Competences developed in the course

Transversal Competencies

CT3: Solve problems and make decisions that meet the objectives of the work being carried out.

CT7: Apply appropriate skills exercises available through the virtual learning platform, allowing students to undertake more extensive and individualized practice than is possible during the weekly 90-minute class. communication skills and constructive criticism in teamwork.

CT13: Adapt competitively to cultural, social, and artistic changes and to developments in the professional field, selecting appropriate pathways for lifelong learning.

General Competencies

CG1: Understand the theoretical principles of music and develop the skills required to recognize, comprehend, and memorize musical material.

CG2: Demonstrate appropriate skills in music reading, improvisation, creation, and re-creation.

CG3: Produce and interpret musical notation accurately.

CG4: Recognize musical materials through well-developed aural skills and apply these abilities in professional practice.

CG6: Demonstrate proficiency on one or more musical instruments at an appropriate level within the principal field of specialization.

CG11: Be familiar with a broad and up-to-date repertoire centered on the student’s area of specialization while remaining open to other musical traditions. Recognize and clearly describe the stylistic features that characterize this repertoire.

CG13: Understand the foundations and structure of musical language and apply them in performance, composition, research, and teaching.

CG22: Possess a broad and diverse range of musical resources for creating or adapting musical works and for improvising in different contexts based on knowledge of styles, formats, techniques, trends, and musical languages.

CG23: Value musical creation as the process of giving sonic form to rich and complex structural thought.

CG24: Develop the capacity for lifelong self-directed learning.

CG25: Understand and apply study and research methodologies that support continuous professional development and innovation in musical practice.

Learning outcomes (general objectives)

1. Develop general aural skills in melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic perception through discrimination, recognition, and transcription.

2. Expand inner hearing and the ability to create mental sound images through sight-singing and the performance of a wide range of exercises.

3. Improve concentration and musical memory by developing visual memory, auditory memory, and kinesthetic awareness.

Contents

The course is divided into two complementary content areas that are studied both independently and in combination.

The aural recognition component includes the study of:

• Intervals (classification of simple harmonic and melodic intervals).
• Scales (major and minor diatonic scales, modes, major and minor pentatonic scales, and the blues scale).
• Melodic structures (sight-singing and transcription of themes and motives; transcription and performance of tonal and atonal melodies in one and two voices).
• Harmony (three- and four-note chords in root position and inversion; five-note colour chords; cadential progressions and harmonic structures).
• Rhythm (monorhythmic patterns in regular and irregular metres; polyrhythmic patterns in regular metres).

The aural analysis component includes:

• Sound parameters (timbre, dynamics, register, and texture).
• Rhythm parameters (metre, tempo, and rhythmic patterns).
• Melody parameters (direction and contour of phrases and subphrases).
• Harmony parameters (harmonic systems, cadential processes, and harmonic structures).
• Formal structure (macroform, microform, and basic formal patterns).

The course also addresses comparative listening analysis and the aural analysis of vocal music with text.

Teaching methodology

The course follows a predominantly practical approach supported by the theoretical knowledge required to understand auditory processes and the development of musical language.

Weekly face-to-face classes are complemented by online activities and exercises available through the virtual learning platform, allowing students to undertake more extensive and individualized practice than is possible during the weekly 90-minute class. Non-contact learning activities are scheduled according to the content being covered.

Students are also expected to devote an average of 90 minutes per week to independent study, guided by exercises and activities submitted through the virtual learning environment.

Assessment systems

Daily classwork constitutes an assessed component worth 10% of the final grade.

Assessment tests are held midway through the semester and at the end of the course. The final grade is based on:

• First aural recognition assessment.
• First aural analysis assessment.
• Final aural recognition assessment.
• Final aural analysis assessment.