It has been 50 years since I - educated as pianist, entered a three-year Diploma program in Music Theory with a specialization in Aural training, began teaching Aural Skills at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Early on in my career as an educator, I was confronted with some major dilemmas and questions:

Why is there such a discrepancy between my students' instrumental proficiency and their aural skills?

Why do their aural abilities lay behind and need some much more time?

How shall Aural Skills be able to effectively support instrumental studies and musicianship - if the students' aural skills are at a level far behind the musical content of the pieces they are playing?

These questions prompted me to first examine traditional instrumental instruction—specifically, what role did aural training play alongside the development of instrumental skills?

"WHY is it that, after a few years of schooling, we are able to read a book silently —grasping the plot and the meaning of the words—whereas after many years of instrumental instruction, we are still unable to “hear” a musical score before playing it, or – ideally - having it played for us?

WHY do so many people, when playing a piece from memory and making a mistake, have to start from the beginning again?

WHY do so many people not know their instrument well enough to play any well-known song without sheet music?"

These same questions have followed my ongoing experimentation and development of teaching methods that differ from those I encountered when I first qualified as an aural skills teacher. This work has resulted in the publication of four textbooks and numerous national and international workshops and appointments as visiting professor.

In this presentation, I will share the key insights I have gained along the way in this ongoing process, and provide examples of the fundamental pillars of my methodology.