Ear - training using the computer and PROGREMU

Few practitioners of contemporary music value “ear-training” more than composers working in the medium of electroacoustic music. Scrupulous attention to this discipline is particularly relevant in the genre of “tape” or “acousmatic” music. In acousmatic music, composers usually have no contact with physical instruments by which sounds can modified and transformed. While sound sources might be implied by dynamic and spectral behaviours, technology removes limitations normally imposed by the physical systems of musical instruments. Consequently, despite the virtually limitless number of potential sound elements, the tasks of categorisation, description and, most importantly, organisation of sounds can only be achieved by the self-conscious activity of perception. It can be argued, therefore, that in the electroacoustic medium, composers have no choice but to resort to “primacy of the ear” (primauté de l’oreille) in any investigation of their materials and resulting musical structures. In this article I intend to describe and explain the subject of “ear-training” within the framework of the researches of the French composer and theoretician Pierre Schaeffer (1910-1995). I will also suggest methods by which the computer can be used for this important area of musical training. In addition to the notion of “solfège”, Schaeffer adapted other pedagogical concepts to assist musicians working in the studio environment. Thus, terms such as “version” and “thème” (common in French language studies) describe the processes of translation from and into sound. Michel Chion even suggests that the Schaefferian solfège represents “exercises” in “ version” and “thème”, the former resembling “musical dictation” (Chion, 1983: 90). Because the Schaefferian approach is independent of the sounds’ causal origins it can be applied to any sound. There is, therefore, the potential for examining certain types of instrumental and vocal music, particularly works which make use of a vocabulary including long, complex sounds. Introduction In Great Britain the role of ear-training is frequently misunderstood in both university music departments and conservatories. Ear-training is rarely the most popular subject for students: 1 This article is an expanded and revised version of a talk presented at the “II. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie”, Munich in October, 2002.