*** I goofed! I originally thought of this as a 15-part series. Later I realized I needed an episode about notational audiation. I included this as episode 5, so now the number are off in the audio podcast. Sorry about that. But they are correct in the notes below.

—Eric

Audiation is the mental process that takes place when we organize musical sounds so that we may understand how pieces of music develop.

The next 15 episodes will be about Gordon’s Stages of Audiation. The episodes will cover the following topics:

* Musical form and fluidity;

* Musical order and conflict;

* Ambiguity within and between musical elements;

* The elusiveness of clock-time;

* The pecking order of essential pitches, durations, and musical patterns.

* The process of mentally compressing and expanding music as we compare one piece of music with another.

What follows are the titles of each episode in my 16-part audiation series. The titles themselves give you, I hope, a taste of what each episode will be about:

Part 1: What is audiation?

Part 2: An overview of the stages of audiation.

Part 3: Audiation Stage 1 — We hear an “aftersound” of the music we just heard.

Part 4: Audiation Stage 2a — We mentally imitate all the pitches and durations we just heard.

Part 5: Speculations on the early stages of notational audiation

Part 6: Audiation Stage 2b — From all the pitches and durations we’ve heard, we choose the ones we think are essential to the music.

Part 7: Audiation Stage 2c — As we continue to listen, we organize essential pitches and durations into tonal and rhythm patterns.

Part 8: Audiation Stage 2d — As we continue to listen, we discern the music’s macro beats and pitch center.

Part 9: Audiation Stage 3 — We discern the tonality and meter of the music we’re hearing.

Part 10: A brief tutorial on surface structure and deep structure.

Part 11: A Skip Ahead to Audiation Stage 6 — When we discern an underlying sameness in pieces of music, we do so by mentally compressing music into patterns, and by expanding patterns into music.

Part 12: Audiation Stage 4 — Modulation and development of a single domain of music.

Part 13: Audiation Stage 5 — Two music domains develop in tandem to affect how we audiate phrase structure in a Beethoven symphony.

Part 14: Audiation Stage 6 revisited — Comparing 2 Bach Sinfonias and discerning their underlying sameness.

Part 15: Audiation Stage 5 revisited, and a look at Stage 7 — Two music domains develop in tandem to affect how we audiate the form of a Beethoven sonata movement.

Part 16: Conclusion — The integration of musical elements, the beauty of ambiguity, and the elusiveness of form.

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Bluestine, Eric. 1995. The ways children learn music: An introduction and practical guide to music learning theory, 1st edition. Chicago: GIA.

Gordon, Edwin. 1977. Learning Sequence and Patterns in Music (revised edition). Chicago: GIA.

Gordon, Edwin. 1988. Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns. Chicago: GIA.

Gordon, Edwin. 2012. Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns. Chicago: GIA.

Maltin, Leonard. 2016. Theatre of the Imagination – History of the Mercury Theatre on the Air – Youtube, uploaded by Marc Baroni, 8 Sept. 2016.

Shouldice, Heather. https://everydaymusicality.com/2023/01/10/e01-52-types-and-stages-of-audiation/

Walters, Darrel L. 1989. “Audiation: The Term and the Process.” In D. L. Walters and C. C. Taggart (Eds.), Readings in Music Learning Theory. Chicago: G.I.A.

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