Beginning Audiation

To me, on of the most mysterious skills in music is audiation, the ability to accurately hear music in your head. It can feel a bit nebulous as an instructor because, without a brain scan, you can't actually see the sense-making happening for students during practice. Luckily, music educators have been grappling with this for ages so I was able to borrow from their great work to get started.

One of the ways we have practiced audiation is by tapping the beat while "singing" a known song in our head, stopping the beat at the end of the song. This gives me a clear indication as to who is really following the song, and who is just tapping along, absent-mindedly.

Another activity we have tried is singing the song "Bingo" and practicing hiding letters from the pup's name and clapping instead of singing those letters. Many students are challenged and invigorated by this task! Some students are unable to silently sing the song in pieces, and continue to sing B-I-N-G-O with all letters. Others catch on to the rhythmic pattern, but then continue to say the letters, even through the end of the song.

These activities have helped me to better isolate the skill of audiation and differentiate instruction and support for them. Bingo has also made for a fun rhythm activity for our older students, mixing up different combinations of hidden letters. Our second graders love it!