, not an addition to instrumental training in the studio, but a necessary extension of it. I can see in my students’ facial expressions that they know this. When you get it, then it’s like you have 12 actors at your disposal, each with his or her own general traits, but also chameleon-like, able to change character according to the setting. Master this, and then you’ll really start to be in control of your own art."
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"In my ear training classes, I like to keep the focus moving around the room, doing relays of rhythms and solfège, for example. I want everyone to participate and contribute. I don’t like to stand in front of the class and lecture; I like to keep the energy flowing and mix things up, to get performance and listening and analysis all going in the same session. Ear training in particular is something that involves a lot of interaction, a lot of back and forth."
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Phil Person, Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"Students' reading skills are sharpened in ear training because you do a lot of reading. They'll increase their vocabulary of melodies, intervals, harmonies, and rhythms, and it all goes hand in hand. It helps a person in a groove or ensemble setting be able to deal with whatever is thrown at them, be it complicated rhythms or harmonies—not only being able to perform them but actually hearing it in their head, hearing it and understanding what it is, recognizing it. Everything is intertwined."
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Rosey Lee, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"I hope my students understand that music is like a spoken language, and musical events are just like daily life. For example, counterpoint. This term may be scary for a lot of people, so I tell my students, 'You're listening to me, and you're sitting there with your heart beating, and you're still breathing. You have at least three things going on together simultaneously, and they all cooperate by themselves naturally. That's three- or four-part counterpoint.' If Bach can do it without a laptop, you can as well."
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- B.A., Vassar College
- M.M., New England Conservatory
- Toured with Cirque du Soleil, Joe Jackson, and A.R. Rahman
- Performed with Lee Konitz, Joan Osborne, Greg Osby, and Kanye West
- Broadway work includes "Les Misérables" and "Cats"
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"I found yoga 15 years ago, which had a profound effect on me as a performer. Whatever has helped me in my music career, I try to bring into the classroom. We do a lot of singing with warm-ups and drilling to develop vocal skill and confidence. In this business, time is money, and if you're not struggling with the notes and intervals, you can work on the delivery and 'feel' of a piece of music, which saves a lot of time. Although mature and dedicated practice regimes are a key to successful performances, I try to have fun with it as well. My mission is to help the students find a comfort zone within themselves so the sharing of their music is a blissful experience."
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Giovanni Moltoni, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"We are very visually oriented as a society. If you study harmony, you read a book, you learn some notions, then you repeat these notions, and you feel like you are good. In ear training that's not necessarily the case, because you can listen to something and still not recognize it. It takes a much longer time. Sometimes students who are successful in notion-based classes like harmony are not able to successfully reproduce a melodic shape. I've always thought that when students are able to successfully engage their mind this way, that's when they actually become musicians. Before that they are not musicians—they are students."
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