MCGY1001: Aural Perception 1A, MCGY1002 Aural Perception 1B

For MCGY1001: Weekly Lab tests (25%), weekly Lab assignments (15%), Solfege tutorial assessment (15%), Lab examination (25%), Solfege examination (20%). For MCGY1002: Weekly Lab assignments (15%), Non-Western transcription (15%), Lab examination (30%), Solfege tutorial assessment (15%), Solfege examination (25%).

For MCGY1001: You will complete a Music Skills Evaluation prior to the semester for streaming purposes. For MCGY1002: MCGY1001

Aural Perception in first year has been quite the ride. I came in having very basic sight-singing and terrible dictation skills and have come out of the units a lot more confident in both. I was streamed into 1A and B, instead of doing 1 and 2, which worked out nicely for me because it allowed me to take things slowly and really hone in on all the foundational aspects of solfa that I missed out on in high school. Our classes were also smaller so there was more individual attention given to us. I personally preferred solfege classes over lab which reflected in how much more willing I was to practise sight singing over completing extra dictations on top of what I was assigned to do. Balancing equal commitment in AP across both is something I hope to improve for this coming year.

The weekly assessments for AP were quite friendly and super chill. My tutor provided advice for me all the time when I asked him and this communication ultimately amounted to my success in the subject. Similar to Harmony, the final exams are worth a ridiculous amount and regular revision/practice helps a tonne in the long run. I always attempted at least one unseen sight-singing example and dictation exercise from the books outside of the ones we were assigned to check if I could properly apply the concepts elsewhere. Doing more of this during the week would've been beneficial and could potentially have elevated my marks even higher.

While in the moment I dreaded it the most, the non-western transcription was perhaps the assignment I most benefitted from in this subject. My biggest criticism of solfa is how it doesn’t accommodate for all types of music. I liked that the course coordinator was aware of this and made us critically reflect on the effectiveness of the system, especially when it fails to capture the musical idiosyncrasies of other cultures. It was a pain to complete and I still have the shakuhachi melody from the assignment looping in my head but I gained heaps from it.

I really enjoyed AP despite the morning classes (9am start was huge yikes) and had a fantastic tutor who motivated me to do well. He always framed everything in a really positive and growth-oriented way which pushed me to want to improve independently. The skills I learnt in AP have been transferrable in many other aspects of my study at the Con such as choir and my other musicology subjects. I’m interested to report on the leap from 1B to 2 over the next semester.

1x 1 hour Lab, 1x 1 hour Solfege tutorial

MCGY1001: 3.5/5, MCGY1002: 3/5

None

None; you will be assigned with a tutor for both classes. I had Andrew Faleatua for both Lab and Solfege in MCGY1001 and MCGY1002.

None

4/5

Manual for Ear Training and Sight Singing 2nd Edition (Gary S. Karpinski), Anthology for Sight Singing (Gary S. Karpinski and Richard Kram). I would also highly recommend Solfege des Solfege (Adolphe Danhauser) which I obtained when I first started singing and still use today as supplementary warm-up material.

2019, Semester 1, 2

MCGY1001: 86 HD, MCGY1002: 92 HD